NEW YORK-- In Joint Strike Fighter Project, Aviation Week Reports Lockheed Martin is facing cost overruns of at least $100 million in its program to build a Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator aircraft, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in Monday's edition and on its Web site. The report in Aviation Week follows one in last week's edition about Boeing's problems in the same program. Boeing has redesigned its Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to get costs down and performance up. Thus both contractors are facing problems in the scramble to be selected to build the next generation fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the military of the United Kingdom. With sales to other nations, the total production run could reach 6,000 aircraft. The Lockheed Martin cost overruns include $30 million in accounting errors, $30 million in cost growth for the lift fan and another $30-40 million in under-estimated costs associated with new technology being introduced on the airplane. Both last week's story on Boeing and this week's on Lockheed Martin's cost overrun problem are posted on Aviation Week's Web site.
