Pentagon said bent on killing F-35 fighter model
Friday 18 November 2005, 6:24pm EST
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By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is seeking to cancel the Air Force version of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) F-35, the world's biggest fighter program, a leading defense consultant said Friday.
Gordon England, acting deputy secretary of defense, "is pushing to eliminate one of the three aircraft versions, and the Air Force version is his preferred kill" as a short-term economy measure, said Loren Thompson, citing discussions with senior Pentagon and industry officials.
Thompson is chief operating officer of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute, a research group with close ties to the defense establishment.
Loss of the Air Force variant would be a blow to Lockheed which expects to export that version, in particular, for decades to come.
Eight countries have joined the United States to co-develop the F-35, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter. With a projected total program cost of more than $250 billion, it involves what would be the Pentagon's most expensive acquisition to date and a symbol of international cooperation.
The co-development partners are Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.
If cut, the likely beneficiaries would be France's Rafale fighter, built by Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research); Eurofighter, a product of Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), BAE Systems (BA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research); plus Gripen, built by Saab and BAE Systems.
The radar-evading F-35 was designed to serve the U.S. Air Force with a standard model; the Navy, with a sturdier one for aircraft-carrier landings; and the Marines, with a short take off and landing "jump jet"-style variant.
England wants the Air Force to buy the Navy version instead of getting its own, said Thompson.
In an Oct. 19 memorandum, England ordered military leaders to find $32 billion in cuts over the next five years and said they might have to dig even deeper as President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget proposal takes shape.
No final decisions would be made until a high-level meeting on Monday, England wrote at the time. The White House is due to send its final budget goals to this session.
Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for England, declined to comment on belt-tightening measures under study in the so-called Quadrennial Defense Review, a strategy analysis done every four years and due to go to Congress in coming months.
A knowledgeable Pentagon official noted that England, as secretary of the Navy, had integrated the Navy and Marine Corps aviation programs starting in 2002. Consolidating a number of air wings, he has been credited with saving "billions of dollars," said this official who asked not to be named.
Lockheed Martin has not been notified of any changes to its programs, said John Smith, a spokesman in Fort Worth, where the fighters are being assembled.
Apart from Britain, which plans to buy the vertical-takeoff variant, all international partners plan to buy the Air Force model, said Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia, aerospace consultancy.
Aboulafia said a decision to scrap the Air Force version would save a "couple billion" in development costs but eat into U.S. dominance of fighter-export markets for years to come.
Christopher Bolckom, top warplane expert with the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, said he expected any push to kill the Air Force version to meet resistance in Congress and among co-development partners.
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