US Air Force chief calls Lockheed F-35 upkeep costs a major concern

Bloomberg

The US Air Force’s top general said the estimated cost to operate and maintain its version of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet is a serious issue that’s sparked a search for savings by the service and senior Pentagon acquisition and support officials.
“Are O&S sustainment costs a major concern?” General David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said, referring to operating and support costs for the new fighter. “Absolutely.”
Undersecretary of Defense Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s acquisition support chief, “is fully engaged” with the Air Force and contractor Lockheed to reduce causes for upkeep costs, Goldfein said at a breakfast with defense reporters. He said his goal is to bring support costs closer to those of older fighters such as the F-16.
An internal Air Force analysis has warned the service may have to cut its purchases of F-35s by about a third if it can’t find ways to slash the price-tag to operate and support the fighter jets by as much as 38 percent over a decade, Bloomberg News reported. The shortfall could compel the Air Force to subtract 590 of the fighter jets from the 1,763 it plans to order, the assessment found.
Goldfein said the concern over operating costs is shared by officials with the Marine Corps, which is buying its own version of the fighter, and international partners participating in the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program.
Still, “we are going to be buying this aircraft for a number of years so it’s way, way too early to be talking about any curtailment” of the planned purchases, he said.
The report warning of a potential reduction in aircraft was a “staff assessment on aircraft affordability,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in an email.