Pentagon chief fires head of F-35 aircraft programme

Pentagon chief fires head of F-35 aircraft programme

news.bbc.co.uk

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has sacked the marine general overseeing a $40bn (£25bn) project to build the next generation strike fighter jet.

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Mr Gates said the F-35 programme had been plagued by problems and failed to hit performance targets.

He also said Lockheed Martin, the US corporation responsible for building the jet, would not be awarded $614m in performance-related payouts.

The Pentagon wants the F-35 to replace most of its ageing fighter jets.

"The progress and performance of the F-35 over the past two years has not been what it should," Mr Gates told a news conference on the Pentagon's proposed budget.

He added that "a number of key goals and benchmarks were not met".

I think this may be related to release of Russia's new Jet last week(?). It's being called as a 5th generation fighter jet.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)