Pentagon Takes Over Cost-Cutting Efforts for F-35

The Pentagon is now in charge of cost-cutting efforts for the F-35 combat jet after rejecting proposals from Lockheed Martin and its partners, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Main manufacturer Lockheed Martin's efforts to cut the costs of the program are too slow, the Pentagon has decided, according to The Journal.

The Pentagon opted not to continue with a contractor-led plan to cut the jets' costs. Instead, last month it gave Lockheed a $60 million contract to look at further savings that included more oversight into how the money was being spent, according to The Journal.

"Using a contract vehicle instead of an agreement with industry provides the government with greatest insights into the cost savings efforts," a spokesperson for the administration's F-35 program office said in The Journal.

The cost of an F-35 jet is from $95 million to $123 million each, according to the Washington Examiner.

The cost of the overall F-35 program is expected to rise to at least $406.5 billion, according to the figures submitted to Congress in July.

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