Despite solid combat performance, the F-35's high maintenance costs and ongoing parts supply problems continue to be a drag on the fifth-generation fighter aircraft, giving critics ammunition as Congress readies to receive the Biden administration's first budget. Lockheed Martin is delivering F-35s at rate of roughly 11 a month-about five of which go to the Air Force-and largely on schedule. Operators seem satisfied with its combat performance. But parts problems, engine support issues that will take years to correct, and an evolving performance-based logistics concept suggest a program overhaul may be coming, once the Biden Administration installs its new defense acquisition team. In early March, House Armed Services Committee Chairman (HASC) Adam Smith (D-Wash.) wondered aloud at a Brookings Institution event if there was any way to "cut our losses" on the F-35. He called sustain-ment costs "brutal" and characterized the program as a "rathole." Mid-month, at a hearing of the HASC's Readiness subcommittee, Chairman Rep. John Ga-ramendi complained "the entire F-35 system is of enormous concern."
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