Lockheed Aircraft Gets Go-Ahead
Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest U.S. defense contractor, received approval from the Department of Defense to move forward with development of the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon’s most costly weapons program ever.
Michael Wynne, acting under secretary of Defense for acquisition, Thursday approved the program’s “path forward” and designs for the variant of the aircraft that will perform short takeoffs and vertical landings, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said in a statement.
The Pentagon’s decision moves the fighter program, which could be worth as much as $244 billion, a step closer to production. The fighters are a family of aircraft intended to have about 80% common parts for use by the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nations. The Pentagon had spent $9.6 billion on the fighter program as of June 30.
“This is basically a reality check that the program can be delivered as described to Congress,” said John Pike, an analyst at Globalsecurity.org, a defense research firm in Alexandria, Va.
The decision is a “big deal,” meaning the program is not in trouble and is on course, Pike said. He doesn’t own shares of Lockheed and doesn’t do consulting work for the company.
Lockheed spokesman John Smith confirmed the Pentagon’s decision but didn’t elaborate.
Until September, designs for the short-takeoff/vertical landing model of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, which will be capable of vertical, hovering landings on aircraft carriers and amphibious warfare vessels, had encountered problems related to the aircraft’s weight.
Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed made greater progress than expected in resolving the weight issue over the last year, Rear Adm. Steven Enewold, the Joint Strike Fighter program manager, said in September. Designers reduced the weight about 2,700 pounds and increased thrust enough to compensate for the remaining 600 pounds of excess weight.
Thursday’s announcement will keep the program on schedule for construction of the first conventional aircraft by late next year, followed by its first flight in the third quarter of 2006, said Kathy Crawford, spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter program office.
“We have now been given clear program direction,” Crawford said in a phone interview. “We can put our resources into building the optimized aircraft.”
United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit is developing the engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, which is also known as the F-35.
Other subcontractors on the aircraft include Century City-based Northrop Grumman Corp. and London-based BAE Systems.
