F-35s hobbled by parts shortages, slow repairs, audit finds

Bloomberg

The Pentagon is accelerating production of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet even though the planes already delivered are facing “significantly longer repair times” than planned because maintenance facilities are six years behind schedule, according to a draft audit.
The time to repair a part has
averaged 172 days—“twice the programme’s objective”—the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s watchdog agency, found. The shortages are “degrading readiness” because the fighter jets “were unable to fly about 22 percent of the time” through August for lack of needed parts.
The Pentagon has said soaring costs to develop and produce the F-35, the costliest US weapons system, have been brought under control, with the price tag now projected at $406.5 billion. But the GAO report raises new doubts about the official estimate that maintaining and operating them will cost an additional $1.12 trillion over their 60-year lifetime.
The agency said in the draft obtained by Bloomberg News, the Defense Department “must stretch its resources to meet the needs of continued system development and production while at the same time sustain the more than 250 aircraft it has already fielded.”
Upkeep of the F-35 fleet will become more challenging as the Pentagon prepares for what the manager of the programme has called a “tsunami” of new production towards an eventual planned US fleet of 2,456 planes plus more than 700 additional planes to be sold to allies.
The F-35 programme office and Lockheed have identified steps to increase parts availability “to prevent these challenges from worsening” as aircraft numbers increase, the GAO said, but Pentagon documentation indicates “the program’s ability to speed up this time line is uncertain.”
The GAO also disclosed that the F-35B—the Marine Corps version of the fighter that’s scheduled to begin ship deployments next year—won’t have required maintenance and repair capabilities at sea and “will likely experience degraded readiness.”
The GAO said in the draft audit that the 60-year estimate for upkeep of the F-35 has increased despite the Defense Department’s “concerted efforts to reduce costs.”
Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s new undersecretary for acquisition, highlighted the underlying issue for new weapons systems.
“My initial conclusion is we spend an incredible amount of time on the acquisition side” and “very, very little time on the sustainment side,” she said. “When you look over the life-cycle” cost “of most of our programs, it’s about 70 percent on the sustainment side. So we need to get that right.”
Under a congressional mandate, by February the Pentagon must divide its acquisition office into one focused on developing promising technologies and the second on systems acquisition and sustainment. Asked to comment on the draft report on F-35 repairs, Navy Commander Patrick Evans, a spokesman for Lord, said in an email that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “has made it clear that the department must focus on doing business more efficiently and cost effectively. To that end, we will review the GAO’s findings, make the appropriate responses directly to the GAO, and continue to work with our partners for the good of the warfighter and taxpayer money.”
A spokesman for the Pentagon’s F-35 programme office said “it would be improper for us to comment on an unfinished draft report that has not been publicly released.” The office “has numerous initiatives underway to improve F-35 logistics and sustainment,” spokesman Joe DellaVedova said, citing as an example an “affordability war room” established with Lockheed and engine maker Pratt & Whitney.
“Since its inception, these efforts have reduced sustainment costs by $60.7 billion over the life of the system,” DellaVedova said.
The GAO draft praised as a “positive step” the Pentagon’s establishment of an “integrated master schedule” to better plan sustainment. Still, “parts shortages are expected to continue for several years and may worsen if DoD and the contractor are not able to fully implement these actions,” the GAO said. The Pentagon plans to increase its annual F-35 purchases to 99 by 2022 from the 70 requested this fiscal year.