Cost Performance
The Project remains within approved budget guidance for Stage 1 (first 14 aircraft and support).

Schedule Performance
A Technical Baseline Review (TBR) of the US JSF Program was completed in November 2010, which has led to the JSF Program undergoing a Schedule Risk Assessment (SRA) and a Integrated Baseline Review (IBR). The outcomes of the SRA/IBR, including any changes to program scope and any associated cost and schedule impacts are expected to be known by late 2011.

In October 2010, the Commonwealth formally submitted a Partner Procurement Request (PPR) to the US Government for Australia's first two aircraft and associated support systems. The Commonwealth expects the US Government to enter into a contract with Lockheed Martin, on its behalf as part of the sixth Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract in third quarter of 2012. Ongoing reviews and restructuring of the US JSF Program have resulted in significant delays (6 months plus) to the annual JSF contracting cycle. Current guidance from the US Government is that this delay will not impact delivery plans to have two Australian aircraft in the US ready to support training in 2014.

Materiel Capability Performance
As a consequence of the TBR conducted on the US JSF Program, the US has extended the development and operational test schedules. A key element of materiel capability performance and a major schedule driver is software development. The current planned Block 3 version of software is considered sufficient for Australia's Initial Operational Capability (IOC) performance requirements. Potential changes to software scope, development and/or releasability constraints could threaten this consideration. Correspondingly, the NACC project office is closely monitoring software development and examining contingency plans whereby initial training and test aircraft may be operated with an earlier software version.