Report: F-35 Delay to Harm U.S. Warfighting Ability

Israel is committed to buying this plane in a controversial deal. The purchase has been criticized because the plane is far too expensive and this was so even before these problems. Ted Belman

Costs skyrocketing as reliability plunges

By Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON
An F-35B fighter jet / AP

An F-35B fighter jet / AP 

A major delay in the shipment of new F-35fighter jets is expected to diminish U.S. “warfighting capabilities” across the globe and force the Pentagon to significantly boost funding for the plane at a time when military leaders say they cannot afford to, according to a new government report.

Delivery of the plane could be deferred “by as much as 13 months,” leading the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to warn that “delays of this magnitude will likely limit the warfighting capabilities that are delivered to support the military services’ initial operational capabilities,” according to the report.

The F-35 manufacturers are reportedly running into major problems completing and testing “critical software” that allows the jet to properly operate.

The problems will not just deprive the Pentagon of the plane, but force it to “increase funds steeply over the next 5 years and sustain an average of $12.6 billion per year through 2037” and about $15 billion over the next several years.

The key fighter jet was originally meant to be shipped by July 2015, though the delay will push this back to 2016, according to the report.

This could be problematic given current budgetary constraints on the Pentagon and a plan to cut funding in many key areas. The F-35 program has already been ordered to reduce costs.

“Annual funding of this magnitude clearly poses long-term affordability risks given the current fiscal environment,” according to the GAO report. “The program has been directed to reduce unit costs to meet established affordability targets before full-rate production begins in 2019, but meeting those targets will be challenging as significant cost reductions are needed.”

“Additionally, the most recent cost estimate for operating and supporting the F-35 fleet is more than $1 trillion, which DoD officials have deemed unaffordable,” according to the report.

Potentially more problematic for the aircraft and the military is a recent finding by the Office of the Director for Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) determining that “the F-35 program has limited additional opportunities to improve reliability.”

The uncertainty about the F-35 means that “Congress and the military services may not be able to make fully informed resource allocation decisions,” according the report.

The primary problem for the F-35 is that it is suffering from software malfunctions.

“Challenges” have arisen specifically in the “development and testing” of software that governs the jet’s mission systems. This occurred as a result of initial delays in the “software delivery, limited capability in the software when delivered, and the need to fix problems and retest multiple software versions,” according to the GAO.

The F-35, also know as the Joint Strike Fighter, has the title of being the “DoD’s most costly and ambitious acquisition program,” according to the report. Versions of the plane are used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as eight U.S. allies.

Despite its problems, “the F-35 is integral to U.S. and international plans to replace existing fighter aircraft and support future combat operations,” the report states.

“Total U.S. planned investment in the F-35 program is approaching $400 billion to develop and acquire 2,457 aircraft through 2037, plus hundreds of billions of dollars in long-term spending to operate and maintain the aircraft,” according to the report.

March 31, 2014 | 16 Comments »

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16 Comments / 16 Comments

  1. the phoenix Said:

    AND democrats are the opposite sides of the very same coin

    You figured that out all by yawlself Canuck!!!! If the Rep had run a “yeller dog: for president, I’d voted to it. Anybody but Obama.

  2. @ honeybee:

    Urban America!!!! Rural American vote Romney!!!! We just didn’t have the numbers.

    1. Be that as it may, it only points out to the point I was trying to make on an earlier post. Namely, that while I DO UNDERSTAND your sentiment of +/- attack one of us, you attack all…. It is misguided since you are inadvertently including in to the “us”, a whole bunch of folks that you would readily admit that you have nothing to do with them.
    2. Voting Romney… (You know a true blue republican…. Who would really show them to those damn democrats…. 😉 ) Would not have been any different, than voting for bibi… (You know, a right wing hawk….. Who takes a TOUGH stand with a marker at the UN……)
    It is WAAAAAAAY past time to realize that BOTH republicans AND democrats are the opposite sides of the very same coin – big business corp. (arms industry, pharmaceuticals, FOOD!!!!)

    ahhhhhm sure yall catch maaaaah drift, mam….
    🙂

  3. the phoenix Said:

    eed THIS America that has put the black bastard in the Oval Office for a second time

    Urban America!!!! Rural American vote Romney!!!! We just didn’t have the numbers.

  4. @ ArnoldHarris:
    @ ArnoldHarris:

    By the way. The way that I write mirrors what a lot of Americans are saying these days.

    I think that when you (or anyone else for that matter) write “a lot of Americans”, this is obviously to be understood as ‘a lot of the Americans that I know / hang out with ‘ etc.
    This would obviously make sense since ‘birds of a feather… Flock together’
    I would not imagine you to shoot the breeze with some obamites or any other libtard.

    In a similar exchange I had yesterday with you and HB I pointed out that ‘the Americans’ that you (and hb) and I know, for the most part are NOT. Representative of the american pie .
    That larger pie is pretty much one of bigotry, ignorance and arrogance… And worse of all, as far as I am concerned, antisemitic too.
    It is indeed THIS America that has put the black bastard in the Oval Office for a second time… It is THIS America that as you rightly pointed out, is playing poker… One big bluff…
    My wife keeps nagging me about st. Petersburg, the hermitage, kremlin etc…
    Maybe I’ll conveniently acquiesce… 😉

  5. @ ArnoldHarris:
    @ ArnoldHarris:

    By the way. The way that I write mirrors what a lot of Americans are saying these days.

    I think that when you (or anyone else for that matter) write “a lot of Americans”, this is obviously to be understood as ‘a lot of the Americans that I know / hang out with ‘ etc.
    This would obviously make sense since ‘birds of a feather… Flock together’
    I would not imagine you to shoot the breeze with some obamites or any other libtard.

    In a similar exchange I had yesterday with you and HB I pointed out that ‘the Americans’ that you (and hb) and I know, for the most part are NOT representative of the american pie .
    That larger pie is pretty much one of bigotry, ignorance and arrogance… And worse of all, as far as I am concerned, antisemitic too.
    It is indeed THIS America that has put the black bastard in the Oval Office for a second time… It is THIS America that as you rightly pointed out, is playing poker… One big bluff…

    My wife keeps nagging me about going to see st. Petersburg, the hermitage, the red square , whatever…
    Maybe she has a point… 😉

  6. @ Per:
    You are right, Per. Russia’s Su-35 looks to be exactly what Israel needs for its piloted fighter-bomber squadrons. One doesn’t see very many 1500 mph aircraft at work with the maneuverability of the Su-35.

    Take a look at this youtube video of the Su-35 performing at another air show.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhigI6ioKLM

    Also, the time is long overdue for Israel to get out from under the dead weight of the Obama’s now rapidly-fading and bankrupt empire. I live in the midst of it here in the American heartland. It’s all but impossible to avoid the glaring evidence of everything falling apart in this society.

    I look forward to Israel enjoying equally good relations with Russia, China, India, and the USA. But never again under the direct thumb of Washington. Never again.

    By the way. The way that I write mirrors what a lot of Americans are saying these days. A lot of talk going around of shedding the empire and returning to America’s traditional role as a constitutional republic, which is what the founding fathers had in mind when they began this commonwealth late in the 18th century.

    Arnold Harris
    Mount Horeb WI

  7. And so they got Andrew Breitbart to do the dirty work on Weiner? And what’s with that marriage to Huma Abedin? This is one weird story! I guess they killed off Andrew after he did the work and was no longer useful (to whomever wanted Weiner out).

  8. DELAY is now the defining word for US foreign policy, defence and internal policies.
    Funeral directors are always concerned about DELAYS.
    But it seems their future clients are not.

  9. For at least six years I have been warning about any reliance of the F-35. Not now or later. I am a retired Senior-Fellow Engineer US Department of Defense Military Avionics Programs working then at one of the giants of the industry in the USA. We, the Advanced Engineering Excellence Corporate Team, did not find the concept or plans worthy to be considered for investment. I was in a parallel fashion connected to the F-22, originally daubed the ATF platform. I strongly recommend that the F-35 be NOT incorporated to the IAF. The Barak and Netanyahu commitment to this aircraft is another one of their self serving monumental errors. The aircraft initial cost is astronomical, its true capabilities are ever in failure mode, the extended cost of operation and maintenance are out of this world.
    In my contacts with also by now retired former associates, we unanimously agree with our initial decisions about this aircraft. Not a wise investment regardless of political pressures. This would be one “disengagement” I would support…
    In passing allow me to mention that I was invited many years ago by the IMoD to act as a Consultant.