{"id":57808,"date":"2018-01-18T22:19:45","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T22:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/01\/18\/air-force-acquisition-nominee-takes-aim-at-f-35-sustainment-costs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:17:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:17:36","slug":"air-force-acquisition-nominee-takes-aim-at-f-35-sustainment-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2018\/01\/18\/air-force-acquisition-nominee-takes-aim-at-f-35-sustainment-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force acquisition nominee takes aim at F-35 sustainment costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The nominee for the Air Force\u2019s next head of acquisition has set his sights on lowering sustainment costs for the service\u2019s biggest procurement priority: the F-35 joint strike fighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to lawmakers during his Thursday confirmation hearing, Will Roper, currently the head of the Strategic Capabilities Office, said he intends to embark on a F-35 deep dive that will focus on how emerging technologies can help decrease sustainment costs over the life of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am deeply concerned about the sustainment issues of the F-35. If I get confirmed, one of the first things I want to look at is the sustainment plan to make sure that there are not optimistic assumptions for this confluence of events that all happen together to get the price down,\u201d he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2018\/01\/03\/sco-head-roper-nominated-for-air-force-job\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/roper_resize.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Future of Strategic Capabilities Office uncertain, as director lands Air Force nomination<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Strategic Capability Office&#039;s future is now cloudy, with its only leader moving on.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With more than five years under his belt as director of SCO \u2014 a rapid prototyping team revered by defense wonks for reinventing off-the-shelf items for emerging requirements \u2014 Roper is likely to sail through the nomination process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But although lawmakers in Congress love pointing to cheap, successful experimentation and prototyping efforts like those led by SCO, Roper said he is worried that not enough emphasis is being placed on sustainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2018\/01\/18\/griffin-interested-in-airborne-missile-defense\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17333821273513.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Griffin interested in airborne missile defense<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Michael Griffin appears headed to the Pentagon, and he has some projects in mind to work on.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force alone plans to buy 1,763 F-35As over the program of record. Progress is being made on the production side as the line ramps up, with a decrease in cost of 7.3 percent for the A-model from lots 9 to 10, Roper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, if sustainment costs are not managed, the Air Force could up with a \u201cbow wave\u201d that results in the service having to choose among force structure, block upgrades for its current F-35s or buying more joint strike fighters to expand its inventory, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With just over 250 joint strike fighters absorbed into the fleet already, the Defense Department is already experiencing a number of problems sustaining the aircraft. In an October report, the Government Accountability Office laid out numerous challenges, including long maintenance times for parts, a spare parts shortage and delayed updates to the F-35\u2019s logistics system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the report was released, the F-35 joint program office stated that although it was factually accurate based on the data gathered at the time, it \u201cdoes not fully account for the critical work the F-35 sustainment team has led over the past several months to accelerate depot capability and capacity, implement solutions to increase spare parts and reduce overall sustainment costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No matter the amount of chatter surrounding the F-35 maintenance issues, getting Congress to care about sustainment isn\u2019t easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/air-force-association\/2017\/09\/20\/pentagons-f-35-deep-dive-to-drive-lower-costs-on-block-buy-deal\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635575241787644206-northrop-f35-productionjpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon\u2019s F-35 deep dive to drive lower costs on block buy deal<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon\u2019s director of defense pricing is helping the joint program office nail down a better deal on a block buy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roper got chuckles from lawmakers when he said that sustainment and maintenance are not the \u201csexiest thing to talk about in the world of technology,\u201d and are the \u201cugly sister\u201d compared to technologies meant to greatly enhance the performance of a platform, like stealth or supersonic speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> \u201cI\u2019m not certain from my current job that sustainment is getting the same R&amp;D effort that new capabilities, performance capabilities [get],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf confirmed, I plan to look to see, are there any industry technologies, any industry practices that we can start experimenting with and applying now to make us feel more confident that the cost as predicted is the cost that will actually be [achieved]?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year, Shay Assad, the Pentagon\u2019s director of defense pricing, kicked off his own F-35 deep dive aimed at wringing cost out of the supply chain to find the \u201ctrue\u201d price of the joint strike fighter. It\u2019s unclear how much Assad\u2019s review would overlap with Roper\u2019s, and if there would be any collaboration between the two efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If confirmed, the nominee for the top Air Force acquisition job  intends to embark on a F-35 deep dive that will focus on how emerging technologies can help decrease sustainment costs over the life of the 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