The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which includes Pratt & Whitney engines, did catch up with the Defense Department’s delivery expectations in 2017, a government report says, contrary to a conflicting assessment in December.
In the Defense Department’s annual Selected Acquisition Report, dated April 3, the Pentagon says the Strike Fighter program “achieved its planned delivery goals” of 66 aircraft over the past year, “and is focusing on aggressively reducing the cost to procure the F-35.”
The Defense Department’s prior assessment of whether plane maker Lockheed Martin and Pratt had met F-35 delivery goals was far different.
In December, the Defense Department sharply disagreed with Pratt and Lockheed Martin over just whether the F-35 program was on-schedule or falling behind.
Pratt said it had met its projected 2017 goal for deliveries of jet engines for the Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin, likewise, insisted that it, too, was on target to deliver the number of planes it had promised.
The Defense Contract Management Agency, however, reported that F-35 deliveries were lagging behind schedule.
Lockheed failed to meet delivery timelines set out in contracts for its F-35 jet “for the fourth consecutive year,” Bloomberg News quoted a DCMA report as saying.
The agency went on to say that of the 66 planes delivered in 2017, nine were supposed to be ready in 2016, and 23 were late based on the monthly “contractual requirements.”
Lockheed, however, said in a news release that it delivered the 66th F-35 aircraft for the year on Dec. 15. That delivery met the government’s target for 2017, Executive Vice President and F-35 Program General Manager Jeff Babione said.
Lockheed is on track to reach its full production rate of 160 aircraft a year in 2023, he added
Pratt officials also maintained in December that the company had met its engine delivery schedule.
The April 3 Defense Department report also says that the cost of the F-35 program has been dropping, in response to repeated calls by the Pentagon and Congress to trim the multibillion-dollar project.
Acquisition costs for the overall program decreased $349.9 million or a scant 0.09 percent in 2017, from $406.48 billion to $406.13 billion, the report says.
The overall cost decline, however, came despite an increase in Pratt engine costs, which rose $239.7 million, or about 0.37 percent.
