Operational flights of Lockheed Martin's F-35 will begin as soon as 2015

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2013/05/operational_flights_of_lockhee.html

Operational flights of Lockheed Martin's F-35 will begin as soon as 2015
Leada Gore
on May 31, 2013 at 11:30 AM, updated May 31, 2013 at 11:34 AM

Operational flights of the F-35 fighter jet will begin as soon as 2015, according to Department of Defense information released today. The Marine Corps will begin using the Lockheed-Martin-produced F-35 in 2015, followed by the Air Force in 2016 and the Navy in 2019.

The services notified Congress June 1 on the dates they expected to have enough aircraft to support missions, an threshold known as Initial Operating Capability.

"We appreciate the confidence in the F-35 program expressed by the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy with the announcement of their Initial Operating Capability dates," Lockheed said in a statement. "Our top priority is to continue to execute our plan to support these IOC dates starting with the Marine Corps in December 2015. Lockheed Martin is committed to cost effectively delivering the F-35s unprecedented 5th generation capabilities to the warfighter."

~snip~

The military has received 52 planes through 2012. The Pentagon will spend $8.4 billion next year to purchase 29 F-35s, including 19 for the Air Force, six for Marine Corps and four for the Navy.



unhappycamper comment: Time to start another rumor: $8.4 billion dollars / 29 planes = $289.6 million dollars per plane.

I've been maintaining that the F-35 costs at least $243 million dollars a pop.