Sat, Jan 08, 2011
Acting Minister Of Defense Says Overall Program Risk For His
Country Reduced
Australia's Acting Minister for Defence Jason Clare said
Thursday he welcomes the restructure of the Joint Strike Fighter
(JSF) Program by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The restructure
follows a detailed six month Technical Baseline Review of the JSF
Program's progress by the US Department of Defense to examine the
remaining development tasks and the resources and time required to
complete them.
File Photo
The restructure will see an extension of the System Design and
Development phase and a reduction in the production rate in the
earlier batches of aircraft. The US will fund costs associated with
extended design and test activity.
Australia is purchasing the CTOL variant. The US Air Force is
also purchasing this variant. Secretary Gates confirmed Thursday
that this variant was on schedule and proceeding satisfactorily,
and that in 2010 it exceeded its test flight targets.
Clare welcomed the news that the development of the aircraft
Australia is purchasing is on schedule and proceeding
satisfactorily. "It is less expensive and less complex than the
other variants. The restructure announced by Secretary Gates means
it is now at the front of the production queue," he said.
File Photo
Defence has advised that the restructure of the US JSF Program
will reduce overall program risk to Australia and should not affect
Australia's planned introduction date for the JSF. The Australian
Government approved the acquisition of the first 14 aircraft in
November 2009. The first two aircraft will be delivered in 2014.
The first 10 aircraft will initially remain in the United States
for pilot and maintainer training. The remaining four aircraft are
planned to arrive in Australia in 2017 for operational test and
evaluation activities with other ADF equipment to achieve an
initial operational capability in Australia from 2018.
Defence has also advised it is confident Australia has adequate
buffers in place to withstand any changes to the cost and schedule.
"Australia has always adopted a conservative approach to JSF cost
estimates and has explicitly included contingency funds and buffers
to the schedule," Clare said. "While there is no need to change our
cost and schedule estimates, Defence will continue to assess
options to ensure that cost and schedule buffers remain
adequate."
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