F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Faces Mission Readiness Crisis, GAO Warns
Peter Suciu / Sep 25, 2023
Days after a United States Marine Corps F-35B crashed in rural South Carolina, a new report from a government watchdog highlighted the ongoing maintenance delays with the fifth-generation aircraft. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that due to a lack of space parts and issues with technical data, as well as inadequate training of maintainers, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is only “mission capable” 55% of the time – below the 70% mission-capable goal that the United States Air Force has for its F-35As, and the 74% goal for the U.S. Navy’s and U.S. Marine Corps’ F-35B and C variants.
“In the coming decades, the Department of Defense plans to spend an estimated $1.7 trillion on nearly 2,500 F-35s. Most of the funds will go to operating, maintaining, and repairing the aircraft,” the GAO noted.
It further suggested that the Pentagon will face a number of maintenance issues with the Lightning II, including delays in setting up military service depots, the facilities where the most complex repairs are conducted; inadequate equipment to keep the fleet of F-35s operational; and maintenance and supply delays affecting aircraft readiness.
GAO RECOMMENDATIONS
The government watchdog offered a number of recommendations that should be made to address the issues with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program.
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