FORT WORTH, Texas – Lockheed Martin marked another milestone in the F-35 fighter jet program on Tuesday with the rollout of the first plane built for Norway.
But budget clouds hung over the celebration.
Congressional stalemate on a defense budget for the next fiscal year threatens to freeze spending on the F-35 program at 2015 levels just as jet production is about to significantly ramp up in west Fort Worth. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to approve funding for next year’s programs.
After the ceremony, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, called the possibility of a year-long continuing resolution, or CR, “a huge risk” that would be detrimental to the F-35 and other defense program. But she said she has been hearing “good things” about talks to work out a short-term CR, which she said would buy time to negotiate a full-year budget. Short-term budget extensions are not all that unusual.
A budget standoff would stifle momentum that has been accelerating in the long-troubled F-35 program, which has been lauded for making steady improvement the past two years. A multimillion dollar upgrade of the mile-long production plant is underway in anticipation of jet production increasing from about 40 jets a year to more than 50 next year and nearly 200 a year by the end of the decade. Lockheed has said it plans to add 1,000 assembly line jobs to build the increased production.
On Tuesday, government and military leaders from Washington and Norway gathered at Lockheed’s Fort Worth aeronautics complex, with officials praising Norway’s commitment to the program through years of technical delays and cost increases.
“In the face of challenges, one nation embraced the long view and stood steadfast with the program. And that was Norway,” said Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed’s chairman and CEO.
Eriksen Soreide, Norway’s Minister of Defense, called the F-35 “by far the most advanced fighter ever made” and said it would improve all of the nation’s armed forces.
“We all know that the F-35 is not simply another fighter. We know that it is much more,” Soreide said.
Norway, one of eight partner nations in the giant program, has ordered 52 F-35s, which boast advanced electronics and stealth capability. The first jet will be ferried to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona later this year, where Norwegian pilots will be trained the fly the aircraft.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, said Norway’s support of the program has been instrumental to the F-35’s development.
“We are here because of the persistence, not just of the design team and the military, but also of the political leaders who have been involved . and also, in this case, of the Norwegian people,” he said.
Regarding the budget situation in Washington, Kendall he is not as optimistic as he’d like to be at this time, but said that talks are underway to approve a CR through mid-December. “I’m hopeful that Congress will come to a compromise,” he said.
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