Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, head of the F-35 joint program office, has said an “affordability compendium†that outlines initiatives on how to reduce the fighter program’s costs has now been handed to Defense Secretary James Mattis for review, Defense News reported Thursday.
Valerie Insinna writes Bogdan said in a speech delivered Wednesday at the McAleese/Credit Suisse conference that the JPO document contains contracting options that would provide the government a discount for bulk purchases of Lockheed Martin-built F-35s through multiyear procurements, economic order quantity and block buys.
The compendium also recommends changes to operations and training to reduce program costs such as ramping up simulator training exercises, he added.
He said the JPO also expects Lockheed to cut the price of F-35A to $80 million per aircraft by 2020, down from $85 million per unit that the company aims to offer for such a model by 2019.
Bogdan noted that his office will also supply information on another review that seeks to assess the capabilities of the U.S. Navy’s F-35C model in comparison with Boeing-built F/A-18E/F Block 3 Super Hornets and that he expects the lot 11 contract to be finalized by the summer of 2017, the report added.
