The F-35 O&S Cost Cover-up

(From a 2007 LM briefing to Israeli journalists)

One the reader's of this blog, Don Bacon has an interesting article here.

So you fly the F-35A for 4.5 hours, get a critical failure, and then it takes 12.1 hours to fix it, or nearly three hours longer than it took last year. (That's hours, not manhours; Eglin AFB has seventeen mechanics per F-35.)

Also along with that, note that under the current DOD F-35 program leadership of General Bogdan, he tried to mislead the public saying that F-16 vs F-35 costs had come closer. He (and some in Aviation Week parroted it) used the combined cost of F-16C/D costs vs the F-35 when there is no two-seat F-35.

When you compare F-35 and F-16C (single-seat) operating costs, the story is much different. And, F-35 costs are still projections. There is no operational, finished F-35, with working mission systems, that has been in service for a few years to evaluate.

As for USAF F-16 operating cost methods, those jets are old, and USAF maintenance leadership has been deskilled over the years. If it takes, $19k-$21k per flying hour on an F-16C, something is wrong.

While the F-35 is planned to replace aircraft like the F-16 and F-18, in reality, the F-35 will have to prove it is cheaper to operate than...

...an F-22.

And the F-22 brings more value.