Posted on April 23, 2010 by Fighter Country
If you missed Wednesday April 21, 2010’s NewsHour on PBS, watch Kwame Holman’s report on the controversial fighter below in five chapters. The Pentagon’s forthcoming warplane, the Joint Strike Fighter, is intended for use across the different branches of the military but has come under fire in Congress for skyrocketing costs and delays. Skeptics and defenders of the aircraft, which will be called the F-35, express their views in the following extended interviews. Author and journalist Bill Sweetman says for the first time the re-equipment plans of the U.S. fighter force is reliant on one program and one manufacturer: Chapter…
Posted on April 23, 2010 by Fighter Country
If you missed Wednesday April 21, 2010’s NewsHour on PBS, watch Kwame Holman’s report on the controversial fighter below in five chapters. The Pentagon’s forthcoming warplane, the Joint Strike Fighter, is intended for use across the different branches of the military but has come under fire in Congress for skyrocketing costs and delays. Skeptics and defenders of the aircraft, which will be called the F-35, express their views in the following extended interviews. Author and journalist Bill Sweetman says for the first time the re-equipment plans of the U.S. fighter force is reliant on one program and one manufacturer: Chapter…
Posted on April 23, 2010 by Fighter Country
The Defense Department is waging a battle over the increasing price of its new stealth aircraft program. Kwame Holman reports on why the Joint Strike Fighter program, which was supposed to save the military money, is taking fire in Washington. Transcript below JEFFREY BROWN: Next: to the saga of a U.S. military plane that was designed to do more for less, but is now hitting headwinds. Congressional Correspondent Kwame Holman has the story… KWAME HOLMAN: It may look like any other fighter jet at Patuxent River Naval Air station, but the Joint Strike Fighter taking shape here is the Pentagon’s…
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Fighter Country
By Megan Scully CongressDaily February 17, 2010 Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter on Wednesday said he will continue to aggressively review and manage the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter after a restructuring of the troubled program aimed at getting its cost and schedule back on track. Speaking at a conference sponsored by Aviation Week, Carter said plans to prolong and invest more heavily in the F-35′s development phase would put it on a path that is more “solid and realistic” and reverse “the schedule erosion” that has plagued the program. Carter, who spent weeks this fall reviewing the F-35, expressed confidence…
Posted on January 28, 2010 by Fighter Country
By John T. Bennett – Staff writer The Pentagon’s 2011 budget will seek nearly $11 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while also putting $4 billion toward a new long-range bomber and boosting funds for special operations forces, according to a draft overview of the spending request obtained by Defense News. The Obama administration’s 2011 Pentagon spending request follows a tumultuous 2010 Pentagon budget process that saw Defense Secretary Robert Gates cancel, restructure or otherwise alter about 50 major U.S. weapon programs. Due to be sent to Congress on Feb. 1, the new budget will call for the termination…
