Washington, February 03: Concerned by cost overruns and delay in developing America’s most expensive weapons system, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has fired the general in charge of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme.
“The progress and performance of the F-35 over the past two years has not been what it should,” Gates said, adding, “a number of key goals and benchmarks were not met.”
The Pentagon will also withhold USD 614 million in performance fees from lead contractor Lockheed Martin, Gates said.
The Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II, is touted as the future centerpiece of the US military’s approach to waging war in the skies.
Gates said he was replacing Marine Maj. Gen. David R. Heinz, the executive officer in charge of the Joint Strike Fighter’s development, Washington Post reported.
“If I’ve set one tone at the Department of Defence, it’s that when things go wrong, people will be held accountable,” Gates told reporters.
He declined to identify Heinz’s successor but said it would be a person of higher rank — the equivalent of a three -star general — to reflect the importance of the programme.
Gates’s announcement came as a surprise on the day the Obama administration unveiled its proposed 2011 budget for the Pentagon and other federal agencies. The administration is seeking USD 708 billion for the military, including USD 159 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gates has repeatedly sent high-ranking officers packing for what he has called poor performance.
In May, he fired the top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan. In June 2008, he sacked Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley after a B-52 was accidentally loaded with nuclear missiles and flown across the country.
In 2007, he fired Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey after articles exposed problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Despite the problems with the F-35, the Obama administration is asking Congress to provide USD 11.4 billion overall for the Joint Strike Fighter programme next year, including USD 8.4 billion to buy 43 planes.
Gates visited Lockheed’s Joint Strike Fighter plant in Fort Worth, Texas, last August and gave positive reviews of the plane’s progress at the time. Asked what had happened to change his mind, he said, “It was clear there were more problems than I was aware of when I visited Fort Worth.” He did not elaborate.
“The taxpayer should not have to bear the entire burden of getting the JSF program back on track.”
He said Lockheed had agreed with his decision. Gates also said that he thought the programme was now on solid ground. “I would say there are no insurmountable problems, technological or otherwise, with the F-35,” he said.
“We are in a position to move forward with this programme in a realistic way.”
—PTI