New Red Alert for Billions-Over-Budget F-35 Fighter [View all]

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Federal auditors are once again sounding alarms over the Pentagon’s embattled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has soared hundreds of billions of dollars over budget.

Besides being the Defense Department’s most expensive weapons program ever, countless problems with the F-35, including design and systematic issues, have continually pushed back the ready-for-combat date. It is now years behind schedule.

Engine issues are one of the major problems inspectors have flagged. The Government Accountability Office reviewed data from flight tests earlier this month and concluded that the reliability of the F-35’s engine, made by Pratt & Whitney, is “very poor.” That makes the likelihood that the jet will soon be ready for battle even more dubious.

The Marine Corps’ version of the F-35 flew just 47 hours because of engine design issues, instead of the 90 hours it was scheduled to fly, GAO officials told Bloomberg. Likewise, the Air Force and Navy versions of the F-35 flew just 25 hours instead of the 120 hours planned.

The GAO’s findings come just as lawmakers are considering whether to grant the DoD an additional $1.2 billion for the jet engines next year. They’ve already approved roughly $17 billion of the total $67 billion for the F-35’s engines alone. The entire program’s price tag is about $391 billion and counting.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/new-red-alert-for-billions-over-budget-f-35-fighter/ar-BBiKiHW