The F-35 program has incurred a major breach of Nunn-McCurdy cost-monitoring thresholds and, per US law, will have to be recertified as sound to continue, Defense Department acquisition executive Ash Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. He said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley is expected to formally inform Congress of the breach within days. Testifying with Carter, Christine Fox, Pentagon chief for independent cost assessments, said F-35 costs have ballooned by more than 50 percent since 2001, triggering the breach. Back then, the F-35 average procurement unit cost was pegged at $50.2 million in base year 2002 dollars over the entire US buy. Now, the projected per-unit price tag is projected at between $80 million and $95 million in 2002 dollars, she said. (That’s as high as $112 million apiece in today’s dollars.) The recertification should be completed in June, she said. (See Living in the Breach) (Carter’s prepared remarks) (Fox’s prepared remarks)
U.S. Air Forces Central has awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract worth up to $270 million to a California-based company to provide an ultra-long range, solar-powered drone capable of 75 hours of flight.