Gen. Eric Fick

SASC Adds Six F-35s To FY22 NDAA; Splits With House

SASC would transfer authority for F-35 acquisition from the DoD Joint Program Office to the Air Force and Navy no later than Oct. 1, 2027.

New F-35 Sustainment Deal Creates Path To Lockheed Multi-Year PBL Contract

The cost per flight hour of the F-35A, the most common of the three F-35 variants, will drop from $33,600 to $30,000 over the contract.

ALIS Is Dying; Long Live F-35’s ODIN

WASHINGTON: The F-35 program began taking a major step the last two weeks toward removing an enormous albatross from around its neck by replacing the much-maligned ALIS logistics system with its sleeker, faster and younger replacement, ODIN. The move to install ODIN on two of 14 deployments brings the logistics and planning system to units in […]

Lockheed Martin To Build Up To 139 F-35s This Year

Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office are expected to need a six-month stop-gap contract before inking a deal for sustainment through 2023, company officials say.

Lockheed Martin Sees Hill Support For F-35 PBL

"There's a perception out there that Lockheed's going to take everything, and nobody's gonna be able to get in to support of the F-35," said Mike Miles of Lockheed Martin's F-35 logistics unit about the firm's PBL proposal. "That's not the case."

ALIS Working Better, But F-35 Full-Rate Date Still Unclear

"I don't sense that the lack of that milestone is doing anything other than providing a launching point for criticism of the program," JPO Director Lt. Gen. Eric Fick said.

DoD Weighs More ‘Organic’ F-35 Maintenance; Bartering With Lockheed

"We've always been bullish on the program's prospects, but admit we're more worried than we have been in a long time," wrote Roman Schweizer of Cowen Washington Research Group.

Lawmakers Blast Lockheed, DoD Over F-35 Parts Problems

"Fix this now, before you have blood on your hands," said Rep. Rashida Talib.

F-35 Faces Parts Problems After Turks Expulsion

WASHINGTON: It’s a familiar tale, if one told with fewer operational problems. The Government Accountability Office today details a $1.5 billion increase for 2019 in the F-35’s Block 4 costs — now up to $12.1 billion — and serious parts problems caused by the expulsion of Turkey from the Joint Strike Fighter program. And that […]

F-35 Readiness Rates Soar, From 55% To 73%; Price Drops 12.8%

The readiness rates were revealed this morning during a press briefing at the Pentagon to announce final agreement on the largest procurement in American history: the $34 billion purchase of 478 F-35s in Lots 12-14.