Norway says F-35 jet on track; keeping eye on costs

[unhappycamper]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/10/us-lockheed-fighter-norway-idUSBREA0903B20140110



Norway says F-35 jet on track; keeping eye on costs
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON Thu Jan 9, 2014 8:07pm EST

(Reuters) - Norway's defense minister on Thursday said the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program is on the right track after a major restructuring in 2010, with the cost of the new stealth warplane coming down and most technical issues solved.

But Ine Eriksen Søreide, who became defense minister in October, told Reuters that Norway was keeping a close eye on the program's costs, software development, prospects for industrial participation by Norwegian industry, and how the planes will be serviced once they are delivered to Europe.

"We have concluded that these planes are the best ones for us. There is nothing in the development over the past couple of years that has shaken that decision," she said. "At the same time, it's a huge investment and it's definitely also something that will have consequences for the rest of our armed forces."

Norway is one of eight countries that helped the United States develop the new radar-evading warplane. Norway has ordered 16 of the 52 jets it plans to buy in coming years, with the first jets to be delivered in 2017, a year earlier than planned, Soreide told Reuters during a visit to Washington.