Price of the F-35 would be more expensive

Solutions to the various problems encountered in the flight test program is controversial Pentagon F-35 Lightning II, Joint Strike Fighter Program alias, it will likely cost more than U.S. $ 1.7 billion, Reuters reported, citing a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office ( GAO). This cost increase is the result of the analysis is made to fix the aircraft before further tested.

F-35 is a fifth generation fighter single engine and one seat that was developed for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy, as well as allies. "Overall, the program Joint Strike Fighter F-35 is now moving in the right direction after going through the learning process is long, costly and difficult," expressed in the GAO draft report obtained by Reuters. "Going forward, ensuring affordability-in terms of the number of aircraft to be purchased and maintenance-will be a very important concern."

GAO says a case, a long learning process, costly and difficult, the F-35 program is not only characterized by long delays, but also major cost increases; costs for the current program has been to 391 billion U.S. dollars from the beginning that amounted to 233 billion dollars. Many analysts are predicting that the most expensive project in the history of the Pentagon's defense equipment will exceed 1 trillion dollars over 50 years.

GAO also expressed concerns regarding the procurement regulatory bodies and long-term care costs of the F-35, Reuters said.

GAO noted that the current Pentagon have spent at least about 10, 6 billion dollars per year until 2037 for this program. It is a budget request that has never happened before in the U.S. defense budget.

GAO also shows the average cost of aircraft will increase if the Pentagon to reduce the purchase of 2,443 F-35 and eight other foreign partners, namely Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the UK reduce their plans to buy 697 aircraft, said Reuters .

GAO said the Pentagon is calculating the average cost of one F-35 has gone up to 137 million dollars from the initial 69 million dollars, will rise again by 6 percent if 697 F-35 buy foreign orders canceled. Moreover, prices will also rise 9 percent if the U.S. decided just to buy 1,500 F-35, although the foreign partners are still buying all their orders,.

Sources:
http://www.artileri.org/2013/03/harga-f-35-akan-semakin-mahal.html