JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER (JSF)

On 15 March 2007 the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual report to the US Congress on the progress of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program.

The GAO Report acknowledged progress in a number of areas, including:

·        Completion of the Program re-baselining;

·        Flight of the first test aircraft;

·        Analysis which shows that the JSF is meeting all performance specifications, except for one, which is dependent on progress on another program;

·        Positive progress in developing production facilities; and

·        The benefits of some concurrency between testing and production.

The GAO report also identified a number of cost increases but many of these are outside the control of the JSF Program and include general economic factors, increases in the cost of materials, etc.

Australian media are incorrectly reporting that the cost of the JSF has risen to US$112 million. This reporting is based on a misinterpretation of the figure quoted in the GAO report. To determine the cost of individual aircraft the figure needs to be discounted because:

·        It includes development costs;

·        It is based on a ‘Then Year’ cost basis -  which takes into account inflation out to the end of the JSF Program, around 2040 – rather than a ‘Constant Year’ cost basis;

·        It includes the cost of such factors as spares, support equipment, training systems, facilities etc;

·        It does not include the effect of JSF buyers other than the US – with around 500 additional aircraft planned for existing partners alone.; and

·        The lower average price for the Australian-preferred Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) variant.

The resulting figure is consistent with US Department of Defense (DoD) reporting to the US Congress of an average CTOL ‘flyaway’ cost of around US$47 million (BY02US$). Lockheed Martin is predicting a lower cost.

These, and other cost factors – including the cost effect of Australia planning to buy earlier than the overall average buy - were taken into account in the First Pass approval for the New Air Combat Capability project in November 2007.

The GAO report also identifies some slips to the Program schedule but these are generally in the order of a few months and the JSF Project Office has strategies in place to recover the schedule.

While the GAO report identifies risk associated with too high a level of production before testing is complete, the US DoD argues that: ‘the current JSF acquisition strategy provides an effective balance of technical risk, financial constraints and operational needs of the Services.’

Defence concurs with the US DoD position and is confident that the JSF will mature to provide the capability Australia needs in the most cost effective way.

Media contact:

Defence Media Liaison          (02) 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664

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