by Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

12/3/2009 – NEW YORK (AFNS) – Pentagon officials are working to halt spiraling costs in the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft program while ensuring competition for a new refueling tanker remains fair to all contenders, William J. Lynn III said here Dec. 2.

F-35 AA-1 - © U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.

Mr. Lynn told the Aerospace and Defense Conference audience he’s concerned about both “cost and schedule challenges” associated with the next-generation fighter aircraft that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates calls “the heart of the future of our tactical combat aviation.”

“We don’t like some of the trends we see, and we are determined not to accept those trends,” Mr. Lynn told the audience of aerospace executives.

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