Pentagon freezes production of F-35 fighters
The U.S. Department of Defense has postponed production of more F-35 fighters by Lockheed Martin Corp. The decision has been made in part because of the inability of production officials to estimate when the fighter will be ready for testing. The tests have been postponed since 2017, and should have taken place this month, according to Pentagon sources. The waiting time for approval has not yet been determined.
The Defense Department's F-35 program office expects to have confirmed dates for the test, as well as a possible decision on production by February 28, according to Laura Seal, the program's spokeswoman. "The technical challenges and impact of COVID-19 have delayed the preparation of the simulation facility where the sophisticated testing of the most expensive US weapons system will take place," said Jessica Maxwell, a Pentagon spokesperson. Maxwell further noted that a new date "would be based on an independent technical review.
The latest U.S. agreement with the contractor, released on December 29 by the Pentagon Press Department, included an agreement for a modification of all ACURL systems to include consumables for the F-35 aircraft in support of the governments of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The department estimates that the work will be completed by December 2021 and that the price will be around $19 million, charged after the award.
A day earlier, the Pentagon had published another contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. worth $1.3 billion for "recurrent logistics services" and activities to "support initial training of pilots and air systems managers of the F-35 joint combat fighter aircraft in service with the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers.
Biden and his team filed a complaint with Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, alleging that support for Trump within the Department of Defense is obstructing the transition by refusing to provide reports. Miller rejected the criticism despite statements by Pentagon spokesman Maxwell, who said that "it is possible that Biden's team will be informed, as we have previously provided information about the F-35 as part of the initial transition books, and have since provided additional information about the F-35 program.
However, in this regard, the Pentagon will not have the information necessary to make a decision on the production of the F-35 for another two or three months. After testing, several additional weeks are needed to transfer and analyse the data, and then to write a final report for Pentagon and Congressional leaders. The report is required by law before a decision is made. Therefore, the issue will have to wait. This is bad news for contractor Lockheed Martin Corp, as this is the most lucrative phase of the process.
More than 600 of the 3,200 potential F-35 aircraft have already been delivered, and the fighter is being used by the Army in nine countries, including the United States Air Force and Marine Corps. However, it has not yet proved effective against the more challenging Russian and Chinese air defence systems and aircraft.
The F-35 first entered combat in September 2018, serving the US Army in an attack on the Taliban. With a price tag of $100 million per aircraft, its programme had been sharply criticised by several members of Congress following a series of problems related to delays and cost overruns. During the first tests it did not respond as expected either.