The Pentagon is sticking with plans to build an Air Force version of Lockheed Martin Corps. F-35 fighter after weighing cutting the number of variants to save money, a consultant with close ties to the defence establishment said on Wednesday.
A push to kill the Air Force version now appears to be "off the table," said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute and an adviser to several defence contractors, including Lockheed.
The Air Force plans to buy a total of 1,763 F-35s, part of a projected $250 billion-plus US multi-service purchase of about 2,400 by 2027, the largest warplane project ever.
Also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, the radar-evading plane was designed to serve the Air Force with a standard model, the Navy with a sturdier one for carrier landings, and the Marines with a short take-off and landing variant.
Thompson earlier in November quoted top Pentagon officials as saying Gordon England, the acting deputy defence secretary, had been pressing the Air Force to buy a Navy version.
The issue appears to have been settled because aides to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could not find any savings in axing the Air Force variant and Britain, the biggest foreign investor in the program, campaigned for it, said Thompson, citing government and industry officials.
Cheryl Irwin, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said it was premature to discuss any budgetary issue because it is part of an "ongoing process."
Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, the Pentagon's No 1 supplier, said it had not been notified of any changes to any of its programs. "Until the president's 2007 budget is announced, it's inappropriate for us to comment," said spokesman Thomas Jurkowsky.
President George W. Bush's budget plan is to be sent to Congress in early February. Congress often makes major changes.
Thompson said the matter was discussed at a November 21 Pentagon budget-preparatory session. As a result of the same session, Pentagon officials decided tentatively to buy fewer Lockheed F/A-22 fighters per year but stretch the previously scheduled production cut-off beyond 2010.
The goal was to keep Lockheed's production line active until the radar-evading F-35 enters high-rate production, said Thompson, again citing senior government and industry officials.
Loss of the Air Force variant would have been a blow to Lockheed, which expects to export that version, in particular, for decades to come.
Eight countries have joined the United States to co-develop the F-35: Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.
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