(2 of 2)
Plans to Convert. The upshot of all the continuing modifications is a big jump in costs. According to the Pentagon, overall F-111 development costs have already increased from $571 million to $1.5 billion. Instead of the $2,900,000 that each plane was supposed to cost when the contract was awarded, the price tag is now expected to be $5,000,000 for every F-111A, $8,000,000 for every F-111B. But the Defense Department continues to insist that the F-111 is a cost-cutting undertaking, partly because the Pentagon plans to convert it into a strategic bomber known as the FB-111, which would replace older B-52s.
Secretary McNamara says that the cost of developing the FB-111 would be a fraction of the $1.5 billion it would take to work up a totally new long-range bomber. The Air Force and its backers in Congress reply that a completely new "advanced, manned strategic aircraft" is needed for the mid-1970s, deride the FB-111 as an interim bomber that would not be even so effective as advanced versions of the B-52. The fight over the TFX, like the plane itself, seems to be entering a new phase.