Aircraft

The Pentagon has officially stopped producing an annual aviation inventory and funding plan which had been sent to Congress after delivery of the president's budget for nearly a decade, denying defense aviation wonks a key resource in scrutinizing the U.S. military's long-term investment about the approximately 14,000 aircraft flown and operated by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

An Air Force effort to expedite aviator training using next-generation technology has expanded in its second iteration to include remotely piloted aircraft and a partnership with NASA, according to the program's lead.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan has directed Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord to begin planning for alternative supply options for Turkish-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter parts in the event Turkey remains suspended from the program or is expelled for its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, according to a defense official.

The unit cost of the F-35A could go as low as $75 million in Lot 14 of low-rate initial production if the program can improve supply chain and production line performance, the head of the program recently told Inside Defense.

If Turkey were removed from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter supply chain, the program office expects there would be a slowdown of parts to the three production lines within three months time, resulting in between 50 and 75 aircraft being delivered late over a two-year period.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) yesterday bemoaned the lack of a disaster relief supplemental bill and said one must be passed within the next eight days before Congress adjourns for its Easter recess.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said today the service has halted 61 building renovation and maintenance programs this year to pay for storm damage repairs at Tyndall Air Force Base. Wilson's comments came one day after a supplemental spending bill was introduced in Congress that will provide $400 million toward those repairs.

A Defense Department official who briefed reporters at the Pentagon today said acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan did not play a direct role in the decision to buy Boeing's F-15EX, citing an ethics agreement that barred Shanahan from doing so.

The Air Force’s plan to buy 80 F-15EX aircraft over the next five years assumes an airframe unit cost of $80.3 million per jet and non-recurring costs of $407 million over that same time period.