21 Billion NOK for the Joint Strike Fighter

Total price of 21 billion NOK: Rejects price shock for the Joint Strike Fighter.

Today the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin rejected the claim that its aircraft Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 will be three times as expensive as planned, like the Norwegian media said this weekend.

Aftenposten wrote that the American fighter could cost 1.2 billion NOK a piece.

Out of control

VG have read internal documents that say the price would be around 21 billion NOK for 48 F-35A aircraft.

That would mean around $373 million per plane. Expenses for a global logistics and training system will be added. According to the Pentagon the costs over a 25 year period amount to about 756 million NOK per aircraft, a total of 36 billion NOK.

This amount does not include weapons and consumption of things like fuel and oil.

According to VG’s sources, Lockheed Martin is certain its price is competitive with the Swedish Gripen. Representatives for the Gripen says the costs of the JSF have exploded and are out of control.

The offer to Norway sets a standard for what the eight partners of the JSF program can expect, a source told VG.

The battle for who will get to carry on the work of the F-16 in the Royal Norwegian Airforce will probably be decided at the end of the year.

The debate around which of the two competitors are best suited has been raging all year.

Defence expert Jon Berg has warned against buying the JSF. According to Berg, it is designed primarily as an air to ground assault aircraft, and he thinks Norway should buy the Swedish Gripen.

Frankly, the JSF is not a fighter aircraft. It does not have the capability. It is an aircraft primarily for air to ground operations. Its best abilities are in completely different speeds than what is demanded from an interceptor. It has manoeuvrability only low speeds. It does not have extreme fighter abilities. It does not have Formula 1-abilities, Berg said in May.

So far there is no final price tag, but the project has a frame of 40 billion NOK.

VG Internet has previously written that the producer of the JSF, Lockheed Martin, is also a maker of nuclear and cluster weapons. This company was banned from the Norwegian government pension fund in 2005.

Therefore buying the American aircraft is also a question of ethics.

In addition, there has been a debate about the feasibility of running a competition with only two contenders. A third supplier, Eurofighter, pulled out because they felt Norway had already decided to buy American.