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The F-35 is the sole next-generation aircraft now under construction to serve the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. It is the cutting-edge vehicle keeping American military technology ahead of international competitors like China and Russia, and is a key deliverable for US sales to allies, including Israel, The United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, among others.
PARTNER COUNTRIES
FUTURE CUSTOMERS
POSSIBLE COMPETITORS
SOUTH KOREA
U.A.E.
TAIWAN
SINGAPORE
Affordable investment
Critics complain that F-35 production, which has suffered project delays and cost overruns since its inception in 2003, takes up too much of the Defense Departments procurement budget. Yet, while the F-35 is by far the largest acquisition program underway, it only comprises 1.6 percent of the Defense Departments overall budget request to Congress for 2013.
F-35 = 1.6%
$ revolving management funds $ family housing $ military construction $ RDT&E $ PROCUREMENT $ operations & maintenance $ military personnel
2003 ALLOCATED
2013 REQUESTED
By comparison, according to a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, 1.6 percent is about half of the average familys budget share dedicated to clothing, and less than a third of what the average family allocates from its annual budget to entertainment.
SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Looked at another way, the share of funding dedicated to the F-35 has increased from 14 to 27 percent of the overall aircraft procurement budget. Yet the share of the budget allocated to both aircraft and overall procurement remained constant between 2003 and 2013. Thus, neither the F-35 nor the overall procurement budget is driving increases in defense spending.
40%
military personnel
18%
33%
11%
25%
rdt&E
CBRNE
OTHER
14%
NAV
27%
C41
c41
6%
AM
GV
1%
1%
family housing
military construction
cbrne
1%
3%
8%
44%
aircraft
4%
33%
24%
18%
14%
3%
rdt&E
11%
34%
10% 2%
14%
cbrne
0%
2%
Pentagon priorities
At the same time that the procurement percentage of the pie remained constant, the cost of operations and management has increased by 10 percent relative to other expenses. A big driver of that increase is going to administrative costs as well as the cost of operating forces, both of which increased in absolute and relative terms while air operations decreased.
44% 58%
AIR POWER
To criticize the increased spending on the F-35$9 billion overall in the 2013 fiscal year requestis to ignore that the aircraft are actually now being delivered and maintained. Though the number F-35s procured are dwarfed by the procurement numbers of other aircraft, its capabilities will make it the keystone of American air power for decades to come.
f-35: 29
F-18A/E: 26
HELICOPTERS: 252
UAVs : 283
Market dynamics
$ IN
MILLIONS 350
300
leveling out and dropping off in 2027 when the Navy stops acquiring the aircraft. If the US stops or slows production of the F-35, not only does it lose its customer base among its allies, but their departure from the market raises the price per plane for the US. And without the next-generation technology, the US will not be in a position in the future to repel emerging threats.
250
200
150
100
50 0
2012
2034