Why It Matters

The F-35 program is in crisis.

The Defense Department's most expensive weapons system is now delivering less than half its promised capability, even as the Pentagon slashes orders and redirects billions toward next-generation fighters. A Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the F-35 aircraft program scheduled for June 23 will force a reckoning on whether the Pentagon's troubled strategy can actually work.

The stakes are enormous: $6.6 million per jet per year in sustainment costs, a new $13.7 billion strategy with no formal risk mitigation, and mounting evidence that money alone won't fix the problem.

The Big Picture

The numbers tell a damning story. The F-35's full mission capable rate has collapsed to 25 percent, meaning only one in four aircraft can perform all assigned missions. Between 2021 and 2025, the full mission capable rate dropped from 38 percent to 25 percent.

The Government Accountability Office released a report on June 11 titled "F-35 Sustainment: Actions Needed to Ensure Updated Strategy Improves Persistent Readiness Challenges" that exposed a fundamental problem: the Pentagon paid $114 million in contractor performance incentives between 2020 and 2023, yet the GAO found those payments had no measurable impact on readiness improvements.

Political Stakes

In 2025, the Department of Defense launched a new $13.7 billion sustainment strategy aimed at improving F-35 readiness by 2030. But the GAO found that the strategy lacks formal risk mitigation plans. Officials from the Marine Corps and Navy told the GAO that competing priorities could limit their ability to fund the new strategy.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is cutting F-35 orders. The U.S. Air Force cut its planned F-35A procurement for fiscal 2026 from 48 aircraft to 24 aircraft, roughly a 50 percent reduction. The Pentagon reduced total planned F-35 procurements by approximately 45 percent, from 86 aircraft in fiscal 2024 to 47 aircraft. Part of the F-35 procurement funding was redirected toward the sixth-generation F-47 fighter program.

The Bottom Line

Recent developments underscore the program's persistent problems. The U.S. Navy's Fleet Readiness Center East at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point completed the Technology Refresh 3 conversion of its first two operational F-35B aircraft in June 2026. A prior GAO report noted that Technology Refresh 3 was "predominantly unusable" due to stability problems, shortfalls in capability, and ongoing discovery of deficiencies.

The GAO has made 46 recommendations on F-35 sustainment since 2014.

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