The three-star admiral overseeing the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program ever says the cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter must come down, or it will quickly become unaffordable.
In a meeting with industry reporters Wednesday, Vice Adm. Mat Winter, program executive officer for the F-35 said the $400 billion program remains on track, but that there are several areas of concern.
“The price is coming down, but it is not coming down fast enough,” Winter told reporters, promising a hard-nosed negotiation with Lockheed Martin over the price for the next lot of F-35s to be purchased this year.
“Right now the cost we’re paying … today if it’s the same cost ratio into the future, as our fleet grows from the 280 aircraft to the 800-plus that we’ll have by the end of 2021, we will be unaffordable in that the services’ budgets will not be able to sustain that,” Winter said.
The last batch of 66 F-35 aircraft, known as lot 10, had a contract price of $94.3 million for an A-model of the stealthy jet, the most common variant that will be used by the Air Force.
The next lot, number 11, will be for 130 planes, and Winter made clear the price will be lower, but would not say how much savings he is looking for because that would give negotiating leverage to Lockheed Martin.
“If I give you a number and it gets printed, Lockheed Martin’s got a target,” Winter said. “I’m going to negotiate for the best deal for the taxpayer.”
Asked if he could use some help from the negotiator-in-chief, President Trump, who got involved in discussions with Lockheed Martin after the price was set for the last lot of F-35s, Winter said he had one of the finest negotiators in government on his staff, a women he identified only as “Julie.”
“She will be negotiating not only lot 11, but all my future contracts for as long as I can keep her in government,” Winter said. “She will stare down anybody, and more important, she comes prepared with facts.”
