HASC Panel Seeks Comptroller Review of F-35

The House Armed Services Committee’s panel on tactical air and land forces wants the US Comptroller General to file an annual report to Congress on the F-35 strike fighter program’s costs. The language is contained in the panel’s mark-up, released April 30, of the Fiscal 2015 defense authorization bill. If approved, it would require the Comptroller General to review the F-35s acquisition program, and submit a report to Congress no later than April 15, 2015, “and each year thereafter until the F-35 … enters full rate production.” As of today, the joint program office estimates the F-35 will enter full production by 2019. The annual report would include an assessment as to whether the F-35 program is meeting cost projections, schedule, and performance goals. It also would detail results of developmental and operational testing, procurement, and manufacturing changes, as well as any plans the Department of Defense makes to “improve efficiency” of the program, states the mark-up. ?