Government representatives from nine nations are expected to gather in Australia in the coming days to review progress in the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

The event, the sixth semi-annual meeting of the program's executive committee, will include officials from the United States and its eight international partners for JSF.

The meeting is scheduled to take place the week of Oct. 25-29 in Sydney and will provide an opportunity to update the partners on the program's status, said Kathy Crawford, spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department's JSF office.

Production agreement

Earlier this year, the program, whose prime contractor is Lockheed Martin, began building all four major subassemblies: the forward, center and aft fuselage, and the wing. The Pratt & Whitney F135, the lead engine for JSF, has completed well over 1,000 hours of testing. The aircraft's first flight is slated for August 2006.

Participants at the Australia meeting are likely to discuss a production agreement that the U.S. program office hopes to complete by the end of calendar 2006, Crawford told The DAILY Oct. 22. The memorandum of understanding, whose work is in its early stages, is supposed to indicate how many aircraft each partner-country plans to buy.

The United States plans to procure 2,443 JSFs, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office has estimated that the eight international partners will buy 722 aircraft: Australia, 100; Canada, 60; Denmark, 48; Italy, 131; the Netherlands, 85; Norway, 48; Turkey, 100; and the United Kingdom, 150 (DAILY, June 4).

The Australia meeting could coincide with the Pentagon releasing the results of its Oct. 14 review of the program. The high-level panel that conducted the review is expected to announce that it has approved design changes and other adjustments aimed at solving the aircraft's weight problems (DAILY, Oct. 18).