F-35 Procurement Strategy Needs a Reboot

Posted: June 19th, 2019

By Deborah Lee James

Former Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James has over 30 years of senior level homeland and national security experience in the federal government and private sector. She is also the author of Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success. During her time as Secretary, her responsibilities included organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of The Department of the Air Force and its nearly 660,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian Airmen and their families. Secretary James also oversaw the Air Force’s annual budget of more than $139 billion. Today, James serves on boards of directors and advisory boards of companies and not-for-profits focused on security, including Textron, Unisys, and Noblis.

Lockheed Martin says it will continue to bring down the hourly costs of operating the F-35 fighter jet, while continuing to address the problems that have been plaguing the program. Some of those issues involve the supply chain and others speak to reliability.

The head of the program was at the Paris Air Show this week, where he told reporters that Lockheed will continue addressing the issues, some of them previously unreported.

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