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Goemaere said these efforts had reduced the F-35’s “cost per tail per year” by 34 percent, from $9.4 million in 2014 to $6.2 million in 2022. He also said the “cost per flying hour” had dropped from $87,000 to $34,000 over that span, in constant 2012 dollars.
The Pentagon, which depends on jet-builder Lockheed Martin to lead and manage sustainment, is trying to expand “government control” over the program to reduce program costs and improve program performance, GAO said.
The Pentagon has been exploring a performance-based logistics contract with Lockheed, under which the company would be paid to produce outcomes, not provide quantities of parts and services. However, late last year, Pentagon officials decided to pause negotiations with Lockheed over the deal to sustain the F-35 fleet.
“We stand ready to partner with the government as further sustainment plans are created to maintain mission readiness and deterrence for the F-35, now and through its extended service life of 2088,” Lockheed said in a statement.
The watchdog agency pointed out that the Pentagon has not implemented a number of recommendations the GAO has made over the years on F-35 sustainment.
“For example, DOD has not implemented GAO’s recommendations that it update the sustainment strategy for the F-35 engine, improve the program’s management of spare parts, and reassess government and contractor responsibility for different aspects of F-35 sustainment,” the report said.
Lawmakers will likely ask about the program’s readiness problems on Tuesday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing with Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the F-35’s program executive officer.
From design to retirement, the F-35 program is now estimated to reach a total cost of $2 trillion, GAO said, up from the previous estimate of $1.7 trillion.
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