美 국방성, F-35 JSF 개발비용 추가 상승 보고서 제출...

 

Lockheed Martin 의 F-35 JSF 개발비용이 추가로 늘어났다는 보고서를 미 국방성이 작성, 의회에 제출했다는 Bloomberg

통신 기사를 소개합니다.

 

2002년 JSF 사업 시작 기준으로, 총 개발비의 65%, 1기당 개발 및 생산비를 모두 포함할 경우 81%, 1기당 순수 생산 단가는

85% 가 각각 늘어났다는 내용입니다. 그리고 이러한 비용상승의 주 원인을 Lockheed Martin 에 있음을 언급하고 있습니다.

이는 국방성이 작성한 보고서라는 점을 참조할때, 일단 그 책임을 Lockheed Martin 에게 돌리는 듯한 내용으로 보여집니다.

 

그러나 총 개발비에 있어 65% 나 증가되었다는 점은, 국방무기 획득사업의 경우 초기 비용 대비 최종 완료시 비용이 50% 를

넘지 못하게 규정한 Nunn-McCurdy (1982년 제정) 法을 위반하게 된다는 점 입니다.

 

사실 그동안 미 의회 내에서나 국내외 JSF 비판론자들로 부터, JSF 개발사업비가 Nunn-McCurdy 법에서 정한 비율을 초과

할 것이라는 우려의 목소리들이 있었습니다만, 국방성이 공식 문건에서 이러한 사실을 인정했다는 것에 대해서 다소 충격적

인 내용의 보고서로 보입니다.

 

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Lockheed F-35’s Projected Cost Rises to $382 Billion (Update1)

By Tony Capaccio

 

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- The projected cost of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive U.S. weapons program, is now $382.4 billion, 65 percent higher than the $232 billion estimated when the program started in 2002, according to Defense Department figures.

 

The projection from independent Pentagon analysts was sent to Congress today.

 

The Pentagon’s cost-analysis office reports that the price per plane -- including research, development and construction costs -- is now $112.4 million, about 81 percent more than the original estimate of $62 million. The production cost alone of each plane is estimated at $92.3 million, almost 85 percent higher than the $50 million projected when the program began in 2002, the Pentagon told Congress.

 

“I have directed the program office under its new management structure to make every possible effort to reduce the program costs forecast in these estimates,” Ashton Carter, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, said in a letter to Congress accompanying the cost projection.

 

The F-35 is the U.S. military’s next-generation fighter. Designed for missions that include bombing and air-to-air combat, it will be used by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. It will replace such aircraft as the F-16, A-10 and Harrier that are flown by the Marines and the U.K.

 

Behind Schedule

 

The program is already four years behind schedule on key milestones, including completing the development phase and combat testing, beginning full-scale production and then declaring the first Air Force and Navy units ready for combat.

 

The delays and cost growth are the consequence of a major wing redesign, inefficient production, testing problems and slow deliveries from suppliers, according to findings by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, congressional auditors and Pentagon officials.

 

Carter, in his letter and documentation to four congressional defense committees, said Lockheed Martin’s “actual and forecast labor and overhead rates and fees have increased significantly.” That “is the single largest contributor to cost growth,” he said.

 

Lockheed Martin spokesman Chris Geisel said in an e-mail that the company doesn’t “have insight” into how the cost evaluation was performed.

 

To date, “all F-35 production contracts have been contracted below government estimates,” Geisel said. “We can foresee no scenario in which the average cost of an F-35 is anywhere near $112 million.”

 

Based on History

 

The cost group’s estimate is more pessimistic than that of the program office or Lockheed Martin because it’s based heavily on historical data from other aircraft programs such as the Boeing F-18 and Lockheed Martin F-22.

 

The estimate of $382.4 billion released today comes only two months after the Pentagon’s F-35 program office pegged the cost at $328 billion.

 

This new projection was compiled to comply with a 1982 law that demands an assessment of any weapons program that exceeds its original projected cost by 50 percent.

 

Carter also certified to Congress that the program is vital to national security, calling it “the backbone of the future tactical aircraft inventory.”

 

The Pentagon signaled its support for the F-35 when it reorganized the program in February. The Pentagon extended the current development phase, delayed the purchase of 122 aircraft until after 2015 and added money for additional personnel.

 

Carter said that after the reorganization the test program “continues to encounter difficulties and has fallen behind the level of performance projected” in a September 2009 program assessment.”

 

Lockheed Martin fell 75 cents to $79.17 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

 

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 1, 2010 18:56 EDT

 

 

  ⓒ Lockheed Martin