F-35 Sustainability Challenge
F-35 Program Chief: Growth Outpaced Joint Fighter Sustainability Due to Parts Shortage
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The F-35 program's top general delivered a blunt warning to Congress on June 23, 2026: the military built more jets than it can keep flying. "We didn't put enough parts and pieces on the shelf," Lt. Gen. Gregory L. Masiello told the Senate Armed Services Committee's Airland Subcommittee. According to Military Times, the mission-capable rate for the U.S. fleet has fallen to just 44%, down from 67% in 2021.
A new report published June 11, 2026 by the Government Accountability Office found that only one in four F-35s is fully mission capable — meaning it can perform all its assigned tasks. The U.S. fleet now tops 1,300 jets worldwide, but Masiello admitted the support system was built for a fleet roughly half that size.
Fleet Doubled While Spare Parts Supply Stood Still
Masiello told senators the math is stark. "If I have over 1,300 operational aircraft out there, I believe we have set and enabled a sustainment system for about 700 to 800," he said, according to Defense News. That gap has forced technicians into a practice known as "cannibalization" — stripping working parts from one jet to keep another in the air.
The root cause goes back years. The Pentagon chose to keep buying new airframes to meet global demand and counter rivals like China and Russia. But investment in repair depots and spare parts lagged badly behind. According to Marine Corps Times, sustainment costs have risen 44% since 2018, reaching a projected $1.58 trillion for the U.S. fleet alone.
GAO Says Pentagon Ignored Warnings for Years
The GAO's June 2026 report (GAO-26-108113) found that the Pentagon has failed to act on 30 of 43 past recommendations to fix the program. Aircraft deliveries in 2024 ran an average of 238 days late due to supply chain and software problems, the GAO noted. Senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot and the subcommittee's ranking member, pressed Masiello on why the Marine Corps is accepting F-35Bs without radars, waiting for newer hardware to arrive later.
The GAO also recommended that the Pentagon stop paying bonus fees to contractors like Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney when they miss delivery targets — a step the military has long resisted. According to Navy Times, Congress is now threatening to hold back procurement funds unless fully mission-capable rates improve.
$13.7 Billion Fix — But Readiness Will Get Worse First
The JPO launched a plan called the "Global Support Solution Reset" in June 2025 to overhaul the supply chain. The effort carries a $13.7 billion price tag through 2031. But Masiello warned senators that readiness will likely "worsen before it improves" as the fixes work their way through the system. That money must come from existing Air Force and Navy budgets, which could force cuts to flying hours or other programs.
Defense analyst Dan Grazier of the Stimson Center was blunt. More money won't fix "a flawed concept," he argued, saying program officials have "devised a number of gimmicks" to paper over deeper problems. Meanwhile, 15 U.S. governors — including Greg Abbott of Texas and Katie Hobbs of Arizona — urged Congress to keep buying 85 jets in the FY2027 budget, citing 49,000 jobs in Texas alone and a $10 billion annual economic impact.
F-35 Struggles Accelerate Push Toward Sixth-Generation Jets
The readiness crisis is feeding momentum for the Next Generation Air Dominance program, sometimes called sixth-generation fighters. The Air Force has already shifted billions toward the F-47, the NGAD component, which is expected to fly its first prototype by 2028. Disenchantment with F-35 costs is making it easier politically to redirect money toward newer platforms, according to Defense News.
Subcommittee Chair Senator Kevin Cramer called the F-35 the "cornerstone of American airpower" but described its sustainment trajectory as "unsustainable." The total program cost, covering acquisition and sustainment through 2088, now exceeds $2 trillion. For now, Masiello's message to Congress was simple: the program grew faster than anyone planned for, and the bill has come due.
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