The gun on the Air Force's F-35 has 'unacceptable' accuracy, Pentagon testing office says

WASHINGTON - Add a gun that can’t shoot straight to the problems that dog Lockheed Martin Corp.’s $428 billion F-35 program, including more than 800 software flaws, writes Tony Capaccio for Time. Continue reading original article

The Intelligent Aerospace take:

January 31, 2020-The Pentagon's test office has concluded that the Air Force's F-35 25 mm guns are off target and cracking. Lockheed's stealthy fighter has 13 "must fix" items that affect combat capabilities or safety along with 873 software deficiencies as of November. That figure is down from 917 software deficiencies and 15 "must fix" items in September 2018 according to Capaccio.

Brett Ashworth, a spokesman for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, said that “although we have not seen the report, the F-35 continues to mature and is the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter in the world.” He said “reliability continues to improve, with the global fleet averaging greater than 65% mission capable rates and operational units consistently performing near 75%.”

Related: Lockheed Martin to migrate F-35 logistics system to cloud by 2022 end

Related: Lockheed Martin delivers 134 F-35s in 2019

Related: Stealthy no more? A German radar vendor says it tracked the F-35 jet in 2018 — from a pony farm

Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace