Charted:
Here’s How the Cost of Each Version of the F-35 is Changing
BY MARCUS
WEISGERBER
FEBRUARY 15,
2017
The per-plane
cost for the Navy and Marine Corps variants both rose before falling.
It’s been
no secret that the F-35’s
nine-figure price tag has been falling, but measuring that drop has
been difficult.
Moreover,
when Pentagon officials and Lockheed Martin executives discuss the cost of the
Joint Strike Fighter, they’re generally talking about the Air Force’s F-35A
variant — down 60 percent since the first two jets were ordered in 2007 — and
not the Marine Corps’ short-takeoff-vertical-landing F-35B or the Navy’s
carrier-borne F-35C.
So we
gathered data from Pentagon budget documents and other sources, and charted the
cost of all three versions, from the first purchase in 2007 to the latest deal
announced earlier this month.
The data show
that the more complex B and C models were never as pricy as the first few A
jets, which rolled off the line at a cool $297 million apiece. (All figures are
given in 2016 dollars.) But while the A has gotten cheaper with each succeeding
purchase — in December, a batch sold
for $95 million apiece — the B and C have seen their prices rise
and fall. As expected, both remain more expensive than the A.
Overall, the
price of the B has dropped from more than $226 million in 2008 to $123 million
today; the C, from $196 million in 2010 to $122 million.
These figures
reflect the flyaway cost of each plane: the price of the airframe, engine,
electronics, and other associated costs — basically, the amount it takes to
purchase and assemble the parts.
There are
other ways to calculate the “true” cost of an F-35. You can include all the
design and development work that took the aircraft from idea to production
model, or throw in maintenance, planned upgrades, and long-term
operating costs.
For years,
prime contractor Lockheed Martin — would simply tout the cost of the airframe
itself, sans engine and other fees that added tens of millions of dollars to
the cost of each plane.
For the past
four years, the F-35 program office began releasing figures that they say are a
more accurate representation of the true cost, a value that includes the
airframe, engine and other fees.
So far,
Lockheed has taken orders for 354 F-35s, including 267 for
the U.S. military and the rest for various allies. In sum, those jets
cost more than $45 billion, about $35 billion for the American planes and $10
billion for the foreign ones.
Original
post: defenseone.com
Related post:
F-35
Lightning: Details
No comments:
Post a Comment