The US DOD have submitted a new 5 year spending plan that will cripple the US annual production order to 48 per year. This was seen by 'Janes International' as crippling to the original primary selling point for the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II, affordability.
The latest Janes Defence Review Weekly released during the international Defence Exhibition (IDEX) here in Abu Dhabi this week concludes the editorial with a small but disturbing paragraph that will
possibly effect the Oz JSF programme;
"The costs of the new spending plan on the overall JSF programme are yet to be determined. The projected spike on average unit production cost caused by the new plan could be a severe problem for countries wishing to buy a replacement fighter for less than $USD 100 million per aircraft."
I will leave it to the more privvy and business minded umongst us to discuss the implications of this issue, but from my perspective I see a bad moon rising!
