iscover
behind schedule JSF test flights have been considerably delayed. Pictured is the third of five F-35B STOVL test aircraft, BF-03, which recently joined the test fleet at NAS Patuxent River. (Lockheed Martin)
Testing times for JSF
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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates restructured the F-35 JSF program in early February, sacking the two-star head of the JSF Program Office (JPO).
Gates described the JSF program as having a “troubling performance record” of late – despite him declaring all was well with the program only last August during a visit to Fort Worth – with the restructure seeing US$614m (A$675m) in performance awards withheld from Lockheed Martin this year, 13 months added to the program’s development schedule, and as many as 202 fewer F‑35s purchased in the FY2011-FY2015 period where low rate production ramps up. The RAAF is scheduled to take delivery of its first 14 F-35As towards the end of that ramp-up period.
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