Close review of F-35 program may raise cost estimate

A team of crack Pentagon cost analysts and technical experts has begun a close review of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 joint strike fighter program that is expected to produce a sharply higher cost estimate.

Just a year ago the Joint Estimate Team told senior Defense Department officials that getting the F-35 into service would cost at least $15 billion more than expected.

That forecast was sidestepped by Pentagon officials as they prepared the 2010 defense budget. But a similar or worse projection this time could present defense planners with difficult choices in the fall as they prepare the 2011 budget proposal.

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