Gates Orders Delay For F-35 Program

According to an unreleased budget document circulated within the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to decrease planned F-35 aircraft procurement by a total of 122 planes through fiscal year 2015, which includes a cut of 10 for this year. Over $2.8B in F-35 funding will now be diverted from procurement of the aircraft to its research and development ($320 million in 2011; $544 million in 2012; $716 million in 2013; $872 million in 2014 and $356 million in 2015). The government had hoped that an accelerated procurement process would contain costs.

The move is viewed by insiders as a serious setback for the Defense Department’s most expensive acquisition program, an ambitious joint-service tactical aircraft that is designed to maintain United States tactical air dominance. In the long-term, the government still plans on building 2,456 F-35s by fiscal year 2034. The fiscal year 2011 Department of Defense Budget is expected to be sent to the Hill in early February of this year.

Read more at Businessweek.com.