Investigators have discovered that the US navy can’t account for lacking fighter-jet elements valued at $85 million
The US Division of Protection (DOD) has been unable to account for about 1 million lacking spare components for its F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, the most expensive weapon system within the nation’s historical past, a authorities overview has discovered.
The misplaced components, which embody such objects as bolts, tires, and touchdown gear, are valued at about $85 million, the Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO) reported on Tuesday. Since 2018, the Pentagon has reviewed the circumstances surrounding solely 2% of recognized components losses.
“With out DOD taking steps to make sure that these spare components are accountable beneath a contract, the F-35 Joint Program Workplace (JPO) shall be unable to both acquire or preserve accountability over these spare components and won’t have information, similar to places, prices, and portions, wanted for monetary reporting or to make sure that authorities pursuits are protected,” the GAO stated.
The spare components are saved world wide to be used on the F-35 by the US navy and allied nations which have bought the plane, which is made by protection contractor Lockheed Martin. As a result of the Pentagon’s F-35 JPO lacks a course of for monitoring losses, Lockheed Martin hasn’t reported on over 900,000 further spare components valued at greater than $66 million for overview, the GAO stated.
The GAO’s report marks simply the newest black eye for the $1.7 trillion F-35 program, which has been stricken by reliability struggles, together with a problem with engine vibration that led to a worldwide recall order in March. Solely about 30% of America’s F-35 fleet is “totally mission succesful” on any given day. US Air Drive Lieutenant Common Michael Schmidt warned final month {that a} skinny provide of spare components may jeopardize the power of American forces to maintain the plane in service in the course of the nation’s subsequent main conflict.
The GAO report blamed the components losses partly on the Pentagon’s failure to supervise elements which are owned by the DOD and managed by contractors. DOD officers and the contractors haven’t reached an settlement on whether or not the components ought to be categorized as government-furnished property, which hinders the processing of misplaced inventories.
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Pentagon orders repair for all F-35s globally
As of final October, the Pentagon had over 19,000 spare components globally that had been awaiting disposition directions from the F-35 JPO – for so long as 5 years in some instances. The GAO stated the DOD agreed with its 4 suggestions on beefing up accounting for the components pool.
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