WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- Testing of America's F-35 fighter airplane won't be completed until 2016, a delay of two years with cost increases of billions, an internal Pentagon memo says.
Last month Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced a restructuring of the development program, adding $2.8 billion to the budget and predicting completion of testing by 2014, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported Tuesday.
But the Pentagon's Joint Estimating Team, in a memo released last week, predicts it will be 2016 before testing is completed, and estimates a further $7.4 billion will be needed, the newspaper said.
Lockheed, builder of the next-generation U.S. fighter, acknowledged they are six months behind a schedule set out in 2008 for delivering and testing airplanes.
And more bad news is expected, the Star-Telegram said.
An upcoming formal Pentagon cost estimate may show the F-35 is exceeding congressional budget rules. And the Government Accountability Office, which has long predicted Lockheed would not be able to meet schedules and budgets, is due to deliver a report on the program to Congress, the newspaper said.
