Chris Pocock has been covering the defense beat for AIN for over 30&nbsp;years. He is a British citizen and a graduate of the University of Cambridge. Chris worked in the air cargo business for ten years before becoming a full-time writer in 1983. He subsequently edited two air cargo journals before becoming AIN’s Defense Editor. He retired from that position in 2018, but still contributes to the publication. Chris has written extensively on aerial reconnaissance, including four books on the history of the U-2 spyplane. He also lectures on this and other topics related to intelligence-gathering in the Cold War.

Defense Correspondent

Chris Pocock

Despite <a href="?q=node/24189">government reports</a> to the contrary, the average unit recurring flyaway cost of the F-35 should still be below $60 million, according to Lockheed Martin officials. “If we can secure adequate production volume, the acquisition cost will be about the same as that for a similarly equipped F-18 or an F-16 Block 60,” said chairman and CEO Bob Stevens. This is about half of the cost predicted recently by the U.S. government, in the wake of program delays and a revision of the development milestones. But a Lockheed Martin spokesman told AIN that the official, independently produced unit cost predictions “make sense in the context of the estimating models used, but they make less sense when applied to the F-35.” Stevens noted that negotiations for low-rate initial production Lot 4, now reaching a conclusion, “will likely price at 20 percent below” the independent estimates. The spokesman told AIN that the government's opening offer in these negotiations is “40 percent less than their own estimate of what the airplanes will cost.”

Meanwhile, the flight-test program is finally accelerating, after the glacial pace of previous years. Stevens reported a total of 113 test flights so far this year, with a goal of 396 by the end of December. “We are stressing and testing,” he said. AIN will report in detail on the F-35 program in our opening edition at the Farnborough International airshow next month.

Likely F-35 Unit Cost Still Below $60 Million, Says Lockheed Martin  

Despite <link ain-defense-perspective/single-publication-story/browse/0/article/massive-cost-increase-projected-for-lockheed-martin-f-35-24189/?no

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN