10
Loading video...
By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
The Pentagon has no electronic record of roughly $1.3 billion in parts for F-35 advanced fighter jets, according to the Congressional watchdog.
The Department of Defense has not logged around 17,000 parts in its Enterprise Logistics Management System, which records property and accounts for the F-35 program, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released earlier this month.
These parts may be waiting for repairs, undergoing maintenance or being transported to or from facilities where they could be fixed, a spokesperson for the GAO told Newsweek.
Read More on News
Newsweek has reached out to the Pentagon for comment via email.
...
The F-35 is the only fifth-generation fighter aircraft available to Western militaries beyond the U.S., and many of the 20 nations operating or buying F-35s are NATO members. The U.S. also flies another fifth-generation aircraft, the F-22 Raptor.
Fifth-generation jets are harder to detect, have more advanced avionics and are more equipped to take out enemy air defenses than fourth-generation aircraft, which are still widely used.
There are three main variants of F-35s, including one certified to carry American B61-12 gravity bombs and another capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings. Israel operates a customized F-35 model.
The F-35 is the most expensive weapon system in Pentagon history, with the program estimated to cost more than $1.9 trillion over its lifetime. The U.S. has more than 800 F-35s, according to GAO numbers.
"The approximately $1.3 billion involved represents a significant amount of government property that was not recorded and adequately supported in DOD’s (the Department of Defense's) accountable property system," the GAO representative told Newsweek.
The main contractors on the program typically had separate records for the roughly 17,000 parts, but this documentation may itself be inaccurate or incomplete, the watchdog said.
As of March 2026, the office assigned to oversee the F-35 program didn't know the status of lost F-35 parts the GAO identified in 2023, the GAO said. These parts are valued at more than $85 million.
The F-35 program has been plagued by delays, ballooning costs and software issues. In 2024, Lockheed Martin delivered 110 F-35 aircraft, but all the jets were handed over an average of 238 days late, according to the GAO.
Previous GAO analysis concluded the F-35 program had "multiple issues," including a lack of spare parts and industry being unable to pump out enough components for the aircraft amid surging demand.
The F-35’s program chief, Marine Corps Lieutenant General Gregory Masiello, told lawmakers in June recent U.S. operations against Iran—namely the brief war against Tehran in June 2025 and the still-ongoing war that began in February—were "evidence of F-35’s capability and importance of its role as quarterback."
But Masiello also acknowledged the system set up to keep F-35s running was built for a fleet much smaller than the U.S. currently has, posing a "challenge in readiness."
His testimony came shortly after a GAO report determined F-35s could fulfill all their missions just 25 percent of the time. The F-35's office has a target of 65 percent by 2030.
The F-35 Joint Program Office started an overhaul of its maintenance for F-35s in mid-2025, dubbed the Global Support Solution Reset. The GAO says this will cost an extra $13.7 billion by the end of the 2031 fiscal year.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Tony Phillips.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines