The F-35 program has incurred a major breach of Nunn-McCurdy cost-monitoring thresholds and, per US law, will have to be recertified as sound to continue, Defense Department acquisition executive Ash Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. He said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley is expected to formally inform Congress of the breach within days. Testifying with Carter, Christine Fox, Pentagon chief for independent cost assessments, said F-35 costs have ballooned by more than 50 percent since 2001, triggering the breach. Back then, the F-35 average procurement unit cost was pegged at $50.2 million in base year 2002 dollars over the entire US buy. Now, the projected per-unit price tag is projected at between $80 million and $95 million in 2002 dollars, she said. (That’s as high as $112 million apiece in today’s dollars.) The recertification should be completed in June, she said. (See Living in the Breach) (Carter’s prepared remarks) (Fox’s prepared remarks)
The final version of the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill calls for adding $1.2 billion to the Space Force’s research and development accounts, an increase that’s mostly split between two efforts: expanding the service’s low-Earth orbit data transport network and boosting its space-based missile warning and tracking capabilities.
