Read: President Biden’s Full Speech at USAFA’s 2023 Graduation

June 1, 2023

U.S. President Joe Biden’s June 1 graduation address at the U.S. Air Force Academy was his first visit to USAFA as president. Here is the full text and video of his speech. (Text courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov).

Hello, Falcons! (Applause.) Big day!

It’s great to be back at the Air Force Academy, at the altitude of 7,258 feet above sea level—far, far above that of West Point or Annapolis. (Applause.)

I figured I should say that so my Air Force One pilots, Colonel Kirkland, Class of 1999, and Colonel Donnelly, Class of ‘01, make sure they are willing to take me back to D.C. (Laughter.)

I also brought with me today my Air Force and Space Force military aides, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Roe, Class of ‘07, Lieutenant Colonel Ann Hughes, Class of ‘08.

These officers travel the world with me, demonstrating—and I mean this sincerely—demonstrating the values of this institution every single day.

It’s no exaggeration to say I trust my life through Academy graduates. And some of my team members have trusted their lives through academy cadets.

A few months ago, I called to speak to my National Security Advisor, who was out here. But I was told he was unavailable. Turns out Firstie Andrew Dever had him out doing loops and barrel rolls in a glider. (Applause.)

I asked if I could do that today. The Sec—and the Secret Service said, “No, we’ll have to shoot it down.” (Laughter.)

Look, thank you, Colonel Clark—Lieutenant Col-—Lieutenant General Clark, and to all the faculty and staff here at the academy for your dedication and commitment in shaping the next generation of American air power and space power.

And thank you to all the parents and families and sponsor families out there in the stands. You’ve supported these cadets throughout their lives. You taught them how to stand up, never bow, never bend, never yield. You inspired them to put integrity first, to choose service over self—it sounds like hyperbole, but it’s literally what you did—to pursue excellence in all they do. But I know you’re bursting with pride at what they’ve already accomplished.

So, graduates, give your families a round of applause. Stand up and give them a round of applause. (Applause.) Show them your appreciation. (Applause.) I think they’re excited.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you (inaudible)!

THE PRESIDENT: The only thing your moms and dads are saying is, “I wish I could have paid for this education.” (Laughter.)

Every other graduation I do—and I’ve done some—a lot of graduations—college graduations—I usually say, “Parents, today you all get a pay raise. No more tuition.”

But Secretary Kendall, General Brown, General Saltzman, thank you for leading our Air Force and our Space Force to take on the missions that most matter—most matter for today and the future so we can continue to maintain air and space superiority just as we have in every U.S. conflict in this century.

But, graduates, you’re not just commissioning into the Air Force and the Space Force, you are commissioning into a Joint Force. One thing working more closely together across the service branches than ever before in new—new ways to deter, if necessary, defeat every threat to our nation.

Last week, I was proud—and I mean it sincerely—to nominate your Air Force Chief, General C.Q. Brown, Jr., the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Applause.) Stand up, General. (Applause.)

General, our country thanks you. And I look forward to working with you as Chairman.

And these graduates will have the additional pride of starting their careers of service led by, General that might say, a butt-kicking American airman. I think you used that phrase. (Laughter.)

Class of 2023 — …this is a day you’ve worked hard to reach. Think back to that first day of Basic when the bus dropped you off at the Footprints. You didn’t know what the hell would lie ahead. Maybe you were wondering what exactly you’d gotten yourself into.

And then, after a few days of acclimating, getting yelled at nonstop by your cadre, hearing those words that meant it would only get worse—quote, “PT ban has been lifted.” (Laughs.) As if that’s a good thing, right? (Laughs.) “The PT ban has been lifted.”

Marching down to Jack’s, building tent city, even sweeping the dirt to make it look like there were hallways.

You know, before making it past the Assault Course Fall and Assault Course Nunez—Nuñez. And I tell you what—you’re all crazy. But at any rate—(laughter)—no, I’m only kidding.

