Menu

Only 1 in 4 F-35s Is Fully Mission Capable, GAO Finds

, , ,

Author: Michael Scanlon
Date: June 12, 2026

A Government Accountability Office report finds that the F-35 fleet’s readiness continued to decline through fiscal 2025, with only one in four aircraft fully mission capable. The report attributes the decline to software delays affecting newer jets, spare-parts shortages, maintenance issues, and corrosion. The F-35 Joint Program Office’s proposed recovery plan would require billions in additional funding, but GAO warns that persistent supplier constraints, escalating sustainment costs, and weak contractor incentive practices could undermine the effort.

Main points and details:

  • GAO reported that the F-35’s full mission capable rate fell from 38% in fiscal 2021 to 25% in fiscal 2025; the broader mission capable rate fell from 67% to 44%.
  • Air Force officials cited software delays, limited spare parts, and corrosion problems as contributors to the fiscal 2025 decline.
  • The Joint Program Office’s Global Support Solution Reset seeks an 80% mission capable rate and a 65% full mission capable rate by 2030.
  • The program office estimates that carrying out the plan will require $13.7 billion more than previously planned through fiscal 2031, including a large gap between available budgets and expected sustainment needs.
  • GAO warned that supplier capacity remains a risk; a Lockheed Martin study identified 48 parts with inadequate production capacity.
  • GAO projects that, by the mid-2030s, the services could face an annual F-35 sustainment affordability gap of about $1.2 billion.
  • From 2020 through 2023, the program office paid Lockheed Martin more than $114 million in incentive fees even as readiness and parts-supply results generally stagnated or worsened.
  • GAO said the program office needs stronger risk plans, better-designed contractor incentives, and reliable records of incentive-fee payments. It has issued 46 F-35 sustainment recommendations since 2014, with 14 implemented as of March 2026.
  • The Pentagon operates more than 800 F-35s and plans to buy about 1,700 more; estimated U.S. lifetime sustainment costs were $1.6 trillion as of 2024.

➡️ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.militarytimes.com/industry/techwatch/2026/06/12/only-1-in-4-f-35s-is-fully-mission-capable-gao-finds/

Related Posts