According to the head of the Pentagon’s JSF program office, Lieutenant-General Chris Bogdan, Australia can expect to pay about US$80-85 million for each of its F-35A JSFs in 2019.
This figure includes the aircraft, the engine, the profit owed to industry, and inflation, and is in line with that quoted by LTGEN Bogdan during his last visit to Australia in 2014.
"I have been looking out over the entirety of 4th generation airplanes; what you see is the price getting pretty darned close to my 5th generation airplane," he told media. "So if a country is given a choice between the two and they're pretty comparable in price, it's a pretty easy decision in my mind".
Year-on-year the cost of the aircraft and engine was falling by 2.2 per cent, he noted.
Production in 2014 totalled 35 F-35s, with 45 anticipated in 2015 and 61, 72, 93 and 102 in subsequent months, rising to full rate production of 120 aircraft by 2020.
Deeper and broader information flow to Singapore over the past year indicated the republic may be edging towards a decision on F-35 acquisition, LTGEN Bogdan disclosed, although no indication had been given as to which of the three F-35 variants was under consideration.
Singapore is as usual playing its cards close to its chest, but is reportedly interested in the short takeoff, vertical landing F-35B to replace its Northrop F-5s and Lockheed Martin F16/Ds.
This article first appeared in Australian Defence Magazine VOL.23 No.4, April 2015