Just under half of the $100 million a piece F-35 Joint Strike Fighters delivered by Lockheed Martin thus far are non-operational, according to statements made by Vice Adm. Mat Winter, head of the Defense Department’s F-35 Joint Program Office.
The F-35 program, which has received significant political support thanks to development and manufacturing operations tied to the program employing people in nearly all of America’s fifty states, has suffered repeated delays, setbacks and cost overruns since its inception. Now, with only 51% of the 280 aircraft delivered actually functional, much of the blame can once again be placed on mismanagement of the program at its onset.
The culprit behind many of the non-operational F-35s was a policy called “concurrency,” wherein F-35 production began before testing of the aircraft was completed. The idea was to get the ball moving on construction of the advanced fighters before the anticipated decades long shake down process was completed, then the early iterations of the jet would be brought back in for upgrades once testing of the final version of the platform was complete.
After years of issues, however, the value of the concurrency approach doesn’t seem to be there. Because most of the first generation aircrafts are not even operational, and budgetary concerns have prioritized the construction of new jets over the refit of old ones… it’s difficult to see what value the U.S. military actually got out of the 140 or so F-35s that have been delivered but can’t actually take to the skies. It’s possible that they could be refit for use, while others may eventually be cannibalized for parts as the functional F-35s begin to wear down components, but either possibility represents a massive waste of money.
Most of the defects Lockheed has been tasked with addressing have come as a result of the aircraft’s advanced stealth capabilities, according to the company’s vice president.
At a price tag of between $100 and $120 million each, somewhere between $1.4 and nearly $1.8 billion worth of 5th generation fighters have now been built to do nothing more but sit on the tarmac and collect dust – waiting for a time when they will either be disassembled back into the components they came from, or will undergo mechanical refits to turn them into functioning aircraft. While it was always expected that the early generation F-35s would require refits, it seems unlikely that having just about half of the entire global fleet of F-35s non-operational was ever a part of the plan.
The biggest concern for the future of the F-35 program, however, isn’t the mistakes of the past, it’s the expenses of the future. Winter is currently working to negotiate the price of the next batch of F-35s set to be built, and despite the production’s track record of setbacks and failures, Lockheed, it seems, is still negotiating with the upper hand, knowing all too well that, at this point, the program is considered by many to be “too big to fail.”
“The price is coming down, but it’s not coming down fast enough,” Winter said. “I will tell you that I am not as satisfied with the collaboration and cooperation by Lockheed Martin. They could be much more cooperative and collaborative, and we could seal this deal faster; we could. They choose not to, and that’s a negotiating tactic.”
Feature image courtesy of the Department of Defense
Join our community. To comment on this article please join/login. Here's a sample of the comments on this post.
I think they will never retire the A-10 , the last time they really tried the Army said they would pull it out of the desert and fly it. As for the F35 the Air Force software package , which they handed the builder, has not meshed well, full of bugs and errors. they will have it fixed but noone wants to pay for the extra time needed. Kelly Johnson the pioneer designer at Lockheed in the 40-80s had 10 written rules for all to see as you walked into building 311 (Engineering building at the skunkworks) but it was well known about rule 11 , Never deal with the Navy they don't know what they want. In the end it will be a fine plane but too many promises were made about delivery when everyone knew when the AF changed the software and the Navy pulled its usual BS that the delivery dates , especially software would never hold up.. The British have also been very happy as has Israel.
Stig - here is where I moderate my views on the F-35 a bit and I agree with you in regards to the Marines. This aircraft was designed first and foremost for the lift body power train, VTOL. All versions have the same body regardless of whether or not they use it. This is why the Air Force and Navy have had to make so many changes to it (larger wings in the case of the Navy). So from my perspective, why doesn't someone with half a brain (instead of just canceling it, which is disastrous at this point), insist that the entire project is converted over to supplying the Marine Corp? It is true the Marine pilots love it, and if it was purpose built, as it was designed, to do what they need, it could probably be salvaged and end up a better program instead of all things to all branches. My two cents anyway. P.S. However, as a Marine Corp aircraft, it should capably fill the role of CAS, especially if the Air Force decides to pull out of that role and offer nothing substantive as a replacement. P.S.S. Also, folks keep saying the A-10 is old, and yet we plan to keep the B-52 operational into the 2080s. B-52 is pretty damn old.
Got that, but really? It’s like replacing tiles on the space shuttle. Goona happen all the time. They couldn’t engineer a way around this? Or was that too cheap for one of the last remaining aircraft contractors for the military? Monopoly at play here. Period. All stop. Many companies, military contractors (Lockheed Martin) and non-mil-contract enterprises (Amazon) need to be broken up Bell Telephone style.
That’s atrocious. Worst still, any aircraft gets hit with high explosive ammo. Done deal. Bye-bye pilot and $100mil.
If you want something cheap don't let the government make any decisions on staffing purchasing anything. If they could screw it up they will. With that said I have talked with pilots of the F35 and the Marine aviators loved it . The air force guys did too but you could feel the true love coming from the Marines. Every aircraft has been hammered by the press and the Dems my whole life I remember Sam Nunn whimpering about the F 16 before that it was the F15 in their sights all had bugs at start up and with all the computers on board the newer ones there will be bugs, I am confident they will fix most of them and in the end it will be a great bird. Pushing the limits of technology costs money these are not chevys coming off the line,