Pentagon officials to meet to address F-35 program's problems

[Purveyor]

In what has become a regular event, senior Pentagon officials will meet today to review why the F-35 joint strike fighter has fallen behind schedule and over budget yet again and what to do about it.

The top Pentagon weapons buyer, Ashton Carter, is scheduled to convene a defense acquisition board with military and civilian experts to try to understand why development and testing of the airplane is lagging behind a schedule that was revised this year for at least the seventh time.

The meeting, which was scheduled months ago, comes as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his staff prepare the 2012 defense budget proposal. There are also increasing calls for huge defense budget cuts to help reduce government deficits.

The enormous but troubled F-35 program is often singled out as a prime budget-cutting target.

A major focus of the meeting will be the views of Vice Adm. David Venlet on what is wrong with the program and what has to be done to get things on track. Gates appointed Venlet F-35 program manager in February.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said at a news conference last week that the meeting should produce no major decisions. Any "recommendations that come out of it will be dealt with as part of the budget review," Morrell said in response to questions from Bloomberg News.

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http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/11/21/2649040/pentagon-officials-to-meet-to.html