Remember—remember the pride you felt joining the Flying Wedge in the T-Zo, the first time during the Acceptance Day parade, only to face an even more difficult challenge when the school year began: academics.

It wasn’t all push-ups and cramming for prog week, though to set the Guinness Book of Records—World Records—most simultaneous push-ups—there had to be an enormous amount of push-ups.

Beyond you, beyond—but all of you—I think you had some fun along the way. Maybe a good use of your Epic Passes. (Laughter.) That would be reason enough to join. (Laughter.) Had a few steaks and tortellini dinners to celebrate commitment and job drops.

I got to see some of you at the White House a few weeks ago to celebrate winning the Commander-in-Chief trophy for the 21st time. (Applause.)

When I was graduating from high school 300 years ago—(laughter)—I applied to the Naval Academy. And I was picked by the senator—there’s two ways senators can pick. You can pick individually, or they can name 10 people and let the academy choose. And I was a relatively good football player, so I had a shot.

And I remember the day that a guy name Steve Dunning, from my class, was also nominated. We drove up. It was about 7:00 in the morning. We were going to drive down to Annapolis. And I had just heard the night before: They had a halfback named Joe Bellino, won the Heisman Trophy, and a quarterback named Roger Staubach. I went to Delaware. (Laughter.)

The Blue Horizons rocketry team managed to send the superintendent’s flight cap all the way to space. (Laughs.) I don’t know whether he knew it or not, but —

Even more impressive, you got it back, some 70 miles away.

Of course, there may also have been achievements of less sterling nature. Maybe you had to do a few tours. Maybe you’re one of the cadets who decided to enjoy the view from the top of the Chapel in the Box.

So, before I forget, since I was at one of those schools, at a state university, I found myself in a little bit of trouble a couple times. I really wish that a Commander-in-Chief had spoken at my graduation, because I have the power to hereby waive any confinements and restrictions of minor cadet disciplinary systems violations. They’re waived. And, man—(applause)—I wish that my commencement speaker had that power.

Look—(laughs)—after four long years, you pushed to the limits and forged into leaders of character. And after finally getting to jump into the fountain, you commission as a Second Lieutenant of the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force, part of the greatest—and this is not hyperbole—you’re part of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

That is the truth. That’s the God’s truth. That’s not an exaggeration. We have the finest military in the history of the world.

And you have earned it. (Applause.) And this day is the day to celebrate.

And as your Commander-in-Chief, I’m honored to be here as you take on the duties of serving and defending our nation.

In the years to come, you’ll have even more asked of you. You’ll take on greater responsibilities, and you’ll be challenged even beyond everything you’ve yet experienced.

But you have those mountains. You leave them as you look—I’m sure you’re going to be thinking about this a lot as you’re moving through your careers.

As you leave these mountains where the air is rare, you’re going to take with you the confidence that your years have prepared you for whatever is ahead.

After all, your time at this proud institution is defined by so much history, so much tradition, and marked by significant change, as was referenced earlier. Unlike—and overcome time and again to re-orient yourself together with your squadron and your wing and find new ways to soar.

As been mentioned already, when COVID hit during the fourth—your four-degree year, you had to re-—excuse me—you had to rapidly redeploy back to your home and learn new ways to study and maintain camaraderie during “COVID-ca-”—“COVID-cation.”

And by the way, I wonder how many of you had to kick your brother out of your room when you went back.

But all kidding aside, recognition may have been cut short, but it came back in the fall. You did the Run to the Rock. You earned the prop and wings, just like every cadet before you.

Resilience, creativity, endurance, commitment—these have been essential parts of your unique Academy training.

And you’re going to need those qualities as you continue your careers because the world you are graduating into is not only changing rapidly, the pace of change is accelerating as well.

We are seeing proliferating global challenges, from Russia’s aggression and brutality in Europe to our competition with China, and a whole hell of a lot in between—from growing instability to food insecurity to natural disasters, all of which are being made worse by the existential threat of climate change.

