The report, released Thursday, said the program, designed to upgrade the jet with new capabilities was beset by an unrealistic schedule as well as a cost increase for flight test results, spiraling overhead and administrative costs as well as the cost of a new training lab and computer system upgrades.
That means the Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin haven't been able to consistently follow their plan for Block 4 upgrade work on the fighter.
The report estimates that Block 4 development is now projected to reach $14.4 billion.
The modernization effort was originally expected to wrap in 2026 and is now expected to wrap a year later.
But the GAO report said that schedule is based on "estimated at the start of the Block 4 effort" and that the scheduled 2027 completion date is not achievable.
Earlier this week Kyra Daley, director of strategic communications for the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office, said the DoD is months away from declaring the F-35 ready for full-rate production due to difficulty integrating the jet with the DoD's Joint Simulation Environment.
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes. |
