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    Air Force general takes over Pentagon's F-35 program

    Reuters – Thu, Dec 6, 2012

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan assumed control of the Pentagon's F-35 jet fighter program on Thursday, saying he believes the program is well-positioned for the future after hard work by his predecessor to put it on a "former, more realistic" footing.

    Bogdan replaces U.S. Navy Vice Admiral David Venlet, who is retiring after 36 years in the Navy and more than two years running the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's biggest weapons program, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

    At a Pentagon ceremony, Bogdan said Venlet and his team had helped ensure the long-term survival of what he described as "the most complex program in history."

    "Not only did they right the ship and deliver the first aircraft to an operational squadron, but we are now very well-positioned for the future," he said, according to a statement prepared by the Pentagon.

    After a year of often tense negotiations, the Pentagon last week reached a deal with Lockheed to buy a fifth batch of 32 additional F-35 fighters, a deal valued at $3.8 billion.

    The Pentagon is negotiating a separate agreement with engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, to supply engines for that fifth batch of planes.

    The program has reached other milestones in recent months, including surpassing 5,000 flight hours and creation of the first operational squadron of F-35s at a Marine Corps air base in Arizona.

    On Wednesday, Naval Air Systems Command announced that the Marine Corps version of the plane - the F-35B - had test dropped a GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb, the second successful weapons drop for the B model and the fourth for the program overall.

    The Air Force is also poised to approve the start of full training efforts at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, after completion of an operational utility evaluation last month. The decision could be announced soon, an Air Force spokesman said.

    Lockheed is developing three different variants of the F-35 for the U.S. military and eight countries that are helping fund the development: Britain, Italy, Turkey, Norway, Australia, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands. Together, these countries plan to buy more than 3,100 fighters in coming decades.

    Israel and Japan have also ordered the new fighter jet while South Korea is weighing competing bids from Lockheed's F-35 and Boeing Co's F-15 fighter.

    (Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa)

     

    35 comments

    • MarylandMike
      MarylandMike  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      $120 million per plane??....I don't think I can do that with 60month financing...
      • a
        a 2 days 4 hrs ago
        the interest comes from the 1% :)
    • Kalidescopemind
      Kalidescopemind  •  2 days 1 hr ago
      We should be investing in advanced drones. Far cheaper, and never lose a pilot.
    • Brian
      Brian  •  2 days 2 hrs ago
      No country including the U.S. can afford 120 million dollar fighters. In WWII (1945 to be exact) a North American P51 Mustang cost the U.S. government $51,000 dollars. That's $654,000 adjusted for inflation in 2012, but our new F35 Fighter costs 185 times that much. Who could afford to throw an asset that is that expensive at an enemy missile or fighter? The cost is ludicrous.
    • D'booger
      D'booger  •  2 days 3 hrs ago
      In another decade or so, we'll all be wondering who will make the biggest club to beat their neighbor on the head with. I'm already decorating my cave.
    • Paladin
      Paladin  •  2 days 3 hrs ago
      F-35 has not been fully tested and is based on a 1980s Russian design the Yakovlev Yak-141
      The Russians cancelled production and Yakovlev parnerd with Lockheed Martin, which was in the process of developing the X-35 for the US Joint Strike Fighter program, quickly stepped forward they never got it to fly. This aircraft is going to be one waste of money.
    • Steven
      Steven  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      What's its purpose? Drones kill individuals better, SAMs kill airplanes better, Satellites take better pictures and all of them are cheaper; so what's the point?
      • D'booger
        D'booger 2 days 3 hrs ago
        Rick, we're already there! The only thing these new weapons do is make money for the military industrial complex. The next big expenditure would be to graft a brain into our nations leaders.
    • OO
      OO  •  2 days 5 hrs ago
      Foulks, Don't you think that it could be an earlier picture when he was a major general and now is a Lt. general instead. Good grief (Charley Brown), you have such sharp eyes and a dull mind.
    • Photoman
      Photoman  •  2 days 5 hrs ago
      By 2025, the military will have retired all F-15's, F-16's, most models of the F/A-18 other than the SuperHornets, the A-10 and the British made Harriers. All of these planes were designed in the 1960's and 70's, and other than the SuperHornets, are not being purchased by the Pentagon anymore. Their airframes can take only so much stress. People that suggest we don't need this plane need to look at what we have for alternatives, and its not the current inventory of fighter and attack aircraft. They are wearing out. We have hundreds of earlier versions of all these planes parked in the southwest desert now, all beyond their safe, service life.

      The F-22 and F-35's are the future of manned air superiority, fast attack, and ground support aircraft. The sooner the F-35 comes online, the better and safer our pilots and aviators will be, and the safer we all will be as well.
      • bradley w
        bradley w 2 days 4 hrs ago
        the people who fly them said the f-18 is a better plane than the f-22 or f-35
    • D.A.
      D.A.  •  2 days 3 hrs ago
      On Thursday, Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan assumed control of the Pentagon's F-35 jet fighter program. He will order 32 more aircraft at a cost of $3.8 billion. On Friday he will accept a job with Lockheed Martin for $15 million a year as a Senior Air Force Relations Coordinator.
    • GTimes
      GTimes  •  2 days 5 hrs ago
      In a few years, this guy will be working as a lobbyist for Lockheed. These pentagon reps are just as corrupt as your everyday politican......
    • rick
      rick  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      Want to know whats wrong with the F-35? Read Ben R. Rich's book "Skunkworks" Or "Boyd" by Robert Coram. essentially both men say the same thing....it is about mission creep. They never freeze the design and as such there are constant costly changes. Everyone thinks the next gadget is the thing to install.
      • Andras
        Andras 2 days 3 hrs ago
        (Almost) all software development projects suffer from that and high-end weapons development is to a large extent SW nowadays.
    • bradley w
      bradley w  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      just more wasted money
    • Irish5
      Irish5  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      Well I sure didn't expect him to take over and say it's a flying POS! Gun Club Career is too rewarding to chuck it over anything like the truth!
    • Lonnie
      Lonnie  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      600 million dollar plane that has serious flying problems
    • Joe
      Joe  •  2 days 5 hrs ago
      We still have the finest war machine that taxpayer money can buy.......the rest of the world laughs at how much $$$$ we pi*s away
    • killroy
      killroy  •  2 days 5 hrs ago
      A good little fighter jet for taking out (NRA) bunkers..!
    • JosephB
      JosephB  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      Good. The F-35 program is great. It's jump jet capabilities make it an excellent ground assualt jet. This is something I'd rather not let the government shut it down because we don't have money in the budget.
      • Calling
        Calling 1 day 12 hrs ago
        Take a look again at what each F35 costs, and what the costs is expected to be able to put all the planes int he air.

        REAL easy to see what needs to be cut.....
    • Lonnie
      Lonnie  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      Venlet probably going to lockeed,and make another 250,000 per year,if not more
    • Steven
      Steven  •  2 days 4 hrs ago
      This is our "Independence Day" fighter. So where's the aliens? And I don't mean undocumented aliens. The existing designs are already superior to any other existing air force in the world, and relatively cheap to manufacture. This is just a program to enrich the defense industry and keep those libertarian engineers and former fly boys happy; otherwise they might actually act out on their phony baloney philosophy.
      • Alex
        Alex 2 days 4 hrs ago
        So, if that is the case, why 13 other contries want to buy them?
    • Independence76
      Independence76  •  2 days 3 hrs ago
      Billions and billions and biliions and billions. You want it, you pay for it.
     Post a comment

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