This is one of those videos we’ll put up occasionally just for the record. It’s the only way most folks are going to know that Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh visited the F-35 plant in Fort Worth and voiced strong support for the plane.
Welsh’s remarks come as Lockheed declared yesterday afternoon during its earnings call that the F-35 was making “great progress.”
Chief Operating Officer Chris Kubasik said there were 94 F-35 jets in production. Labor costs are dropping faster than on any fighter program in 40 years, Kubasik told reporters. The incoming CEO also mentioned that the incoming head of the Joint Strike Fighter program, Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, who famously declared during the recent Air Force Association conference that relations between Lockheed and the program were “the worst I’ve ever seen,” visited the plant the week before. Kubasik said the meeting was “very productive.” That could, of course, be taken many ways, but, given Welsh’s comments, it is beginning to look as if Lockheed may have turned the corner on the public image of the program.
Now if they can just finish those negotiations on LRIP 5…