It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
USAF Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 PEO and survivor of the Air Force's KC-46 competition (he led that effort), once again had the audience rapt at the annual Air Force Association conference this week. He's known for plain speak and for holding ccontractors and stakeholders in major programs to their word. And, if they don't keep their word, he's known for calling them out.
“I threw a hand grenade into the crowd, and that was intentional," Bogdan said of his appearance last year at this event. See Av Week's article on his presentation last year here. He famously called out the F-35 team -- prime contractor Lockheed Martin in particular -- for a dysfunctional relationship with the Joint Program Office. "It is the worst I have ever seen," Bogdan said of the team's relationship.
At that time, he was the program deputy and Vice Adm. David Venlet was the outgoing director. The program was in the midst of contentious and protracted production contract talks. He ascended to Venlet's position later in the year.
His tone at this year's conference changed; it was a mix of pride in the changes (Lockheed's new leadership seems to be much more responsive to the government), righteousness (he did -- after all -- state the obvious last year and was the only program director to have the guts to do it) and ambition (he still wants things to get better).
OccamsRazor04
reply to post by Zaphod58
Good news. Lower costs mean more buyers, which means the end result will be a better product and we will get our moneys worth. Wonder if this will help influence Canada in their decision making.