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| One US Air Force F-35A will cost US$7.8 million per flight in 2020 |
Slowly but surely, Lockheed Martin is trying to overcome the various problems and challenges associated with the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet. In addition to the problem of manufacturing defects that have not been completely resolved, Lockheed Martin's homework is how to reduce the operational costs and maintenance costs of the F-35 which are known to be very high.
In a streaming interview with the American Enterprise Institute on August 29, 2022, US Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr. stated that the operational cost for the F-35 is “something we are concerned about” and if this issue is not resolved, then the Air Force should use the fighter less frequently or reduce the volume of purchases.
According to a Chamber of Accounts report, one US Air Force F-35A will cost US$7.8 million per flight in 2020, nearly double the target cost of US$4.1 million. The F-35C and F-35B variants for aircraft carriers, respectively, cost $9.9 million and $9.1 million per flight, exceeding the target by about $2.5 million.
Quoted from eurasiantimes.com (4/9/2022), F-35 program officials recently revealed that the cost per flying hour (cost per flying hour) for the F-35, across all users (operators) has fallen by 50 percent in recent years. the last seven years and will fall another 35 percent in the next five years.
By fiscal year 2021, operating costs for the F-35 have dropped to $4.1 million per flight. Then the flight costs of the F-35C and F-35B are US$7.5 million and US$6.8 million per flight, respectively. In comparison, the F-15EX's hourly operating cost is US$27,000, while the F-35A's hourly operating cost is US$35,000.
Audrey Brady, Vice President of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Maintenance Division, said the cost savings relate only to those controlled from Lockheed and resulted from a variety of factors.
Audrey explained that some of the cost savings associated with Lockheed Martin's involvement relate to long-term contracts with parts and materials suppliers to obtain reasonable volumes and lower prices. To be precise Lockheed Martin has managed to reduce costs primarily by relying on economies of scale.
Some of these programs involve reducing the “wait time” for repairs by at least eight hours, while others involve process or material progress, reduced component costs, faster parts repair, and shorter maintenance/repair periods.
Over the years, lawmakers, government auditors, and oversight organizations have criticized the F-35 program for its high maintenance costs and operational challenges. The GAO report from July 2021 warned that annual cost overruns for the US military could reach $6 billion by 2036, if there were no reforms in the F-35 program.
The US Department of Defense agreed with Lockheed Martin Corp on July 18 to build about 375 F-35 fighter jets over three years. The deal comes amid expectations that the price of the aircraft's most common variant, the F-35A, will increase due to inflation and slower production.
The price of the F-35A reached US$221 million per unit when it entered final series production in 2007. Since then, as more countries have joined the program, manufacturing volumes and technological advances have helped lower the cost of this fifth-generation fighter to US$79 million per aircraft.
Future plans are to reduce sustainability costs by 37 percent over the next five year period. To that end, a logistics contract with the Pentagon is currently being worked on. Since 2019, Lockheed Martin has regularly suggested performance-based logistics contracts for the F-35, claiming that it would save the government costs, allow for faster repairs, and result in better availability of spare parts.
So far, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 825 F-35s to the armed forces of 15 countries, and defense contractors now expect that number to nearly double over the next five years.
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