Lockheed is delivering F-35s late—but the Pentagon is also buying them too quickly, GAO says
MAY 01, 2022 MARCUS WEISGERBER - DEFENSE ONE
Lockheed Martin has delivered more than one-quarter of F-35 stealth fighters late over the past five years, the Government Accountability Office revealed in a new report that also dinged the Pentagon for ordering hundreds of jets before planned technology is ready.
GAO warns that hundreds of existing jets—including those on the assembly line and others still not under construction—will eventually face costly bills to install new systems that won’t be ready for prime time until at least 2029. As well, problems with the jet’s simulators have delayed DOD plans to declare the plane ready for “full-rate production,” a bureaucratic milestone that signals the F-35 is stable and reliable.
“[T]he program is years behind schedule in completing development, while continuing to acquire up to 152 aircraft per year,” GAO wrote. “The more aircraft produced before operational testing is complete, the higher the risk of increased costs to retrofit those aircraft if issues are discovered.”
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/05/lockheed-is-delivering-f-35s-late-but-the-pentagon-is-also-buying-them-too-quickly-gao-says/
