F-35 Missed Its Readiness Goals for Six Years, the GAO Says (1)

All versions of the F-35, the world’s costliest weapons program, have failed to meet minimum combat readiness rates for six straight years, according to the watchdog agency for Congress.

That’s despite the Army, Navy and Marine Corps spending $12 billion, or about 21%, of $57.2 billion for aircraft operations and maintenance appropriated by Congress during that time on the fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin Corp., according to a Government Accountability Office tally released Monday.

The F-35s of all three services didn’t reach their “mission capable rates in any of the years we reviewed,” from October 1, 2017 through ...