POGO all over F-35 testing deficiencies despite full-rate approval
POGO covers DOD’s recent decision to approve full-rate production for the F-35, throwing parched shade. “While the overall conclusions of the report obtained by POGO are obscured by redaction, the testing office’s F-35 report identifies numerous deficiencies that one might expect would make it impossible to conclude that the F-35 is ‘ready for combat’.” And away we go with highlights:
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“It’s one thing to talk in the abstract about availability and mission capable rates. It’s quite another to see that, even with contractor support in a benign test environment and with advanced scheduling, they struggled to get four out of six airplanes in the air.”
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“The lack of flyable aircraft led to cases where tests were deemed invalid and sometimes needed to be redesigned and re-flown. These kinds of do-overs are generally not available in the real world.”
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“We’re accustomed to military systems failing to meet their reliability requirements.”
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“The Gun Still Doesn’t Work”
Meanwhile, POGO has some recommendations (surprise, surprise, they increase oversight):
- Adding performance thresholds to Nunn-McCurdy: The Nunn-McCurdy Act currently requires special congressional review when defense programs exceed their cost estimates by certain percentages. The proposal would expand this to include performance metrics. For example, where a weapons system fails to meet critical performance requirements (such as aircraft availability rates or mission success rates), it would trigger the same kind of intensive review as cost overruns.
- Requiring unclassified testing reports: While sensitive technical details need to remain classified, this proposal would ensure congressional staff’s access to unclassified versions of test results. Currently, limited access to classified documents can create bottlenecks in the review process.
- Implementing a mandatory review period: This would create a mandatory waiting period between when Congress receives testing reports and when the DOD can make full-rate production decisions. This would give congressional staff and representatives adequate time to review complex technical documents and raise concerns before major procurement commitments are made. You know what they say about DOD governance: it isn’t slow enough!
Read the full POGO report here.
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