The Pentagon should complete development of the baseline F-35 joint strike fighter before pouring millions into future capabilities, the Government Accountability Office recommended Monday.
In Pentagon parlance, this concept is known as “fly before you buy.” The stealthy, fifth generation F-35 fighter, built by Lockheed Martin, has been plagued by “cost and schedule overruns, knowledge gaps, and performance issues,” according to the GAO.
“Although [the Department of Defense] has taken a number of steps to address these concerns, the department continues to struggle to keep the development costs for the baseline aircraft in check,” the report concludes.
The government watchdog report concluded that the latest problems with the plane’s mission systems software has the program officials estimating it will take an additional five months to complete developmental testing, adding $532 million to complete development.
The GAO report says that estimate is overly optimistic, and the actual delay is probably closer to a year, and add $1.7 billion to the cost of development.
“DOD policy and GAO best practices state that requirements should be approved and a sound business case formed before requesting development proposals from contractors,” the report concludes. “Until … testing is complete, DOD will not have the knowledge it needs to present a sound business case.
“Our recommendation? Before committing dollars to future F-35 capabilities, DOD should complete development of the baseline aircraft,” the GAO says on its website.
In a response from the Pentagon’s Joint Program Office, Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the executive officer for the F-35 program, said he did not agree with the GAO’s recommendations
“The bottom line up front is the F-35 program is a much different and improved program than it was 5 years ago,” Bogdan said. “The F-35 weapon system is now operational and forward deployed. The size of the fleet continues to grow and we are rapidly expanding its capability. Program costs are well understood, stable and with respect to production and operating costs, they are decreasing, making the F-35 more affordable every day.”
The F-35 is DoD’s most expensive and ambitious acquisition program, in the words of the GAO.
“Acquisition costs alone are estimated at nearly $400 billion, and beginning in 2022, DOD expects to spend more than $14 billion a year on average for a decade,” the report said.
The full report can be found here.
