You could get rapidly up to speed through this major article at Defense Industy Daily:
F-35 Lightning: The Joint Strike Fighter Program, 2012
The $382 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that will have 3 variants: the F-35A conventional version for the US Air Force et. al.; the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing for the US Marines, British Royal Navy, et. al.; and the F-35C conventional carrier-launched version for the US Navy. The aircraft is named after Lockheed’s famous WW2 P-38 Lightning, and the Mach 2, stacked-engine English Electric (now BAE) Lightning jet. Lightning II system development partners included The USA & Britain (Tier 1), Italy and the Netherlands (Tier 2), and Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Turkey (Tier 3), with Singapore and Israel as “Security Cooperation Partners,” and Japan as the 1st export customer.
The big question for Lockheed Martin is whether, and when, these partner countries will begin placing purchase orders. This updated article has expanded to feature more detail regarding the F-35 program, including contracts, sub-contracts, and notable events and reports…
Canada (Tier 3)
In July 2010, Canada committed to buy 65 F-35As as its future fighter force for up to C$ 7 billion [flyaway cost only, government put it at $6 billion in 2011], without a competition. That decision has been beset by controversy ever since, and the Conservative Party government claims that they aren’t committed to buy the F-35A yet. On the other hand, they haven’t made any substantive concessions, or meaningful changes to their plans, aside from promising that if F-35 costs continue to rise, Canada will just buy fewer planes within its budget.
Canada will probably sign a contract by 2015, which would make it too expensive for any successor governments to cancel the program. If the Conservative Party government doesn’t sign a contract before the next election, they had better win again. Otherwise, the conduct of this acquisition program has so antagonized the opposition Liberal and NDP parties that the F-35 buy will be a priority target for cancellation.
Read full coverage over at “Canada Preparing to Replace its CF-18 Hornets.”..
A recent development, note “Comment”:
Fighter Update: F-35B, Brazil
Mark Collins is a prolific Ottawa blogger
3 Responses to “Mark Collins - Most You Might Want to Know About the F-35”
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August 15th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
If LockMart’s CEO to-be were really confident about the program I doubt this would be the case:
“Lockheed’s Next CEO On The F-35, Sequestration
…
Many of our {AW&ST] readers may point out that the Joint Strike Fighter is costing much more than originally projected and is behind schedule. How does that square with your affordability imperative?
‘This is a big, complicated program, with the U.S. Navy, Marines and Air Force, all the international customers, our suppliers and teammates. By all accounts, people have seen an improvement since we did a rebaselining in 2010. We’ve exceeded our flight-test schedule. We are doing the best we can to manage the underlying infrastructure and the cost it takes to build the aircraft.
I get a report every night between 10 and 11 p.m. that gives me the status of the program, relative to flight test, test points and other challenges. Probably the last thing I do every night before I go to bed is read my F-35 report. Most nights I go to sleep [immediately afterward]. Occasionally, I make a few phone calls first. We watch this seven days a week. There is not a person in this company that is not aware of the importance of this program…
… Like every program, there have been changes in funding and requirements, and you discover things as you’re pushing the envelope and the state of the art. The volume of any product is going to drive the cost down more than any single cost-reduction initiative. That’s why I’ve been so focused on international [sales]. That’s the key that is going to make a big difference.’
‘Lockheed Martin is on the hook to deliver the JSF low-rate initial production III and IV aircraft by the end of the year. Will you meet that deadline?
It’s close. We experienced a 10-week strike in Fort Worth that just ended a month ago, and that could drive some challenges as to whether some aircraft get delivered late this year or early in 2013. We’re in dialogue with our customer, and they know the challenges…’
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_08_13_2012_p34-484426.xml&p=2
August 15th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Back in Canada and further to this comment:
http://www.cdfai.org/the3dsblog/?p=1339#comment-2662
“Final report on F-35 costs likely won’t get Parliamentary scrutiny until 2013, ’seems very suspect’: opposition MPs
The new request for bids Public Works quietly published earlier this month on the government tendering site Merx postpones a final report from whoever wins the contract to oversee F-35 costing estimates being prepared by the Department of National Defence to Nov. 27 from Oct. 24, virtually guaranteeing that Parliament will not have an opportunity to conduct committee study on the report before the Dec. 14 recess for Christmas and a winter recess of nearly two months…”
http://www.hilltimes.com/2012/08/15/final-report-on-f-35-costs-likely-wont-get-parliamentary-scrutiny-until-2013-seems-very-suspect/31846
Mark Collins
August 17th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Further to 1. and with a different tone, video from LockMart (note source), for the Canadian audience:
“Sun News interviews Lockheed Martin F-35 VP Stephen O’Bryan
Lorne Gunter interviews Stephen O’Bryan, Lockheed Martin Vice-President of Business Development for the F-35 program, on the Charles Adler show on Sun News.”
http://f-35.ca/2012/sun-news-interviews-lockheed-martin-f-35-vp-stephen-o%E2%80%99bryan/
Mark Collins