Rakesh wrote:Viv_S: What the author is saying is basically buy the F-16 and F-18 and the F-35 will follow. There is a problem with that though...we are not going to get (unless Unkil offers some serious concessions...buy why?) F-35s at the $85 million mark that LM is projecting the cost to be in a couple of years. See this as well....
The way I see, the F-16 or F-18 is not, or at least should not be, a pre-requisite to acquiring the F-35. If anything, it'll strip away critical funding from the latter and unnecessarily diversify an already over-diverse fleet.
We're not in the JSF consortium so we're unlikely to get the kind of industrial benefits/workshare enjoyed by the likes of UK or Italy. But that doesn't affect the unit cost which is an entirely different issue.
Even through the FMS route the aircraft will be available at a price similar to what the participating members are paying. The JPO is aiming for a unit flyaway cost of $80 mil by 2020. For an FMS customer like Israel or India, that might run to $85-90 mil/unit after DSCA's 5% markup and other non-recurring expenses. Overall acquisition cost, going by the rule of thumb, would be approx twice that, so.. $200 mil per unit, give or take.
In my book, that's far better value for money than the F-16 or Gripen (or the Rafale for that matter).
F-35A Could Cost $80 Million With Multi-Year Orders, Lockheed Says
GEELONG, Australia—Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightnings could cost about $80 million each if the stealth fighter is ordered in multi-year lots, the manufacturer says, conditionally backing a call for lower prices from the Pentagon’s program chief.
Meanwhile, F-35s at a Red Flag exercises in January and February notionally killed far more than 20 enemy fighters for each F-35 loss, not the initially reported 15, says Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, the U.S. Air Force officer responsible for introduction of the model into service.
Lockheed Martin’s comment on potential unit costs of the F-35A follow a statement of the Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter program manager, Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, that a long-standing price target of $85 million in 2019 was not low enough. The price in 2019-20 should be $80 million, Bogdan said at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Geelong, this week. The most recently negotiated figure, for production lot 10, is $94.6 million.
The $80 million target is reasonable, says Jeff Babione, head of the program for Lockheed Martin, also speaking at the Australian show. But cooperation from customers is needed, he adds: the price can come down if customers contract for several years of production at a time, rather than the usually yearly lots.
Babione suggests that customers should negotiate a contract for three years of production, then one for five years.
These prices include the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine and compare with the $60-65 million unit price of the F-16, a much smaller fighter, of 9.21 metric tons (20,300 lb.) empty weight. The F-35A’s empty weight is around 13.2 metric tons.
^ Multi-year buys i.e. bulk purchases have now been sanctioned. And keep in mind, that that's likely a bog standard (Blk 50/52) F-16 they've referenced and not the Blk 70 being offered to India. The F-16's price will continue to grow as they start rolling up the production back-end.