A new study by the GAO, or the US Government Audit Office, an agency that reports to Congress, presents data on the current cost of F-35 fighters in US service.
A key finding is that the estimated lifetime cost for the entire US program (i.e. the cost of maintenance, operation, repair, etc.) has increased, reaching $1.53 trillion in 2023, while in 2018 the estimate was 1, 1 trillion To the 1.53 trillion, must be added the 442 billion which is an estimate for the purchase of approximately 2,000 aircraft, so in total the program will reach 2 trillion (until 2088).
In the same study, it is stated that the annual cost estimate per aircraft for operation and maintenance, for 2023, is at $6.6 million for the Air Force F-35A, at $6.1 million for the Marine F-35B, at 8.6 for the Marines’ F-35Cs and at 5.8 million for the Navy’s F-35Cs. These rather large differences are of course due to how much each Branch uses its fighters per year.
The annual cost, however, appears reduced relative to earlier forecasts, but this is also due to the fact that the Branches of the US Armed Forces have reduced the annual hours of use of the aircraft (on average), which now for 2023 is 187 hours for the Air Force with the F-35A, at 168 for the F-35B, at 336 for the Marine Corps F-35C, and at 172 for the Navy F-35C.
The availability problem continues
On the other critical issue of the F-35, that of their availability for missions, and here the concern remains as in 2023 we mainly have reductions compared to 2022. Thus the percentage of mission capable aircraft (i.e. able to carry out some mission, but not all of what the aircraft can do), in 2023 it was at 51.9% for the F-35A, while in 2022 it was at 56%. Accordingly the F-35B is at 59.7% from 59.5% and the F-35C at 61.9% from 63.4%.
Accordingly, the percentages of full mission capable (i.e. the percentage of aircraft available to undertake all missions) have also fallen and are generally much lower than the target. So the F-35A for 2023 was at 36.4% from 43.5% in 2022, while respectively the F-35B is at 14.9% from 16% and the F-35C at 19.2% from 20 .9%. It should be noted here that in this metric, the minimum availability target is set at 64% for the F-35A and 60% for the B and C.
This severe backlog is partly due to the delay in implementing grassroots maintenance, which delays repairs and creates a backlog of work that further slows down the process.
The GAO, in turn, makes a series of recommendations to reduce costs and increase availability, while pointing out that a significant cost reduction will come from upgrading the fighter’s engine, as the current one does not offer the reserve of electrical power and cooling required by the electronics of the aircraft. As a result, it is used closer to its “limit”, thus increasing wear and tear and the need for maintenance.
