F-35s Are Rarely Flight-Ready and Repairs Are Too Slow, GAO Report Says

[rangerrebew]

F-35s Are Rarely Flight-Ready and Repairs Are Too Slow, GAO Report Says
Sept. 22, 2023
By Tony Capaccio

Source Bloomberg News (TNS)

WASHINGTON — F-35s are available to fly just 55% of the time, and 73% of replacement parts have to be sent back to suppliers because the Pentagon’s maintenance depots are inadequate, according to a new congressional audit on the troubled upkeep of the fighter jet that is the world’s costliest weapons system.

The report released this week by the Government Accountability Office came days after a $100 million F-35B crashed over South Carolina. The warplane’s Marine Corps pilot, who had been on a training mission, ejected safely.

The Marine Corps has only begun its investigation into what went wrong. But Thursday's GAO report updates the persistent maintenance shortcomings of the advanced fighter fleet built by Lockheed Martin Corp., which is expected to cost a total of $1.7 trillion including decades of operations and maintenance.

https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/defense/news/53073130/f35s-are-rarely-flightready-and-repairs-are-too-slow-gao-report-says

[rangerrebew]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/f-35-stealth-fighter-jets-are-only-capable-of-flying-missions-a-little-over-half-the-time-watchdog-finds/ar-AA1h4fEy?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=275674e041c84232bca5da241902d5ea&ei=15#image=1

[Hoodat]

Quite a lucrative gig for Lockheed.

[SZonian]

It's a nightmarish system of logistics.

The F35 program is a breeding ground for egoistic and narcissistic pieces of garbage to create empires, and they've done a phenomenal job. I fight those effers damned near every day. Bunch of useless pieces of $hit.
LM has intentionally created a monster in order to generate profit over national security here. All in the name of "automation". All lessons of the past were $hitcanned and an entire "new order" was created.
Unfortunately, the USGov types involved are only interested in ensuring their continued place at the trough. So they are also complicit in this fiasco as well. But since they're the "customer", they get to control the narrative.

I will add though, that the aircraft is beyond peer. It's a fantastic weapon system if unchained. But the ALIS system and all other facets of logistics constrain it.

Ask me how I know. Won't tell you, but if you know my history in aerospace topics, you'll be satisfied, I think. But then again, I don't give one flying damn what you think. I know what I know and I'm not making that $hit up.

[Timber Rattler]

About 20 years ago, I interviewed some Navy weapons scientists who were worried about the then forthcoming BRAC 2005.  They warned that the Navy was about to shut down its entire in-house engineering and laboratory network, which provided consistent design guidance and quality control for the branch's ships and weapons, since then CNO Vernon Clark was hellbent on emulating the USAF to cut RDT&E costs to the bone.  The USAF had turned all its in-house scientific and engineering functions over to the big contractors like Lockheed and Boeing and practically eliminated its laboratories, thinking that the contractors would be more efficient.  In theory, that sounded good, but in reality, the big contractors were corrupt, as were the politicians who influenced procurement, so USAF procurement became a bloated cash cow, with aircraft that took decades to develop with massive costs overruns, or in other words, the F-35.

As it happened, the Navy only eliminated some of its labs during that BRAC, enough to cause the disasters that have been the LCS and USS Ford.  So those Navy scientists I talked to were prophets.

[Hoodat]

I will add though, that the aircraft is beyond peer. It's a fantastic weapon system if unchained. But the ALIS system and all other facets of logistics constrain it.

My problem with an aircraft that is beyond peer is that this cannot be the case in every single scenario.  The one-size-fits-all approach is doomed to fail.

Using WWII as a reference, B-24s, B-25s, B-26s, B-17s and B-29s each had a specific role.  If given a mission, the question is which one of those five would perform better than the others.  And the answer was not always the B-29.  Same for fighters.  P-38s, P-47s and P-51s each excelled at one thing.  I see no practicality in using a single universal fighter to replace F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, and F-22s.  What is your take on that, @SZonian

(btw, I was a big fan of the F-20, an aircraft that politics killed)

[PeteS in CA]

The F-35 is not intended to replace the F-15/F-16 combo. It is intended to be part of an F-22/F-35 combo. WRT the USN, the F-35 is intended to replace the AV-8B (upgraded Harrier) and to be used together with - not replace - the F-18 "Super Hornet".

F-35-bashing has long been a cottage industry, but its current mediocre availability is more a logistics problem, unlike the ~50% availability of the F-15 in the late 70s, which was an engine problem (the F-16, which used the same engine, had better availability, but by cannibalizing F-15s).

[SZonian]

My problem with an aircraft that is beyond peer is that this cannot be the case in every single scenario.  The one-size-fits-all approach is doomed to fail.

Using WWII as a reference, B-24s, B-25s, B-26s, B-17s and B-29s each had a specific role.  If given a mission, the question is which one of those five would perform better than the others.  And the answer was not always the B-29.  Same for fighters.  P-38s, P-47s and P-51s each excelled at one thing.  I see no practicality in using a single universal fighter to replace F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, and F-22s.  What is your take on that, @SZonian

(btw, I was a big fan of the F-20, an aircraft that politics killed)

@Hoodat
Firstly, the F-35's primary role is "First Strike" capability, it (not the F-22 as some have claimed) is a replacement for the F-117 (which I worked on for almost 15 years) in that role. Once air superiority is established, it then assumes the role of "bomb truck" (F-15, F-16, F-18). I do agree that it is absolutely NOT a replacement for the A-10 and its CAS abilities. NGAD will most likely replace F-22, not the F-35. As for the others on your list, air strategies are going over to "penetration" now, so 4th gen aircraft are becoming obsolete. Stealth is the future.