Cost of Lockheed's F-35 jet fighter has risen 62%, Pentagon says

Saturday, March 20, 2010; A12

CONTRACTING

F-35 cost has surged 62%, Pentagon says

Lockheed Martin's F-35 jet fighter, the Pentagon's most expensive program, has risen about 62 percent in cost and is four years behind schedule, according to Pentagon documents and new data.

Production of the airplane by the Bethesda-based firm was projected to cost an estimated $143 billion for 2,852 aircraft in 2002.

The Defense Department now says it will cost as much as $232 billion for 2,443 aircraft when calculated in 2002 dollars, according to figures released Friday.

Development and testing, originally scheduled to be finished in March 2012, won't be done until April 2016, the documents say.

Full production of the planes also has been delayed four years from what was an April 2012 target date.

"We are clearly not comfortable with the program's cost growth and development delay," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in an e-mail Friday. That is why Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates "made the difficult choice to dramatically restructure the program, and he did so earlier than normal."

-- Bloomberg News

BANKRUPTCY

Bondholders to own Six Flags under deal

Six Flags junior bondholders will own the bankrupt theme park operator under a settlement reached Friday, ending a two-week-long trial, lawyers said in court.

Company attorney Paul Harner announced the deal in U.S. Bankruptcy Court after a trial related to the now-defunct reorganization plan was halted so Six Flags -- whose chairman is Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder -- and two competing groups of bondholders could negotiate.

"Rather than argue in court, we decided to put our money where our mouth is," attorney Tom Lauria, who represents the junior noteholders, said in an interview after the hearing.

-- Bloomberg News