The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned this week that the Department of Defense (DoD) is spending tens of billions of dollars to operate and maintain various weapons platforms, yet, the military continually fails to meet service goals for many of those weapons. In its report to the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services, the watchdog noted that fixed-wing fighter and attack aircraft – tactical aircraft that provide air-to-air, air-to-ground, and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities – are vital to the success of combat operations and homeland defense.
“In their combat role, these aircraft often operate during the first days of a conflict to penetrate enemy air space, defeat air defenses, and achieve air dominance,” the GAO explained.
While such aircraft are operated by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, and the United States Marine Corps, it is the Department of the Air Force that has lagged in achieving readiness goals.
Moreover, while the Air Force has increased its operations and maintenance (O&M) spending to keep its fleet of tactical aircraft flying, the mission-capable rates have decreased. For the same period – fiscal years 2018 to 2013 – the mission capable rates for all Navy tactical aircraft increased.
Costing More to Maintain and Operate
According to the GAO findings, the O&M funding requests from the Air Force rose by nearly 27% during the FY18 to FY23 period. The air service’s fleet included the A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-15 Eagle/F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, and F-35A Lightning II.
The Air Force saw its O&M spending outpace other budget requests, while it increased by 40.7%. Over the FY18 to FY23 period, the air service spent nearly $34.2 billion on tactical aircraft sustainment – but that figure didn’t include engine depot maintenance, service life extension programs, and certain spare parts procurement.
“Mission capable rates for tactical aircraft have generally not met service goals for several years. Our prior work attributes this to numerous interrelated, complex factors, such as aging aircraft, maintenance challenges, and supply support issues,” the GAO noted.
A “New” Fighter Problem?
Despite the increase in O&M spending, the Air Force failed to meet its objective mission capable rate for the F-15E, F-22, and F-35A fighters. By contrast, the aging F-15C and F-16C fleets – which are now decades old – did meet mission-capable rates three times. The A-10 – which as previously reported is on track to be retired – along with the F-15D and F-16s all met their goals one time.
The aging aircraft are taking more money and resources to remain operational.
“Most of DoD’s tactical aircraft models first entered service in the 1970s and 1980s and have exceeded their original service lives. Structural fatigue and retirement of aging aircraft affect the size, or inventory, of DoD’s force available to meet operational demands. However, as new aircraft acquisitions have been delayed—such as the F-35 fifth-generation tactical fighter—the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have invested billions of dollars to sustain DOD’s fourth-generation fleet, such as the F-16, F/A-18E/F, and AV-8B,” the GAO added.
At the same time, the newer aircraft aren’t doing much better.
Another watchdog, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) warned earlier this year that the F-35 Lightning II – which is produced in three variants – maintained only a 51% average monthly availability rate. POGO’s data found that just half of the 628 F-35s delivered to the U.S. military are ready to perform at any given time.
Even as it is barely mission-ready half the time, the sustainment costs are only expected to increase as the Air Force’s fleet grows in size.
Though the Air Force isn’t acquiring new F-22 Raptors, the first fifth-generation stealth aircraft has needed additional maintenance due to its age, and the service will be spending billions on the air superiority fighter’s upgrades and modernization.
Out With the Old
The Air Force will begin to divest its aging F-15C/D fighters as the newer F-15EX Eagle II enters service, and it has to be seen how that will impact M&O costs for the F-15 fleet. However, in recent years the M&O for the Eagle and Fighting Falcon fighters had hit their respective targets.
The GAO also noted that the A-10 fleet saw its costs falling 13.5% below the expected numbers. It met its mission-capable goal in 2020. As noted, the aging close air support (CAS) aircraft is already being retired – which has raised questions as to whether the F-35A will be able to fill that role.
