Cuts Total Acquisition To 122 Aircraft Through 2015

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will slow down the F-35 program due to budget constraints, trimming Pentagon acquisition of the Joint Strike Fighter to just 10 in 2011, and no more than 122 though 2015.

Robert Gates At Lockheed Plant In September

Bloomberg News reports that an un-released internal Pentagon document shows Gates shifting more than $2.8 billion that had been budgeted for buying the airplane to its continued development.

Gates had said last year he wanted to step up the purchase phase on the jets in an effort to save money. The F-35 is the military's most expensive weapons program.  Lockheed hoped the purchases would come more quickly in order to improve the bottom line. The production phase of a program brings in more revenue than does the research and development phase.

The decision came in concert with a review conducted by Ashton Carter, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer.  Carter is assessing if the development phase should be extended due to delays in delivering some of the test aircraft. The testing plan calls for 5,000 sorties.

There are also questions about whether Lockheed can produce airplanes as quickly as they had originally estimated.

The document containing Gates' order is scheduled to be released February 1st.

FMI: www.dod.mil