HambliDesign

My colleague Colin Clark reports from the Hill today where chief Pentagon weapons buyer Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Joint Strike Fighter now costs 50 percent more than it did in 2002 and that it will breach the Nunn-McCurdy cost limits in a few days. Carter said the cost spike was “unacceptable.” but didn’t lay out any specifics on how the Pentagon intends to control those costs.

Instead of paying $50 million for each JSF, the Pentagon must now shell out $95 million per aircraft, said Christine Fox, director of the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, at the same hearing. So, if the per unit cost has doubled, does that mean the military will be forced to cut in half their planned buy of 2,456 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marines?