Lockheed Martin/Boeing officials have told US General Accounting Office auditors that delays in the F-22 Raptor's flight test programme should not raise the cost of engineering and manufacturing development (EMD), which is capped at $18.9 billion.
The first flight of the F-22 was three months late, and flight testing will not resume until April, enabling ground tests and structural changes to be made to EMD aircraft. Meanwhile, the GAO says that issues have emerged about production and delivery of airframe components for EMD aircraft.
"Lockheed Martin has indicated that negotiated costs should not be exceeded because of these issues," says the GAO.
A panel was formed to estimate the probable cost of the F-22. In January 1997 it said that the F-22 EMD programme would cost $18.7 billion, a rise of about $1.5 billion over the previous estimate.
The US Defense Department accepted the panel's recommendations, but a year later many substantial planned changes had not been incorporated into Lockheed Martin's contract.
Source: Flight International
