Taxpayers own $31 billion in F-35 parts but Pentagon can’t account for them all
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Pentagon → own → them
The watchdog found the Department of War does not maintain complete records of the parts, which sit at more than 700 contractor and government facilities around the world.
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which → find → world
The federal government owns about 26 million spare parts for its fleet of F-35 fighter jets, but it cannot say where all of them are, what condition they are in or what taxpayers paid for them.
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taxpayers → own → them
The department puts the value at about $31 billion, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Nov. 9, and says the real figure is probably higher because some parts are missing from its records.
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parts → put → records
The watchdog found the Department of War does not maintain complete records of the parts, which sit at more than 700 contractor and government facilities around the world.
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which → find → world
Allied militaries that fly the F-35 pay for access to the same pool, the report says.
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report → fly → pool
Elaine McCusker, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former acting Pentagon comptroller, told The Center Square that because the parts are not tracked in real time, "the result can be repeat buying and/or lack of parts when and where they are needed."
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they → act → parts
GAO has flagged the same accountability problems since 2019.
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GAO → flag → 2019
The new report says 26 of the 34 recommendations GAO and the Pentagon's inspector general have made on F-35 financial management were still open as of August.
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GAO → say → August
In 2023, GAO reported that one of the program's two prime contractors had lost more than 1 million parts worth over $85 million.
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one → report → million
As of March 2026, the F-35 Joint Program Office still did not know the status of those losses.
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Office → know → losses
A reported loss can mean property that was damaged or destroyed, not necessarily missing, but the government is still supposed to determine what happened and who is responsible.
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who → report → property
The contractor has since reported about $28 million in lost, damaged or destroyed parts dating back to 2012, GAO found.
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GAO → report → 2012
The Defense Contract Management Agency has so far determined it should be financially liable for about $6 million.
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it → determine → million
Whether those newly reported losses include any of the $85 million is unknown.
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include → report → million
The program office never kept records of the outstanding cases, so it cannot tell.
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it → keep → cases
GAO does not identify the contractor in the report, and declined to do so when asked.
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GAO → identify → report
Lockheed Martin, which builds the aircraft, and Pratt & Whitney, which builds the engine, are the program's two prime contractors.
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which → build → engine
Lockheed Martin did not respond to questions asking whether it is the company described.
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it → respond → questions
Pratt & Whitney, asked the same question Friday evening, had not answered by publication.
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Pratt → ask → publication
The F-35 Joint Program Office told The Center Square that the Department of War has concurred with all four of GAO's recommendations and is working to address them, including developing training for the officials responsible for tracking government property and building real-time data connections with contractor systems.
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Department → tell → systems
The program office did not answer questions about the lost parts or when it expects a complete count of what it owns.
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it → answer → what
The Office of the Secretary of War did not respond to questions about the report.
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Office → respond → report
GAO found the department's inventory system cannot talk directly to the contractors' systems, so the program office relies on data the companies send in.
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companies → find → data
For the shared spare parts pool, that data arrives quarterly, which means some records are more than three months old.
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records → share → pool
In one December 2025 submission, fewer than a third of the entries included a serial number, and nearly 6% listed an acquisition cost of a penny or less.
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% → include → penny
The program office has spent at least $17 million since 2020 counting parts, and GAO found the most recent count still did not confirm that the parts listed in its records actually exist.
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parts → spend → records
A full count is not feasible, program officials told GAO, because warehouses cannot stop work and there are not enough people to visit all 700-plus sites.
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warehouses → tell → sites
Congress has given the Pentagon until Dec. 31, 2028, to pass a clean financial audit, a requirement GAO notes was set in the 2024 defense authorization act.
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GAO → give → act
Because the program office could not do it, the Pentagon comptroller's office last March asked the Defense Contract Audit Agency to establish an auditable baseline.
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office → do → baseline
That agency is targeting March 2027 for its first full inventory.
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agency → target → inventory
McCusker said the agency will do what it takes to hit the March date, but that setting a statutory deadline carries its own risk, because meeting it becomes the top priority whether or not the underlying problems get fixed.
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problems → say → it
The Aporia
