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)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.