WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior Pentagon officials are considering postponing the production of an additional 100 fighters F-35 Lockheed Martin Corp. as part of a five-year plan of defense will be sent to Congress, according to three people familiar with the program.
"No decision is likely to be held until November or December, but is clearly an important option to assist the Ministry of Defense to comply with the mandates of the savings under the control of the budget," said one person who was not authorized to speak on the subject.
The program has already been revised twice in the last two years, postponing the production of more than 224 combat aircraft radar-evasion - which usually moves to raise the price of each aircraft in the short term.
The F-35, the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program, faces new test in Congress and the Pentagon that the lawmakers are seeking ways to protect the nation's expected $ 1.3 billion budget deficit for fiscal 2011 and $ 14.7 trillion of debt.
"No decision is likely to be held until November or December, but is clearly an important option to assist the Ministry of Defense to comply with the mandates of the savings under the control of the budget," said one person who was not authorized to speak on the subject.
The program has already been revised twice in the last two years, postponing the production of more than 224 combat aircraft radar-evasion - which usually moves to raise the price of each aircraft in the short term.
The F-35, the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program, faces new test in Congress and the Pentagon that the lawmakers are seeking ways to protect the nation's expected $ 1.3 billion budget deficit for fiscal 2011 and $ 14.7 trillion of debt.
Lockheed Martin CEO Robert Stevens, speaking at a summit Reuters this month, warned against the thing in the investor program. It was important to increase production and begin to deliver aircraft to the battlefield, he said.
Stevens said the test flights the aircraft was ahead of schedule this year after delays in recent years. In late August was 8 percent before the flights and 11 percent ahead of the number of comparative tests was completed.
A plane seat is currently a low level of primary production, but is expected to accelerate throughout the production ended in 2015 or 2016, when it gets the go-ahead for the U.S. government. Lockheed Martin to develop three different models for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as for more than eight international partners of the program.
Ramp expected slowdown in production could cause problems for hundreds of vendors on the program, many of which rely on large order sizes for lower prices, according to industry executives.
Lower numbers will also affect Lockheed, which expect the F-35 to account for about 20 percent of its total revenue in full production begins.
Defense plans currently 2443 of the aircraft until 2035, for a total cost of approximately $ 385 billion. It is designed to replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations initially.
There was no discussion to date to reduce the overall purchase, but analysts warn that the rise in unit costs will ultimately be able to get Congress to limit the total production, which in turn lower Additional price per plane.
"It was called a death spiral," said Norm Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin. "When you start a program with the intention to buy 1,000 aircraft and end up buying 100 - and plans include the construction of six months and completes the construction of six per year - the costs just go out of sight "he said.
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