AF Chief: F-35 Testing, Acquisition Will Slow

The Pentagon is slowing down testing and acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz acknowledged Wednesday.

“The path we were on was too aggressive, so there’s an effort underway to reduce concurrency, to lengthen the period associated with testing, to increase the number of test assets and make the production rate somewhat less ambitious,” Schwartz said during a briefing with reporters in Washington.

The F-35 will be ready for initial operational capability with the Air Force in 2013, Schwartz said.

“While it would have been ideal to go without adjustment, there are very few programs of this sophistication that I’m aware of that have not required some adjustment,” said Schwartz. “This is in the larger interest of the larger attack community that will rely on” the jet.

He said the adjustment is meant to ensure that large numbers of F-35s can be built problem-free when it comes time to replace U.S. and allied fighter fleets toward the end of the decade.

Schwartz added that he did not think the jet was going to breach the Nunn-McCurdy statute’s limits on cost growth in weapon programs.

His comments come a week after a leaked Navy analysis document said the F-35 would be considerably more expensive to operate than the Navy and Marine Corps’ current tactical fighters.

“I have not yet had an opportunity to validate for myself the accuracy of that analysis,” Schwartz said, adding that he did not accept the findings of this analysis “at face value.”

Still, he said he acknowledged that operating costs are a serious issue, and that he would be troubled if the analysis turns out to be accurate.

“If there are issues related to cost of operations, we’ll find remedies and mitigations; we have to,” he said.

Many have said that the Pentagon has no choice but to make sure the F-35 program succeeds since the existing U.S. fighter fleet is rapidly closing in on its retirement date.