An interview with outgoing Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord shed light on the state of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and ongoing issues with mission capable rates for the aircraft.

F-35 Fifth Generation Single Engine Fighter

Although the F-35 was designed as a low maintenance and low cost single engine fighter to serve as a lighter, cheaper and lower end counterpart to the F-22, the aircraft’s operational costs and maintenance requirements have been extremely high for a fighter of its kind and have impacted availability rates substantially.

This led the Pentagon to warn that sustaining the F-35 fleet could be unaffordable, with an indication of its high maintenance needs given by its hourly operational cost of approximately $31,000 dollars. By contrast, the F-16 fourth generation fighter the F-35 was designed to replace costs approximately $7700 per hour to operate, and has the highest readiness rates in the fleet despite hundreds being in service due to its simple low cost design.

F-35 (top) and F-22 Next Generation Fighters

Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Lord stated regarding the F-35 fleet: “we’re currently at 36 percent fully mission capable, and we are striving to be at 50 percent for the fleet,” meaning almost two thirds of the fleet are not being kept operationally ready. This came after then Defence Secretary James Mattis in 2018 set a goal of 80% combat readiness rates for the U.S. Air Force’s combat fleet – one which the service overall failed to achieve and which the F-35 has failed by a considerable margin. The service subsequently gave up entirely on meeting this target, but the F-35 still remains a below average performer.

Lord attributed the low percentage of mission capable F-35s to ongoing issues with both the  power module of its F135 engine and its canopy. She further highlighted that the program suffered from a longstanding problem with “transparency delamination,” with outer layers of the canopy peeling away from the base. The F-35 has been an unpopular program with a number of prominent officials due to its perceived inability to fill the role of a low cost low maintenance fighter – leading the U.S. Air Force to plan further investments in the older F-16s despite the design being set to be at least 50 years old when delivered.

F-35 Stealth Fighters on Runway

Outgoing Defence Secretary Christopher C. Miller Notably referred to the F-35 program as the Pentagon having “created a monster,” stating that “The F-35 is a piece of…” while not finishing the sentence. Former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain previously referred to the F-35 as “a textbook example’ of the country’s ‘broken defence acquisition system.” He further stated in a briefing to the Senate: “the F-35 program’s record of performance has been both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule and performance.”

The fighter’s underperformance was criticised by a wide range of think tanks such as NSN and the RAND Corporation, organisations such as the Project on Government Oversight, and individuals such as the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester Michael Gilmore and Marine Captain Dan Grazier. The fighter remains several years behind schedule, very far over budget and is still not considered ready for high intensity combat.