F-35 : Two engines or one? The debate continues

US House of Represntatives Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton today released the following statement on the Department of Defense's update of the Joint Strike Fighter/F-35 competitive engine cost-benefit analysis:

"Yesterday, I was finally provided with a copy of the 'business case' upon which Secretary Gates based his decision to oppose the development of the competitive engine for the F-35. While the committee is still reviewing the analysis, it appears that the Department's approach focuses on near-term costs to the exclusion of what the committee sees as the long-term benefits of this program. The costs of the second engine in the next few years must be balanced against the fact that life-cycle costs of having two engines are comparable to having only one. The Department's analysis does not consider the risk that a single engine would present not only to our fighter force, but to our national security, given that the F-35 will account for 95 percent of our nation's fighter fleet. With this program, as with all others, we cannot use near-sighted vision when long-term security is at stake. I look forward to continuing the dialogue on this program with my colleagues and the Department of Defense. But I remain unconvinced that terminating the alternate engine program makes sense."