25 September 2023
by Zach Rosenberg
Grounded: the US Marine Corps’ Lockheed Martin F-35Bs have lower mission-capable rates than their US Air Force counterparts; all types are well below their goals. (Lockheed Martin)
The Lockheed Martin F-35 is available to perform its scheduled missions 55% of the time, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on 21 September. The agency found fault in the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) line and depot maintenance practices.
The report measured F-35 mission-capable (MC) rates through March 2023. The GAO attributed low MC rates largely to maintenance issues. Citing a DoD analysis, the GAO wrote that having the full array of maintenance capabilities would allow for a 65% MC rate for the US Marine Corps’ F-35B and US Navy’s F-35C and a 75% MC rate for the US Air Force’s F-35A.
The top 10 culprits behind non-MC rates – including the engine, distributed aperture system sensor, integrated core processor power supply, and power thermal management system controller – cannot yet be repaired by DoD maintenance centres and must be sent back to manufacturers.
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- Source: https://www.janes.com/defence-news/gao-says-deficient-maintenance-leaves-us-f-35s-well-below-mission-capable-rate-goal
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