GAO Hits F-35 Readiness, Blames Parts Pipeline
4/25/2019
​—John A. Tirpak
​ Capt. Andrew “Dojo Olson, F-35 Demonstration Team pilot and commander performs a high-speed pass in an F-35A Lightning II during the Heart of Texas Airshow April 7, 2019. Air Force photo by SrA. Alexander Cook.
The American F-35 fleet is falling far short of operational readiness goals, and the main culprit is a shortage of parts, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
By November of last year, the US F-35 fleet—across the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps—was only achieving a full mission capable rate of 27 percent, and a mission capable rate of 52 percent, due to inadequate parts availability, the GAO said. The situation is due in part to older parts being “incompatible†with more recent versions of the F-35, and more broadly, because of an “immature†Defense Department network for moving parts around the world, the GAO found.
http://airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2019/April%202019/GAO-Hits-F-35-Readiness-Blames-Parts-Pipeline.aspx
