Chief Of Dysfunctional F-35 Program Calls Out The Pentagon's Defense Contractors

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/chief-of-dysfunctional-f-35-program-calls-out-the-pentagons-defense-contractors-2013-2



AVALON, Australia, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The Pentagon program chief for the F-35 warplane slammed its commercial partners Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to "squeeze every nickel" out of the U.S. government and failing to see the long-term benefits of the project.

U.S. Lieutenant-General Christopher Bogdan made the comments during a visit to Australia, where he has sought to convince lawmakers and generals to stick to a plan to buy 100 of the jets, an exercise complicated by the second grounding of the plane this year and looming U.S. defence cuts.

Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, is sole supplier of engines to the $396 billion F-35, or Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin provides the body of the radar-evading jet, the most expensive combat aircraft in history.

"What I see Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney doing today is behaving as if they are getting ready to sell me the very last F-35 and the very last engine and are trying to squeeze every nickel out of that last F-35 and that last engine," Bogdan told reporters at the Australian International Airshow in southern Victoria state.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chief-of-dysfunctional-f-35-program-calls-out-the-pentagons-defense-contractors-2013-2#ixzz2M6ONiQmq

[Canuckistanian]

1. What a boondoggle

Canada dodged a bullet by finally deciding NOT to buy these white elephants.

I worked for a company once that was bidding on work for the F-35. It was a feeding frenzy for contractors. They knew if they got a contract, they would be on the gravy train.

[vt_native]

2. The plane is a flying turd, and the program should be killed on its own lack of merit

Did you know Bernie Sanders, Pat Leahy and Peter Welch all support basing this plane in South Burlington, Vermont, even though it will render about 3000 homes, affecting 9000 people, in a noise zone deemed by the U. S. Air Force to be "incompatible with residential use"?

Did you know that the Vermont delegation has been totally compromised by this boondoggle and will not even meet with opponents of the basing of the F-35 in Vermont?

The program will cause a net loss of jobs at the Vermont Air guard base, yet out government hypes the need for jobs related to the F-35 program. F-35 maintenance will be done at the Lockheed-Martin plant in Texas, not at the guard base in Vermont, accoring to the VtAir guard

[Eugene]

3. Alternate Reuters headline: Head of F-35 program says corporations milking the $396 billion project

That's what appears on the Yahoo! News main page.
Reuters has a tamer headline at the actual article.