Department focuses on F-35 costs, fair tanker competition: "Pentagon officials are working to halt spiraling costs in the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft program while ensuring competition for a new refueling tanker remains fair to all contenders, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said here Dec. 2.
Mr. Lynn told the Aerospace and Defense Conference audience he's concerned about both 'cost and schedule challenges' associated with the next-generation fighter aircraft that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates calls 'the heart of the future of our tactical combat aviation.'"
