F-35 Engine Haggle Still Under Way, Says Dutch MoD

[ErnstBlofeld]

Aviation Week and Space technology/Bill Sweetman:

While the US government has completed negotiations with Lockheed Martin covering the fourth low rate initial production (LRIP) batch of F-35s, discussions about the price of the engines - covered by a separate contract - are not complete. This was disclosed by the Netherlands Ministry of Defense in a letter to Parliament yesterday.

Despite Lockheed Martin's predictions of bargain prices, the Dutch government is still bracing for higher-than-expected costs.

The defense ministry says that it is still waiting for US government's approved CAPE cost estimate for the F-35A. (CAPE figures so far lump the three variants together.) However, the defense ministry has told parliament that it is working with the JSF Program Office and its own government auditors to analyze the cost of the Dutch program. "To all appearances, the impact on the F-16 replacement project will be considerable," parliament is told.

The ministry has also formally confirmed to Parliament that, if the JSF buy is approved by the next government, first production deliveries will be slipped to 2016 from 2014, in line with the delayed completion of development testing announced in March.

This follows Denmark's decision to delay its own fighter program. While Israel's order may fill some early slots on the production line, similar moves by other customers could affect the production ramp-up: up to the 2018 buy year, around one-third of JSFs are due to be delivered to non-US partners.