F-35

Air Force May Need to Cut a Third of F-35 Fleet Due to High Operating Costs

An analysis found that the service could be forced to cut as many as 590 F-35As if the jet's operating costs are not reduced.

By Jay Bennett

 U.S. AIR FORCE / AIRMAN 1ST CLASS ALEXANDER COOK

An Air Force office assessment of the F-35's impact on budgets and operations obtained by Bloomberg News found that, due to high operating and maintenance costs, the service could be forced to cancel the order of as many as 590 jets from its planned fleet of 1,763 F-35As. To avoid cutting a third of the Air Force F-35 fleet, the service will need to find a way to drive down operating and support costs by as much as 38 percent in the next 10 years, according to the analysis reported by Bloomberg.


The Pentagon plans to purchase 2,456 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, with the bulk going to the Air Force. While development and manufacturing costs (now estimated at $406 billion for the program) have stabilized as the warplane nears final testing, the analysis warns that future maintenance and operating costs could limit the number of planes the Air Force can ultimately field. The F-35 Lightning II fleet could cost as much as $1.1 trillion to keep flying until the end of its planned service life in 2070.

The Air Force stresses that the analysis, which was completed in December, is a far cry from actually cancelling any jet orders. A service spokeswoman told Bloomberg, "It’s premature for the Air Force to consider buying fewer aircraft at this time."

That said, the analysis determined that the Air Force will face roughly $3.8 billion in annual upkeep costs for the F-35 fleet if cost-saving measures cannot be found. The Air Force is working with the Pentagon's F-35 program office to achieve a 38 percent cost savings. Earlier this year, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord, who works for the Secretary of Defense to purchase weapons systems, told reporters, "right now, we can’t afford the sustainment costs we have on the F-35, and we’re committed to changing that.”

About half of the upkeep costs go to the defense contractor that built the warplane, Lockheed Martin. The Air Force spokeswoman told Bloomberg that these funds are for "program management, depot maintenance, part repair, software maintenance, engineering." She also said the expenses for Lockheed are rising as F-35 flight hours go up.

The Air Force analysis stated that the service has “very limited visibility into how" the money going to Lockheed for operational support is spent. The Air Force is examining these costs in an attempt to determine why they are on the rise.

International partners on the F-35 such as the U.K. Ministry of Defence have said the performance of the jet delivers everything promised, but operating such an expensive and complicated platform presents challenges for fielding the jets in the future. The Joint Strike Fighter, built for three services to be stealthy and smart, incorporating 8 million lines of code, needs to be made more economical if it is going to have the influence on the battlefield that the U.S. and its allies hope for.

Source: Bloomberg