3 Star Rejects Trump F35 Slam: 'This Program Is Not Out of Control'

[nitpicker]

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/12/19/3-star-rejects-trump-f35-slam-this-program-is-not-out-of-cont.html

3 Star Rejects Trump F35 Slam: 'This Program Is Not Out of Control'
Military.com | Dec 19, 2016 | by Hope Hodge Seck

The manager of the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter program said Monday he'll welcome the opportunity to sit down with president-elect Donald Trump and members of his new administration to address his public critique of the F-35. Speaking to reporters at the F-35's Joint Program Office headquarters near Washington, D.C, Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan addressed Trump's Dec. 12 tweet that "F-35 program and cost is out of control." At a rally in Pennsylvania Dec. 15, Trump expanded on the remark, saying the Pentagon was making bad deals and that the "revolving door" trend of government employees who go on to take contracting and lobbying jobs was hurting efficiency.

"I have no doubt, given the controversy on the F-35 program over the years, that there is a perception that this program is out of control," Bogdan said. "Six-year delay, thirteen-and-a-half billion-dollar overrun. The first F-35s cost twice as much as we thought they were going to. That's in the past," he added. "If given the opportunity, I would like to try to explain to the new administration that this is a vastly different program from 2011 on, and I'll just lay the facts out on the table and let them make their own judgments."

Bogdan made the remarks as he summarized how the F-35 program had fared in 2016. While the aircraft hit a series of major milestones, including initial operational capability for the F-35A Air Force variant; completion of at-sea testing for the F-35B Marine Corps and F-35C Navy variants; and delivery of F-35s to Italy and Israel, it has also seen setbacks, including unexpected delays and cost overruns.

An improved version of the F-35's Autonomic Logistics Information System software, or ALIS, expected to be delivered before the end of the year, is now likely delayed until this spring due to back-end software migration issues, Bogdan said. The major milestone of getting 23 F-35s ready for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation, previously expected to begin in September, is now delayed six months. And the F-35 System Development and Demonstration phase, originally planned for completion by the end of October 2017, is now expected to wrap up between November 2017 and May 2018, according to Defense Department estimates. This phase will also take another $532 million to complete, though Bogdan said $265 million of that money had been taken out of the program to fund other projects and now was owed back, and some $165 million was due to new requirements added in the last few years.
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If Bogdan could send one message to Trump, it would be that "this program is not out of control," he said. "Since 2011, we have basically been on schedule. Since 2011, we have basically been on budget," he said. "We are delivering now today 50-plus airplanes a year that in the hands of the warfighter make a huge, huge difference."
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[Kolesar]

1. Fucked up, militarist, "got rich working in aerospace" types voted for Fat Bastard

Now they get to fight. They will kiss and make up, I expect.
Pardon my language.