美 Lockheed Martin, 국방성과 F-35 JSF 31대 계약...

 

美 Lockheed Martin 社가 총액 34억8천만불에 F-35 JSF 31대에 대한 계약을 美 국방성과 19일 체결하였다는

소식 입니다. 단순 계산으로 보자면 1기당 약 1억1천2백만불 입니다만, A, B, C 형 3개 모델 가격이 각각 틀리 

다는 점 참조 바랍니다.

 

이번의 계약은 저율생산 4차 즉 LRIP Lot 4 (LRIP, Low Rate Initial Production) 물량으로, F-35A CTOL 10대,

F-35B STOVL 16대, F-35C CV 4대, 그리고 영국이 도입하는 1대등 모두 31대 입니다. 또한 네덜란드가 1대를

구매하는 옵션이 걸려있다고 합니다.

 

이번 LRIP Lot 4 계약에서 가장 관심을 끄는 점은, 그동안 美 국방성이 요구하였던 고정가격 (Fixed price) 이

적용되었다는 것 입니다. 즉 체결시점에 정해 놓은 조달가격을 초과하는 개발비 혹은 제작비에 대해서 공급자,

제작사가 부담한다는 조건 입니다.

 

이는 앞서 체결되었던 Lot 1 ~ Lot 3 에서, 초과 비용 발생 부분에 대해서는 美 국방성이 일정 부분 부담하던

것을 삭제함으로써, 국방성 입장에서는 예산 초과 부담에서 벗어났다는 점으로 이해가 됩니다.

 

반면 제작사 Lockheed Martin 입장에서는, 향후 제작과정 혹은 시험비행 지연으로 인해 발생되는 추가비용은

모두 부담해야 되는 다소 위험성이 큰 계약으로 보여집니다. 한편으론, Lockheed Martin 이 더 이상의 추가

비용 발생 혹은 개발일정 지연이 없을 것이라는 확신으로 이러한 조건의 계약을 수용한 것으로도 이해가 되는

계약 입니다.

 

그러나 F-35B STOVL 1호기 BF-01 에서 발생된 ducted-fan 의 오작동으로 인해 현재까지 B형에 대한 수직

이착륙 시험비행이 전면 중단된 상태에서 software 수정 및 보완 작업이 진행되고 있는 점과, 美 ALCOA 社가

제작, 납품하고 있는 F-35B 중앙동체 기골 격벽에서의 균열 발견, 그리고 예상치 못한 일정 지연 사항등이

추가로 발생된다면, Lockheed Martin 입장에서는 다소 위험성이 높은 계약으로 보여 집니다.

 

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Lockheed Gets $3.48 Billion U.S. Contract for 31 F-35s as Program Reviewed

By Tony Capaccio - Nov 19, 2010

 

Lockheed Martin Corp. received a fourth production contract for 31 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets valued at $3.48 billion as the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program faces new questions over costs and delays.

 

Lockheed will build 16 planes for the U.S. Marine Corps configured for short takeoffs and vertical landings, 10 of the Air Force version of the jet, 4 Navy models and 1 for the U.K., the Pentagon said today. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company has an option to assemble a 32nd aircraft for the Netherlands.

 

The award provides a boost to Lockheed on the eve of a Nov. 22 review of the JSF led by the Defense Department’s top arms buyer, Ashton Carter. Development and combat testing is running more than four years behind schedule on the F-35, a program with a projected price tag of $382 billion.

 

Lockheed and the Pentagon will share on a 50-50 basis all overruns topping the F-35’s “target price.” Lockheed would have absorb the entire overrun once the price exceeds an upper- limit “ceiling,” while any savings for beating the target price would be split between the company and the government.

 

The contract caps a month of negotiations in which the Pentagon sought to convert from an agreement that paid the company all expenses plus a fee for profit while requiring the government to cover any overruns. Those were the provisions for the first 3 JSF production lots of 2, 12 and 17 planes.

 

Purchase Rules

 

Shifting to a so-called fixed-price incentive contract is a pillar of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s bid to improve arms purchasing, with contractors incurring greater financial risk to ensure that programs don’t exceed budget projections. Companies also would reap bigger profits for beating the forecasts.

 

The JSF is the Defense Department’s largest weapons program. Different versions of the plane are designed to be used, with modifications, by the Air Force, Navy and Marines, instead of each service buying its own aircraft.

 

Lockheed gained 28 cents to $69.43 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 7.9 percent in 2010.

 

Next week’s Pentagon review of the JSF is the third such study in less than a year. Officials are supposed to receive details from an assessment conducted by the program manager, Vice Admiral David Venlet, as the Defense Department seeks to avoid “further surprises,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said yesterday.

 

No Decisions

 

Venlet “has discovered additional issues that are of concern,” Morrell said. There is more software code “left to be written than what we thought,” said Morrell, who declined to give details on any potential new costs or delays and said no decisions were likely at the session.

 

Gates will take into account the review’s findings to determine the 2012 budget for the program, Morrell said. A Senate committee has voted to cut 10 planes from the Pentagon’s request for 43 F-35s as Congress works to finish a defense budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

 

Lockheed is focused on getting the JSF “into the hands of U.S. and allied pilots as quickly and cost-effectively as possible,” Larry Lawson, the company’s F-35 program manager, said in a statement.

 

The F-35 program has about 900 suppliers in 45 states, Lockheed Martin said.

 

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

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net

 

® 2010 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

 

 

  ⓒ Lockheed Martin

 

  ⓒ Lockheed Martin

 

  ⓒ Lockheed Martin