The Air Force ramped up operations and maintenance spending to keep its F-35A fighters flying over the past six years, but readiness continues to lag behind goals, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
A handheld flashlight left inside an engine inlet of an F-35 fighter was sucked into the engine during a maintenance ground run at Luke Air Force Base in March 2023, causing nearly $4 million worth of damage, according to a new accident investigation report. The ...
The Department of the Defense and the military services want to take more control over the massive F-35 sustainment enterprise—and are required by law to do so in 2027—but they lack a detailed plan to do so and should reassess their approach to key parts ...
A three-person shop at Hill Air Force Base designed a $45 data port cover that could save millions of dollars and many headaches across Air Force bases with the F-35.
The F-35’s troubled sustainment enterprise is getting better but is still falling short of the services’ goals for the program, officials told Congress. And lawmakers are running out of patience. “The message for me—and I hope from my committee, and I know I'm going to ...
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on and the U.S. and NATO continue to bolster their eastern front, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he’ll be watching closely to see how the F-35 performs in Europe.
The F-35 Joint Program Office’s efforts to revamp the fighter’s troubled sustainment and maintenance enterprise reached a new milestone as the JPO announced the installation of 14 hardware systems for its new Operational Data Integrated Network.
Sweeping changes could be in store for the F-35 program starting in 2027 if the latest version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act is approved. The latest draft of the NDAA, passed by the House on Dec. 7 and awaiting passage in the Senate, ...
For more than two decades, a joint program office has overseen the development, acquisition, and sustainment of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In the next few years, at least part of that could change. The Senate Armed Services Committee released its markup of the 2022 ...
Lockheed Martin must give up proprietary technical data in order to have a chance at long-term performance-based logistics contracts in support of the F-35 fighter, the program executive officer said. If the company fails to satisfy on an initial version of the arrangement, the military ...
The Air Force would have to bear the full development and integration cost of putting new Adaptive Engine Technology Program engines in its F-35 fleet because the other services can’t fit the powerplants in their versions of the fighter, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. ...
A new F-35 sustainment contract to Lockheed Martin “paves the way” toward a performance-based logistics contract that the company has been angling for since 2019 and is worth $6.6 billion if all options are exercised. But all bets are off about hitting the Air Force’s ...