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True the through life costs are definitely being looked at but any figures are only very rough.  I base this one two main points:


1.  LM still hasn't (at least as of the end June) finalised their sustainment concepts (the basis for maintaining the platform).  Whilst some system suppliers might have, the overall picture, let alone the individual users plans are far from ready.

2.  Most importantly (and as I alluded above), with so few aircraft actually flying, there is no real representative data to base any assessments of operating cost on.  Sure, a lot of modelling has been done and there are targets to meet, but until there is more real world hard data, no-one will know.


And before anyone tries to jump on this and say "aha, it will be more expensive", just remember that it could very well go the other way.  For instance, to use the engine as an example, both P&W and the FET have predictions on the life of the F-135 and F-136 respectively (i.e., it will need this sort of maintenance in this period etc,).  However in real life, the engines will be have a more condition based regime.  Given the advances in technology (often based on commercial practices - and impressive I can tell you), I fully expect there will be far reduced need for major maintenance during the life of the platforms.  As such, the support/operating costs for the engine and thus overall platform will be far lower than previous platforms. 


Regards,


Greg


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