The general in charge of building the new F-35 fighter jet sharply criticized the main contractors on Wednesday, saying that Lockheed Martin and the engine maker, Pratt & Whitney, were trying to “squeeze every nickel” out of the program.
The comments, by Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, echoed a pointed critique he made last September, when he suggested that a poor relationship between Lockheed and the government threatened the program.
General Bogdan also seemed frustrated by the grounding last week of all 64 of the high-tech planes after an inspection found a crack in the turbine blade of one of the engines made by Pratt & Whitney.
Loren B. Thompson, a consultant to Lockheed, said Wednesday that the problem might have been caused by a bad casting when that blade was made rather than a design flaw that might affect all the planes.
But Kyra Hawn, a spokeswoman for the F-35 office at the Pentagon, said the military would analyze data from an investigation by Pratt & Whitney before reaching any conclusions. She said the blade was in an engine that had been “driven to extreme tolerances” in ground and flight tests that went beyond its expected military use.
She said that also might have contributed to the cracking, and officials needed to determine whether the jets’ engines would require more frequent inspection than expected.
Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, said it was close to completing its investigation of the blade cracking and would make recommendations to the Pentagon soon.
General Bogdan made his comments, first reported by Reuters, in Australia, where he was trying to persuade the Australian government to stick with plans to buy 100 of the jets.
“What I see Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney doing today is behaving as if they are getting ready to sell me the very last F-35 and the very last engine and are trying to squeeze every nickel of that last F-35 and that last engine,” the general told reporters there.
“I want them both to start behaving like they want to be around for 40 years,” he said. “I want them to take on some of the risk of this program. I want them to invest in cost reductions. I want them to do the things that will build a better relationship. I’m not getting all that love yet.”
General Bogdan, who joined the program last summer as the top deputy and took charge in December, said he had seen some improvement from the companies. “Are they getting better at a rate that I want to see them getting better?” he asked. “No, not yet.”
Ms. Hawn, the government spokeswoman, said that with the Pentagon and foreign militaries facing budget cuts, the general was reflecting a wider view that military contractors have been “negotiating every contract as if it were their last.” His comments, she said, were “an attempt to reinforce that we have shared responsibility in driving down program costs.”
The F-35 is the Pentagon’s most expensive program. It could cost $396 billion if the Pentagon sticks to its plan to build 2,456 jets by the late 2030s.
Mr. Thompson, the Lockheed consultant, said an outside audit commissioned by Lockheed had found that the company earned a 7 percent profit since the program began in 2001.
Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney said they have taken a long-range view in reducing costs and sharing cost overruns and expect to achieve more savings.
Ms. Hawn said inspections of the other F-35s used in flight tests had not found any other cracked blades. She said inspections began Wednesday on jets used for training pilots.
Lockheed Criticized by F-35 Jet Program Chief
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Lockheed Criticized by F-35 Jet Program Chief
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Lockheed Criticized by F-35 Jet Program Chief
