For the better part of the last decade, the US Defense Department’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has epitomized government waste and dysfunction. A report last year by the DOD highlighted how the government’s F-35 development program has long been a hot mess, resulting in a hugely expensive aircraft plagued with bugs and glaring software vulnerabilities. This year’s report is even worse.
Bloomberg received an early look at the report, detailing how the $428 billion Lockheed Martin program has produced an aircraft with 873 software vulnerabilities, as well as 13 “must-fix” issues impacting safety and combat capability. “Misalignments” and cracked mounts have also resulted in at least one version of the plane being incapable of even shooting straight.