Official announces plans to curb fighter program's cost: "Defense Department officials will require a shift to a fixed-price contract in their negotiations with Lockheed Martin for the initial production phase of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter, a defense official said here March 15 in a briefing at the Pentagon.
Department officials also will conduct an internal analysis of what the full production cost should be to better negotiate with the contractor, said Ashton B. Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics.
Taken together, Mr. Carter said, these measures will reduce costs of a program that has met with significant production delays and cost overruns since its inception in October 2001.
'It did not seem reasonable that the taxpayer should bear the entire cost of this failure of the program to meet expectations,' Mr. Carter said.
The joint strike fighter, the most expensive acquisition in U.S. military history, will replace a wide range of aging fighter and strike aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and eight international partners."
