Machinists Union Presses F-35 Jobs Campaign On Capitol Hill

FORT WORTH: In the immortal words of the inestimable Tip O’Neill, “all politics is local.” That is never more true than with major weapons programs, with US defense primes traditionally sprinkling facilities and the jobs that come with them across as many of the 50 states as possible. And it is true in spades with DoD’s most expensive current program, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — which has suppliers in 45 states and Puerto Rico, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

In that tradition, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has launched a full-court lobbying campaign to shore up wavering congressional support for the long-troubled program.

“The Machinist Union will use every political and legislative legislative tool at its disposal to make sure this program is a continued success. Now when we talk about ‘make something in America,’ when we talk about ‘Build Back Better’ with this administration, the F-35 program is an example of that,” Hasan Solomon, IAM political and legislative director, said during a briefing here.

He said that while Lockheed Martin is under “a lot of pressure” to keep costs down, “as the Machinists Union, as a representative of workers, we’re not under that pressure — we apply pressure. And we’ve been applying pressure to members of Congress to make sure that this program is adequately funded. We tell them point blank: ‘You can’t say that you support veterans,’ and then you don’t support their jobs, those good jobs here at Lockheed.”

The head of the union, Robert Martinez, issued a statement provided to reporters here at Lockheed Martin’s F-35 production facility making clear how much that map can mean:

“The F-35 program supports more than 250,000 direct and indirect jobs at nearly 2,000 suppliers nationwide. Continued investment in the F-35 program, and the Machinists Union families and communities who make it all possible, is an investment in not only our national security, but our economic security as well.”

The interesting twist, however, is that as a labor union, the group arguably has more clout than any one defense company, no matter how big, or even the defense industry as a whole, with progressive Democrats — who have been pushing strongly to slash the F-35’s trillion dollar budget to fund a broad domestic agenda.

This year, they have more sympathy among their congressional colleagues than ever, with key Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) who have blasted the JSF’s astronomical operations and sustainment costs. HASC Chair Rep. Adam Smith is himself no fan of the F-35 program, which he has called a “rat hole” for taxpayer dollars.

The congressional queasiness over the JSF’s estimated $1.2 trillion lifetime sustainment costs is also being felt by the Air Force. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown has intimated that the service’s ongoing study of its tactical aircraft fleet may reduce the service’s currently planned purchase of 1,763 fighters — re-optimizing the F-35 fleet to take on high-end adversary threats while a new F-16 successor fills in for other missions.

The IAM hopes to press home to Democratic leaders that there is political peril in cutting back the F-35. It includes a large number of union jobs, and high-paying ones at that, in a number of states — such as Texas and Georgia — where Dems are working hard to gain or keep legislative footholds. Martinez pointed out in his letter that there are “more than 55,000 direct and indirect jobs at 111 suppliers” in Texas alone.

Union reps are realistic about the fact that it looks uncertain that Congress will boost DoD’s $12 billion 2022 budget request to buy 85 F-35 JSF aircraft. The Air Force accounts for the bulk of the procurement plan with 48 jets at $4.5 billion. But even the Air Force has given up that ghost, leaving out its traditional yearly call for more F-35As in this year’s unfunded priorities list.

IAM’s goal is to protect the planned Pentagon total buy of 2,456 aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, and to speed up the ramp to full-rate production. And to that end they’ve been spending a lot of time on Capitol Hill, including with House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, to point out that in a mid-term election — when the party holding the White House often loses ground in Congress — keeping union workers sweet is a must.

For example, IAM back in March helped to circulate and urge lawmakers to sign the April 28 letter of support for the program by the bipartisan House F-35 Caucus, led by Democrat Rep. John Larson and Republican Rep. Mike Turner.

The group also is echoing the sentiment expressed by the Biden administration’s nominee for Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in his Senate confirmation hearing last month that buying more F-35s, not less, is one way to drop the per-plane costs of the JSF. Kendall’s nomination was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday.

“You can’t say that you want to lower costs, but you want to cut back to production,” Solomon said.

Lockheed’s new F-35 program manager, Bridget Lauderdale, told reporters yesterday that the company expects to roll out between 133 and 139 JSFs this year. How that rate ramps up, however, she said is up to DoD’s Joint Program Office (JPO) led by Lt. Gen. Eric Fick. And his decision is based on service customer desires.

She noted that even if the Air Force slows its acquisition plans the company intends to continue its push to reduce costs of the jet to “as low as we can take it.” (The current price tag is about $80 million per plane.) This will be enabled in part by strong demand from foreign militaries that will keep quantities up, she explained.

“In terms of US costs, it is dependent on the quantities,” she said, “but with the interest internationally, we believe there will be a strong demand that will allow us to continue to keep moving forward at the kind of quantities we’re talking about.”

Lauderdale said that despite the current turmoil in the US program, there has been no slacking of international interest in buying F-35s. She noted that Lockheed feels pretty confident about the ongoing competitions in Canada, Finland and Switzerland, and that are other countries expressing interest. (While Lauderdale didn’t mention specific examples, Greek defense officials last year made clear their interest in F-35 as part of a planned build up in the country’s air forces.)

“We really haven’t seen any sort of diminishing interest,” she said. “In fact, as the jet performs” Lockheed Martin is “seeing a stronger conviction” about the value of the F-35. In particular, she noted, European allies participating in recent exercises that have showed off the jet’s capabilities, especially in allowing allies and the US to interoperate more smoothly, are ever more impressed with its performance.

Such exercises include the June 7-15 Falcon Strike exercise, hosted by Italy this year, which includes US Air Force F-35As and Marine Corps F-35Bs, UK Royal Air Force F-35Bs, and Italian F-35A and B aircraft, according to a press release from the Air Force 31st Fighter Wing. (The annual exercise also involves Israel.)

“So, I would say the airplane is doing its job and selling itself in terms of its capabilities,” Lauderdale said. “So the more of them we can see out in the field, and the more the warfighting community experiences that, we continue to see strong, strong support.”

With only two months on the job, however, Lauderdale has not yet had any meetings with lawmakers (including Smith) to press Lockheed Martin’s case — although of course the company has an active legislative affairs office at its Bethesda, Maryland headquarters. In answer to my question about what she would say to Smith to help convince him that the F-35 program is worthy, she echoed the company’s high-level talking points.

“We appreciate every opportunity we have to engage with the chairman and bring the facts and data around the performance of the airplane, the affordability of the airplane, the availability of the airplane — and I have confidence in those dialogues that we’re bringing forward the best information to inform
perspectives for decisions going forward,” she said.