Forum: F-35 Lightning II

https://f35.com/news-events/news-releases.aspx

DoD and Lockheed Martin reach tentative F-35 UCA agreement

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 5, 2011 - The Department of Defense and the Lockheed Martin Corporation have reached a tentative agreement on key terms of the fifth F-35 Low Rate Initial Production contract, known as LRIP 5, which will enable award of an Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA). The key terms include agreement on a fixed-price type contract vehicle and a concurrency clause where DoD and Lockheed Martin will share responsibility on costs for concurrency changes - modification costs associated with changes discovered during development. The UCA award will allow Lockheed Martin and its suppliers to begin production of the LRIP 5 aircraft and bill for incurred costs. The exact value of the contract and number of aircraft procured will be announced through the normal DoD contract announcement process. Smile

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Good to know they've finally agreed on sharing of the concurrency costs.

Though LM did have a point in that the concurrancy cost had never been shared before. Not saying that is right, but it is a change to the DoD norm that LM and all other contractors were familiar with. I think it is a move in the right direction, but DoD needs to lot more reform in the procurment process. A lot of issues exist on the DoD side (also on the contractor side).

Glad to have ~30 more F-35's on the way (total production run is at ~90 so far)

Sufa Viper

Got give Vice Adm. David Venlet credit he really knows how to play hard ball and get what he wants. I guess that is why he is an Admiral! The F-35 program is definitely in good hands, Kudos to the Vice Admiral on a job well done. Cheers

I bet they dug up a conversation early in the conception phase where LM said "Concurrency is a great idea and we recommend it to keep costs down"....

sufaviper wrote:

Though LM did have a point in that the concurrancy cost had never been shared before. Not saying that is right, but it is a change to the DoD norm that LM and all other contractors were familiar with. I think it is a move in the right direction, but DoD needs to lot more reform in the procurment process. A lot of issues exist on the DoD side (also on the contractor side).

Glad to have ~30 more F-35's on the way (total production run is at ~90 so far)

Sufa Viper

How many F-35's in total are flying now? Anyone?

AF1-13 (minus AF-5) = 12
BF1-8 = 8 (has BF-7 flown yet?)
CF1-3 = 3

Total is 23 (or 22 if BF-7 has not flown)

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... l%20Struck

F-35 Mods Cost-Sharing Deal Struck

Dec 6, 2011

By Amy Butler

The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin have finally agreed to share the cost of modifications for roughly 30 aircraft to be procured in the next lot of F-35 production.

The question of who would pay for the so-called concurrency costs—the cost of retrofitting fixes to problems discovered during the program’s testing on already-built aircraft—has been the subject of a hearty debate between the parties this year. Lockheed executives have said before that the amount of cost-sharing on concurrency devised in the low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 5 deal is precedent-setting for industry.......

This agreement clears the way for the Pentagon and Lockheed to negotiate the remaining terms for LRIP 5, including the per-unit cost.

The cost of the LRIP 4 jets exceeded targets by about 7%; this is roughly the same amount offered by Lockheed in its original LRIP 4 proposal, according to one program official....$260m for 32 jets

One hopes LM can continue to improve the costs by more efficient production, getting below that $8m overage per LRIP 4 jet. Smile

SpudmanWP wrote:

AF1-13 (minus AF-5) = 12
BF1-8 = 8 (has BF-7 flown yet?)
CF1-3 = 3

Total is 23 (or 22 if BF-7 has not flown)

BF-7, No

with AA-1=23 Smile

How many have been delivered Code-1? I remember it being a big deal when the first Raptor the was Code-1 was delivered. Does phixer know, can phixer tell?

Conan wrote:

sufaviper wrote:

Though LM did have a point in that the concurrancy cost had never been shared before. Not saying that is right, but it is a change to the DoD norm that LM and all other contractors were familiar with. I think it is a move in the right direction, but DoD needs to lot more reform in the procurment process. A lot of issues exist on the DoD side (also on the contractor side).

Glad to have ~30 more F-35's on the way (total production run is at ~90 so far)

Sufa Viper

How many F-35's in total are flying now? Anyone?

I was talking Production Aircraft of which, 8 have been delivered AF-6 through AF-13 (6 and 7 were switched to SDD). and BF-6 and BF-8 have both flown. but the LRIP orders are:

1: 2 (F-35A)
2: 12 (6 A's, and 6 B's)
I'm pretty sure I am wrong on the next two)
3: 17 (all types)
4: 32 (all types)
5: 30 (all types)

total of 93, but again I think I have some of the numbers wrong. Can anyone give better info?

Thank you,
Sufa Viper

Question? Has any one got confirmation that Lockheed Martin is actually producing 30 aircraft in LRIP V or is everyone still just repeating the rumored number?

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... el=defense

Quote:

The Pentagon is reducing the next buy of Lockheed Martin F-35s to 30 from 35 aircraft in order cover cost overruns incurred in earlier production lots, according to the Joint Program Office (JPO).

The Navy and Air Force have agreed to reduce their quantities in low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 5 to “pay for the bills,” says Joe Dellavedova, JPO spokesman. “Controlling costs is an absolute must.”

That's about as official as it gets until the budget gets signed.

Thanks Spud! I am always amazed how you keep all this dynamic information on the F-35 program in you head without it exploding.

Google is my friend Smile

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Key terms of LRIP V reached