Pentagon Vows to Protect Funding for F-35 if Possible

By Andrea Shalal-Esa - (Reuters) - Top Pentagon officials on March 12, 2013, underscored their support for the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter, saying they would try to protect funding for the most expensive U.S. weapons program despite continued U.S. budget uncertainty and cost over-runs.

The $396 billion program is already seven years behind schedule and 70 percent over initial cost estimates.

"We'll try to protect F-35," Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's top arms buyer, told a defense conference. "There's no question about its priority. Despite sequestration, we'll still have a budget that's adequate to support F-35."

Kendall and other U.S. military officials spoke out in support of the program as it faces potentially damaging budget cuts that could lead to further delays and cost increases.

Kendall said the F-35 program still required much hard work on technical issues, noting that testing of the new radar-evading fighter was only about one-third complete. But he said the U.S. military needed the new fighter jet's next-generation capabilities.

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