Top U.S. Air Force and Navy officials backed the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet despite growing costs and delays in deliveries of test aircraft that prompted a major restructuring of the program earlier this year.
Officials from both services, grilled by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday about massive projected cost growth in the program, said they believed the restructuring had put the program back on track for success, but stressed that they were monitoring the program carefully.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, who heads the committee's airland subcommittee, said he was troubled by news that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was facing projected cost increases of more than 50 percent and worried that delays on the program could widen projected shortfalls for both service's fighter forces.
"The JSF is the cornerstone of tactical aviation modernization for each of our services. Excessive cost growth in this program is bound to hurt American air power in the years ahead," Lieberman said.
Vice Admiral David Architzel, principal military deputy for acquisition for the Navy, told senators the military services had made an "unequivocal" commitment to the F-35 program and considered it essential for replacing aging fighters.
In prepared testimony for the hearing, Navy officials said they saw a looming tactical fighter aircraft shortfall as "manageable" and predicted the peak shortfall could be managed to about 100 aircraft in 2018 -- far below the 177 aircraft forecast as part of the fiscal 2011 budget process -- by doing service life extensions to existing planes.
The U.S. government's fiscal 2011 begins October 1.
Lieberman said the Navy fighter shortfall could be closer to 267 aircraft, but Navy officials felt they could cut the gap to around 150 planes by reducing squadron size, conducting service life extensions on some aircraft and cutting their time in maintenance depots.
By: Brant
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