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F-35s Continue to Have Problems, Acquisition Costs Increase

posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 29 2018, @01:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the flying-money-pit dept.

takyon writes:

Testing Director says the expensive F-35s are not combat-ready, unreliable, and components need redesign

Overall fleet-wide monthly availability rates remain around 50 percent, a condition that has existed with no significant improvement since October 2014, despite the increasing number of new aircraft. One notable trend is an increase in the percentage of the fleet that cannot fly while awaiting replacement parts – indicated by the Not Mission Capable due to Supply rate.

[...] Total acquisition costs for Lockheed Martin Corp.'s next-generation fighter may rise about 7 percent to $406.5 billion, according to figures in a document known as a Selected Acquisition Report. That's a reversal after several years of estimates that had declined to $379 billion recently from a previous high of $398.5 billion in early 2014.

$122 billion has been spent on the F35 program up until the end of 2017. $10-15 billion will be spent each year through 2022. This is detailed in a 100 page F-35 spending summary report.

FY17 DOD PROGRAMS: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

Related: The F-35 Fighter Plane Is Even More of a Mess Than You Thought
The F-35: A Gold-Plated Turkey
Flawed and Potentially Deadly F-35 Fighters Won't be Ready Before 2019
Lockheed Martin Negotiating $37 Billion F-35 Deal
Does China's J-20 Rival Other Stealth Fighters?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @06:11AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @06:11AM (#630208)

    That is also ignoring the United States dominion over 80+ percent of the pacific in large part due to the Guano Act, combined with UNCLOS rules surrounding island sizes sufficient to recieve coastal waters and an EEZ.

    The US complaining about Chinese influence over the Spratly Isles and other areas is really the pot calling the kettle black. Given China's size in comparison to the US, the US is grabbing far more sea resources than they deserve based on either population or territory size.