Lockheed cost overruns to spark review: Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 program, the Pentagon's biggest acquisition ever, is crashing through a cost-growth threshold that will spark a thorough review of the program, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer told Congress on Thursday.

Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said the average price of an F-35 aircraft as estimated by a Pentagon panel would be more than 50 percent higher in inflation-adjusted dollars than projected in 2001, when the program began.

Carter said he expected the U.S. Air Force to formally notify Congress of the cost-containment breach under the so-called Nunn-McCurdy law within days.

Under the law, if cost growth tops 25 percent, Nunn-McCurdy requires the Pentagon to justify continuing the program based on three main criteria: its importance to U.S. national security; the lack of a viable alternative; and evidence that the problems that led to the cost growth are under control.