Britain, Netherlands May Commit To Fighters Soon

A worsening global economy hasn't made much of a dent in the international sales prospects for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a Pentagon official told a defense industry conference this week.

USAF Maj. Gen. Charles Davis told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington, DC orders for the advanced fighter aircraft "are coming on the schedule the deals were supposed to come on," despite economic concerns and rumblings from some quarters about the plane's abilities.

Great Britain -- which funded development of the aircraft, along with Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Australia -- is slated to commit to three F-35s in the next production batch, according to Davis. The Netherlands also has an option for one F-35 from that lot, known as Low-Rate Initial Production Lot 3, though getting clearance for the sale from lawmakers may take "some time."

Davis adds he expects new customers to commit to the aircraft, as well. Israel may order as many as 25 planes in 2009, and Singapore may place an order in 2010. Japan is also expected to submit a "letter of request" for pricing and delivery slots, the first step to ultimately acquiring the plane.

While those orders pale in comparison to the 2,443 F-35s the US military is expected to buy -- the bulk of which are slated for the USAF -- any foreign interest in the fighter would be a needed shot-in-the-arm for the development program, which has been plagued by cost overruns.

Two F-35s are now in flight test -- a conventional -A model, and a short takeoff and landing -B variant -- with a third plane, an F-35C carrier aircraft, expected to join the test program shortly.

The aircraft has not been without its critics. As ANN reported, in September industry watcher Winston Wheeler and Pierre Sprey, an aide to then-Defense Secretary James Schlesinger in the early 1970s, said combat simulations against a variety of current aircraft showed "the F-35 is a dog," when compared against Saab's Gripen, the Dassault Rafale, MiG-35 and Sukhoi Su-35, and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Pentagon insiders and Lockheed officials alike bristle at such comments. "They have a very shallow view of what an airplane is," Davis said. "Their measure of an airplane's success is what its air show profile looks like, which to me should be its last measure."

The F-35 is intended to ultimately replace a slew of fighter aircraft worldwide, including Lockheed F-16s and Boeing F/A-18 Hornets.

FMI: www.teamjsf.com