The US Government Accountability Office has released! Direct to the Ministry of National Defense
The US government accountability agency, a subsidiary of the US Congress, released a report on the 21st stating that the maintenance costs of US F-35 fighter jets are high. Data shows that from October last year to March this year, the aircraft's mission execution time was around 55%, far below the planned target. The US Department of Defense and military departments need to reassess their future maintenance strategy for F-35 fighter jets.
The report states that the US Department of Defense plans to increase the number of US F-35 fighter jets to approximately 2500 in the coming decades. The project is expected to cost $1.7 trillion, of which up to $1.3 trillion will be used for the operation and maintenance of fighter jets. The report points out that there are many problems in the management of F-35 fighter maintenance work by the US Department of Defense, including severe reliance on contractors, insufficient training of relevant personnel, unreasonable allocation of funds, lack of supporting equipment, lack of technical data, and lack of spare parts.
The maintenance issue of fighter jets not only resulted in the US government paying high costs for F-35 fighter jets, but also had a negative impact on the combat readiness of the aircraft. According to data from March this year, the mission capability rate of the US F-35 fighter fleet was only about 55%, which means that only 55% of the time the aircraft was capable of performing at least one mission. This value is far below the planned target of over 80%. Part of the reason for this situation is that the construction of the warehouse fell behind schedule, which slowed down the repair speed of the aircraft components. At that time, more than 10000 components were waiting to be repaired.
The US Government Accountability Office recommends a reassessment of the maintenance strategy for F-35 fighter jets
The US Government Accountability Office recommends that the US Department of Defense reassess the elements required to sustain the F-35 fighter jet, in order to ultimately determine the maintenance strategy for the F-35 fighter jet and address current performance and cost issues.
Due to various problems and defects, the F-35 fighter jet production line has been plagued by various rework and production node delays, directly leading to issues such as delayed aircraft delivery and decreased combat readiness. In recent years, F-35 fighter jets have also experienced frequent accidents. On the 17th of this month, a US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II fighter jet crashed near North Charleston, South Carolina.
