THE head of the Pentagon’s $500 billion US Joint Strike Fighter program says attempts by Chinese cyber spies to steal classified information about the project had failed.

And any physical resemblance between China’s latest fighter jets and the JSF was purely cosmetic, according to JSF program chief Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan.

Australia is purchasing 72 of the so-called fifth generation stealth fighters built by US giant Lockheed Martin for $12 billion and concerns have been raised about information leaks to the Chinese.

But General Bogdan told News Corp yesterday in Melbourne ahead of the Australian International Airshow that all the information exposed by US whistle blower Edward Snowden came from industry and was unclassified.

“As far as I know of no classified information has leaked into the wrong hands on this program,” General Bogdan said.

During a lengthy interview and without mentioning China by name General Bogdan said any adversary’s aeroplane was years behind the F-35.

“They are just getting ready to fly and we already have 27,000 hours up.

“Just because it [China’s Chengdu jet] looks like ours doesn’t mean it performs on the

inside like ours,” he said.

“What makes our aeroplane special is the outside stealth, but the inside is just as important and the sensors we have. Information is the coin of the realm.”

General Bogdan also revealed that there had been a steady three per cent per-year drop in the price for the JSF during the past three years.

The current price is about $100 million a copy and he said that should fall to about $80 million an aircraft by the time most of the RAAF’s planes are built after 2020.

“That price is starting to approach what it costs to buy a legacy 4th generation fighter

[Super Hornet],” he said.

In addition to the price cut the General aimed to impose through-life cost savings of up to 30 per cent (or $200 billion in today’s money) for 2400 planes over 50 years.

More than 3100 of the stealth jets are due to be built, including 1763 for the US air force and 680 for the Marine Corps and Navy.

Australia’s first JSF’s will arrive in 2018 and the initial squadron will be stood up in 2020.

General Bogdan said the project was tracking well in terms of price and schedule, however other aspects such as the maintenance system, software updates, simulators and the so-called “mission data files” were running about six months behind schedule.

Australian firms have already won hundreds of millions of dollars worth of JSF contracts and with Australia set to become the regional heavy maintenance hub for the plane local industry will benefit for decades to come.

General Bogdan said the program had passed the point of no return and it would become the world’s leading fifth generation warplane.

“The conversation is no longer about whether the program will survive … the question is, who is going to be along for the ride?”

He will also visit the top-secret Woomera firing range in South Australia and RAAF base Williamtown in NSW during his visit.