Pentagon to buy 404 F-35s over 5 years

Reports are coming out that the Pentagon is to announce plans to buy 404 F-35s over the next five years. That's a decrease of 5-7% over last year's plans. That doesn't include 260 international aircraft over the same period. It's a mix of a drop of 45 aircraft for the Air Force, which is using the funds from this program for the LRS-B and KC-46 programs, and an increase of up to 21 aircraft for the Navy and Marines.

The announcement is expected to come Tuesday, when the budget is released. By 2021, the Air Force will purchase 243 aircraft, along with 64 C models for the Navy, and 97 B models for the Marines. The plan announced this week was for 13 more Navy and Marine aircraft, but it could go as high as 21.

The U.S. Defense Department plans to buy 404 Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jets over the next five years, a net decrease of 5 to 7 percent from last year's plan, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.

The orders will amount to about $40 billion in new revenue for Lockheed, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, and engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N).

The revised procurement numbers will be released on Tuesday when the Pentagon issues its fiscal 2017 budget and the new five-year plan, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly before the budget release.

www.reuters.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Zaph, curious to know, what is our budget? More curious if the new Commander in Chief will increase the budget and approve more funding and war birds! ?

a reply to: ReadLeader

They haven't officially released numbers yet, but they were expecting it to be around $525B. This is for Fiscal 2017. As for increases, yes and no. They're increasing some purchases, but they're still balancing it with cuts to other programs, such as they did here. They're still operating somewhat under sequestration.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Holy crapola ~ that's a hail of a start!!!!

Our reps here in north west Ohio are petitioning to have the 180th Fighter Wing based here in Toledo to upgrade to F-35's.

I hope it happens, it would be cool to see those things flying around every day!

Please Please Please!

a reply to: ReadLeader

That covers all costs, not just buying new aircraft. The total will be $582.7B, for operations, OCO, etc. That will include $71.4B for RDT&E, $7.5B for anti-ISIS operations, $1.8B for munitions purchases, $3.4B for the European Reassurance Initiative, $8.1B for subs and undersea capabilities, P-8As, and more. The official release, with the final request numbers will be on the 9th.

a reply to: caterpillage

You might be able to get the ones planned for Vermont. The Air Force is being sued over the decision to base them there. They tried to get the KC-46 at Rickenbacker, but the Air Force denied them.

I found this very interesting.

An F-35A purchased in 2018 and delivered in 2020 will be $85 million, which is the equivalent of $75 million in today’s dollars.

F 35 cost

a reply to: ReadLeader

The cost has been dropping drastically over the last several LRIP purchases. The A model is heading down to under $100M, including engine. The other two versions are getting down towards $100M without engine.

a reply to: Zaphod58

How does that work, lets say hypothetically our 180th gets the F-35, would our current pilots and ground crew be trained on them, or would a whole new set of manpower be brought in? I don't know anything about air force procedures so forgive me if this seems like a silly question.

a reply to: caterpillage

Not silly at all. They'd probably bring another unit in to perform their mission, while the pilots and ground crews stand up the F-35s. Once they're ready, the other unit will go home and the home unit will start flying the mission. They may do like the F-22 unit in Hawaii, where it's a composite unit. Half of it is active duty, the other half is Air National Guard.

One of the fun things about Air National Guard units is that some of them change aircraft every few years. Niagara Falls is a good example. From 1994-2008 they had KC-135s, then in 2008 then went to the C-130, now they're going back to KC-135s again. Kansas, went from F-16s, to B-1s, to C-130s.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I had NO idea there was an A B & C version. I would however give my left mountain oyster to just to be I. That pit for 10 min.....

a reply to: Zaphod58

Wow, that's quite a switch from F16 to B1 to C130. would make for a hell of a resume!

I hope they get the new planes, I live about a mile from the airport they fly out of and see them all the time. I'd love to get some pics of those F-35s coming in.

a reply to: ReadLeader

The A, is the Conventional Take Off and Landing, or CTOL. It requires a fixed runway to operate. The B is the Short Take Off, Vertical Landing or STOVL version. It's the replacement for the AV-8B Harrier for the Marines. The C is the carrier version for the Navy.

a reply to: Zaphod58

IF I could only plug my push to talk and David Clarks into that pit

I have the utmost respect for our incredibly talented fighter pilots !!

What is inspiring, is that they all started off in a 150 or 172 somewhere

Nice thread Zaph!!!

a reply to: ReadLeader

One of the neatest features of the F-35 is the helmet. They've removed the Heads Up Display that you normally see in aircraft, and put all the information on the helmet. It also ties into the external camera system, so if the pilot looks down towards his feet, he can see below the aircraft, outside. It gives him full 360 degree vision.

Gen III Helmet

a reply to: Zaphod58

Facinating, the flir, pic in pic is awesome!!!! Is it true that the helmet alone is 400K?

a reply to: ReadLeader

Yeah. It has to be made for each pilot, as well as all the electronics that are in it.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Is this the big block buy that's been running around the rumor mill?

a reply to: anzha

The start of it. They're going to do it over a couple of runs, instead of all at once.