JSF F-35 May Extend SDD Phase

Posted on May 13, 2008
Filed Under Aerospace Industry |

Aviation Week (5/12, Lok) reported that, following a meeting of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Executive Steering Board (JESB) in Amsterdam last month, members are “discuss[ing] the possibility of extending the JSF system development and demonstration (SDD) program by one year, to late 2014.” If approved, the extension “would lead to a longer initial operational test and evaluation program, now scheduled to last from 2011-2014.” In a letter, Dutch state secretary for defense procurement Jack de Vries explained that “[t]he extension is being considered because F-35 initial production, the ongoing technical testing and the pending initial operational test and evaluation — scheduled to start in 2011 — are ‘no longer fully in tune with each other.’” De Vries also said that he “is confident that the F-35A will be affordable,” pegging the F-35’s cost at $49.5 million and arguing that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) “used ‘incomparable’ sets of cost figures for” its analysis of “the F-16 and the F-35, leading to a distorted outcome.”

According to Flight Global (5/12), “A ‘final decision’ to extend the SDD would probably be made by ‘autumn 2008.’” Flight Global noted, “The JESB meets twice a year, in spring and in autumn. The presidency of the JESB is shared by the United States and a partner,” with “every third meeting…held in the country of the co-chairman after which the co-presidency passes to another partner.” The co-chairmanship will next pass from the Netherlands to Great Britain.

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