WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will visit a Lockheed Martin Corp production plant for the F-35 fighter aircraft, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase program, and an L-3 aircraft facility, highlighting their importance to the U.S. Defense Department, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.
Gates, on his way back from vacation on Monday, will speak to reporters at the Lockheed plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and then pay a visit to an L-3 Communications Holdings Inc plant that turns out so-called Project Liberty reconnaissance aircraft in Greenville, Texas.
'These are two very important aviation programs to the Department of Defense,' said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
The visit comes amid mounting speculation the Pentagon might have to scale back the F-35 as part of stepped-up budget belt-tightening.
For instance, the private Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments -- several of whose one-time experts are now serving in senior Obama administration jobs -- cited the F-35 as just one example of programs ripe for review by the Department of Defense during a once every four years top-to- bottom reassessment now under way.
'Rather than buying both new long-range bombers and thousands of short-range F-35 fighters, DoD might consider whether the new bombers ... could represent a cost-effective substitute for some number of these new fighters,' the center's Todd Harrison wrote in a report released this month.
Lockheed is developing three radar-evading F-35 models to replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations initially. At a projected cost of about $300 billion over two decades, the United States currently plans to buy 2,443 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Eight countries are F-35 co-development partners: Britain, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and Australia.
Northrop Grumman Corp and BAE Systems Plc are Lockheed's chief F-35 sub-contractors. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development. One is built by United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney unit. The other by a team of General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Andre Grenon) Keywords: PENTAGON LOCKHEED L 3 (jim.wolf@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8402; Reuters Messaging: jim.wolf.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Gates, on his way back from vacation on Monday, will speak to reporters at the Lockheed plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and then pay a visit to an L-3 Communications Holdings Inc plant that turns out so-called Project Liberty reconnaissance aircraft in Greenville, Texas.
'These are two very important aviation programs to the Department of Defense,' said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
The visit comes amid mounting speculation the Pentagon might have to scale back the F-35 as part of stepped-up budget belt-tightening.
For instance, the private Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments -- several of whose one-time experts are now serving in senior Obama administration jobs -- cited the F-35 as just one example of programs ripe for review by the Department of Defense during a once every four years top-to- bottom reassessment now under way.
'Rather than buying both new long-range bombers and thousands of short-range F-35 fighters, DoD might consider whether the new bombers ... could represent a cost-effective substitute for some number of these new fighters,' the center's Todd Harrison wrote in a report released this month.
Lockheed is developing three radar-evading F-35 models to replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations initially. At a projected cost of about $300 billion over two decades, the United States currently plans to buy 2,443 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Eight countries are F-35 co-development partners: Britain, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and Australia.
Northrop Grumman Corp and BAE Systems Plc are Lockheed's chief F-35 sub-contractors. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development. One is built by United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney unit. The other by a team of General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Andre Grenon) Keywords: PENTAGON LOCKHEED L 3 (jim.wolf@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8402; Reuters Messaging: jim.wolf.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.