NORFOLK, Va. — The military's F-35 Lightning II fighter jet continues to experience major manufacturing delays, which one key member of Congress calls "very, very problematic."
The government stopped accepting new F-35s last July because of hardware and software delays with something called "Technology Refresh-3" — a $1.8-billion effort to enable more computing power and memory to support planned upgrades known as "Block 4."
Now, the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act advanced by the House Armed Services Committee would cut the Pentagon's planned F-35 purchase by ten, redirecting the roughly one billion dollars in savings to expanding the jets' testing capacity.
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Virginia, 1st District), who serves as Chairman of the House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, says it's a smart move.
"We're going to fence ten aircraft — that is, keep them from being built — until contractor Lockheed Martin performs, gets things done."
Lockheed Martin came under fire in May, following a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, which showed that the company had delivered F-35s late 91% of the time.
Subcontractor Pratt & Whitney had delivered F-35 engines late 100% of the time.
Wittman made it clear he's not happy.
"It's not acceptable in any way. This is the most expensive program in the history of the United States military. We have to make this work. As frustrating as it is that this aircraft is not doing the things it needs to do, we have to make sure we're holding Lockheed's feet to the fire, and all the suppliers, everybody on the team that's a supplier for F-35 needs to make sure that they perform," he said, in an interview with 13 News Now.
Just last week, an Air Force F-35 crashed in New Mexico. The pilot successfully bailed out before impact.
Wittman said in a release that the mishap "will undoubtedly cause a technical setback for F-35 modernization and warrants an extensive and thorough investigation to determine the exact cause of this crash.”