Inside Defense
Jan. 13, 2009 -- A new Navy assessment of the cradle-to-grave costs for the Joint Strike Fighter program pegs the total at more than $700 billion, a sum so large that top brass are concerned that operational costs will gobble up future resources needed for other naval aviation programs.
Estimators at the Naval Air Systems Command, according to a Jan. 4 briefing obtained by InsideDefense.com, forecast the total operations and support cost for naval JSF variants to be 40 percent higher than similar costs to support today's F/A-18s and AV-8s -- fighters the JSF is intended to replace.
The Navy assessment concludes that the total cost to fly Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps JSF variants through 2054 will be $443 billion, bringing the total program cost -- when development and procurement are included -- to at least $704 billion. By comparison, the JSF joint program office puts operation and support costs at $383 billion and the total cost at $607 billion.
“JSF will have a significant impact on naval aviation” in the future years defense plan, covering fiscal years 2011 to 2015, “and beyond,” states the briefing. David Burgess, director of the Naval Air Systems Command cost department, prepared it.
“Current acquisition governance process does not manage total ownership cost in an integrated manner,” the document states.
The focus on total ownership cost of the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's largest acquisition effort, comes as the Office of the Secretary of Defense concludes an intense review of the program’s development and production costs, adopting recommendations in the fiscal year 2011 budget proposal of a quasi-independent assessment team that determined more time and money are required to produce the stealth combat jet.
The “time to influence operating and support costs is quickly slipping away,” the briefing warns. NAVAIR cost estimators -- some of whom were part of the OSD-led JSF Joint Estimate Team over the last two years -- argue that the “services must participate in planning and development of sustainment strategy 'war game.'”
The briefing also suggests that the JSF program office should “establish a JPO 'sustainment executive'” and work to identify factors that drive operations and support costs in order to develop mitigation strategies.
The NAVAIR review of JSF life-cycle costs was initiated in July at the request of then-Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Patrick Walsh.
Walsh, now the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, on July 13 tasked the commander of NAVAIR and the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition to examine “how joint programs such as the JSF will affect the affordability of our future force,” according to an excerpt of the tasking quoted in the the Jan. 4 briefing.
The vice chief, who represents the sea service on the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, added that “it appears that many of the significant cost issues we face in joint programs are not fully addressed by the current acquisition governance process. [Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead] and I may choose to take these issues back to appropriate forums such as the JROC.”
Some of the details in the Jan. 4 briefing were reported this week on Military.com. -- Jason Sherman
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