The “mission capable rate” of these F35s is simply appalling.

23 years in and it still doesn’t work.

23 years.

And Congress won’t kill it but continues to feed money into the F35 industrial wood-chipper.

The jets have often been stuck on the ground due to engine design flaws that cause the aircraft to overheat, damaging parts and boosting maintenance costs. This inability to stay in the air has made it more difficult to get pilots sufficient training in real-life scenarios, which increases the likelihood of crashes and other costly accidents, according to Dan Grazier of the Project on Government Oversight.

The effort to fix these engine issues helps show why the F-35’s costs keep rising. In the early 2010s, the Pentagon asked military contractors to propose a new engine prototype while simultaneously pushing RTX subsidiary Pratt and Whitney to upgrade its original F-35 engine. Last year, the Defense Department told Congress that it no longer needs the $588 million per year prototype program, but lawmakers refused to kill it, choosing instead to fund the prototype and the upgrades simultaneously in a move one expert derided as “just throwing money at everything.”

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/f35-cost/

***

But the advanced fighter jet, which replaced the fourth-generation F-16, just reached full-rate production this year, meaning it is finally at the highest rate of readiness after more than 23 years. It was expected to reach full production by 2019.

No, now the projection is two trillion dollars wasted on this now infamous program.

Two trillion dollars.

Today, the F-35 is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapon system. The U.S. operates 630 of the aircraft and plans to purchase 2,500 by the mid-2040s and to continue operating them through the 2080s. 

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report this year that the total costs to sustain the F-35 fleet through 2088 would be more than $2 trillion. An individual aircraft will cost more than $6 million annually to operate and sustain. 

At the same time, the Navy, Marines and Air Force have each projected a decrease in flying the F-35, which has not had a single model meet mission goals from fiscal 2019 through 2023. Lockheed also continues to deliver the aircraft late.

The GAO also said in the report that around 70 percent of its recommendations have not been addressed by the Pentagon, including creating a new sustainment strategy or reassessing Lockheed’s responsibility for sustainment. 

In 2021, the tides began to turn against the program. Then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who served in the last days of the Trump administration, publicly called it a “piece of s—,” while Smith, then chair of the HASC, referred to the F-35 program as a “rathole.” 

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4754671-congress-f-35-program-problems/mlite/

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