An ambitious effort to equip the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy with a single combat aircraft, originally billed as a way to be more efficient, will cost $8.8 billion a year more to operate than the aging planes it will replace, the Government Accountability Office says.
It’s the latest concern the GAO has raised about the F-35 fighter jet program, which has been plagued by delays, cost overruns and performance issues. The program, which began in 2001 and is the most expensive defense spending project in history, won’t field its first operational squadron until 2015 at the earliest. It has survived even in a tight budget environment because the military needs to replace its current combat aircraft, which are on average 20 to 30 years old and are approaching the end of their service lives.
The Pentagon plans to spend $351 billion for more than 2,400 F-35s, and another $1 trillion to operate them over 50 years. The three variants of the jet, a multirole tactical fighter for the Air Force, a vertical take-off and landing version for the Marines and a carrier-based fighter for the Navy, are designed to replace several types of existing aircraft, including the F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and AV-8.
In a report released Tuesday, the GAO found that the estimated annual cost of operating the F-35 would be $19.9 billion, $8.8 billion more than the combined annual cost of the four types of aircraft it would replace, raising questions about whether the Pentagon could afford the new fighter under current budgets.
“To date, the program’s sustainment strategy continues to evolve but may not be affordable, and DOD has not fully addressed several key risks to long-term affordability and operational readiness, that, if not mitigated, could affect the development of the strategy,” GAO said in the report.
GAO recommended that the Pentagon create more reliable estimates of operating costs that are more in line with actual budgeted spending.
