We still can’t afford the F-35

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/203342-we-still-cant-afford-the-f-35



We still can’t afford the F-35
By William D. Hartung
April 14, 2014, 03:00 pm

The troubled F-35 combat aircraft program has turned a corner. At least that’s what program advocates claimed last Tuesday at a hearing before the Airland Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Program head Lt. Col. Christopher Bogdan asserted that “the program is making slow and steady progress on all fronts.”

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There are two problems with these optimistic projections. First, they aren’t believable. As long-time defense budget analyst Winslow Wheeler of the Project on Government Oversight has noted, the GAO figures on alleged reductions in the price of the F-35 are based on “rejiggering inflation numbers” and “lesser hardware requirements” accompanied by claims of cost reductions at the subcontractor level that have not been verified.

Second, and most importantly, even if the new claims of a “cheaper” F-35 were true, it would still be the most expensive weapons program ever undertaken by the Pentagon. That would include spending an average of $12.6 billion per year between now and 2037, a pace that the GAO notes will require the Air Force to “increase funds steeply over the next few years” while posing “long-term affordability risks.” This is particularly true because the Air Force also wants to develop a new long-range bomber, buy substantial quantities of new refueling tankers, and purchase a next generation of unmanned aerial systems. The money just isn’t there to do all of these things at once. Something will have to give.

It would be one thing if the F-35 promised value for money. But continuing problems with issues like night vision, bulkhead and rib cracks, and instability in flight raise serious questions about whether the F-35 will ever be able to perform as advertised. In fact, a recent report from the Pentagon’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering predicts that the F-35 will conclude its development phase without being able to carry out 40 percent of its originally envisioned operational capabilities.