Originally Posted by
ORAC
"The JSF Program Office..... expects the Navy’s cutbacks to be offset by international JSF procurements.” In fact, the international customers are also deferring their orders awaiting the mirage of price reductions as production ramps up - and always the cost creeps up..
One of things that makes me uncomfortable about this program is the JSF Program Office. The JSF PO is full of JSF customers who rather than holding LM to account actually participate in the corporate message.
How we ended up in the position of the customer providing the excuses for the manufacturer whilst paying the increasing bills is beyond me. The UK has a number of serving officers and crown servants at the JSF PO and it is unclear to me how the lawful customer and supplier relationship is maintained. At best it is far from normal business practice, at worst it starts to look a little like corruption.
Of course, it could be the case that all the international military officers working at the JSF PO genuinely believe that they will buy all their notional numbers, that all their fellow nations will do likewise and that the likely additional international sales are so assured that they are not risking any taxpayer's money.