I don’t hear many of my friends anymore saying there’s no climate change. They’ve finally figured it out. We’ve been trying to push that since 1981.

But we are seeing engaging technol-—emerging technologies all—AI—from AI and 3D printing—that could change the character of conflict itself.

They’re not going to be easy decisions, guys.

I met in the Oval Office—in my office with 12 leading—no, excuse me—8 leading scientists in the area of AI. Some are very worried that AI can actually overtake human thinking and planning.

So, we’ve got a lot to deal with—an incredible opportunity but a lot to deal with.

We’re also working across multiple domains, developing new capabilities, like our new next-gen B-21 Raider. And we’re—you’re going to be flying that sucker.

And we are going to count on you to keep us at the forefront of air and space dominance, enabling an entire joint force to be stronger.

Graduates, you’ve made a noble choice to lead a life of service.

Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility: leadership. Yeah, leadership—a word often used.

In the years ahead, your Airmen and Guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration, because the world is going to get more confusing. They’ll put their trust in you. And you, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence. Listen to them. Listen to them.

I’ve always believed that America is strongest when we lead not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example. Let me say it again. I’ve traveled the entire world, been in almost every country. The reason why we’re respected so much is not just our power but the power of our example.

And it matters. It matters.

The same is going to be true in your own experience of leadership. No matter what changes or challenges come, your character, your moral clarity, your capabilities must never waver.

Again, not hyperbole: The nation needs you—genuinely needs you.

Our world stands at an inflection point.

I had a professor who used to say an inflection point is when you’re driving your car down a highway at 60 miles an hour and suddenly you turn the wheel 10 degrees. You can never get back on the same track you were on before.

The decisions we make today are going to determine what the world looks like decades from now.

No graduating class gets to choose the world into which they graduate.

Every class enters the history of a nation up to the point that has been written by others.

But few classes, once every several generations, enters—enters at a point in our history where they actually have a chance to change—change the trajectory of the country.

It’s the only reason I ran. I said to our speaker, I read his article. That’s why when I ran, I said I was running for three purposes, two of which were to restore the character in this country and, two, to unite it.

You’ll face that inflection point today, and I know you’re going to meet the moment to make sure that the future we’re building is one that fundamentally aligns with our values and protects America’s interests; to make sure that our skies and orbits remain open and navigable to everyone; to make sure that new technologies are used to lift people up to new heights, new opportunities, not hold them down or exploit them; and to make sure that the fundamental rules of the international system we put in place more than seven decades ago to prevent another world war are upheld and strengthened to address new threats.

One of the greatest strengths the United States of America brings to this effort is one of the greatest assets you will harness throughout your careers. It’s our unmatched network of alliance and partners—allies and partners.

I’ve spent the bulk of my first year just re-establishing that, meeting hundreds of hours with our NATO Allies and others—those nations who willingly stand beside us to face down threats and solve shared challenges.

You’ve already gotten some sense of that with the friendships and bonds you’ve built with the cadets graduating today, who will commission in their home militaries across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.

Our partnerships amplify our strength and make us more effective. And don’t think our adversaries don’t understand it. That’s why they work so damn hard to try to split us.

We’ve sent it—we’ve said it—we’ve seen it over and over again, especially in the global support for the brave people of Ukraine as they defended their families and their homes against Russia’s brutal assault.

Remember what was said? Putin was certain that NATO would crack, that they would not stand together.

We put 40 nations together. The United States has rallied the world to stand strong with Ukraine and defend the values that the American people hold so dear: freedom, sovereignty, democracy, simple dignity.

Working with a coalition of more than 50 nations, we have delivered historic security assistance that has enabled Ukraine to defend itself.

I’ve been there many times before the war, spoke at the Rada. I’ve been there since the war began.

The United States Air Force and Space Force have been the backbone of that operation, providing airlift capacity

and logistical know-how to move artillery, ammunition, fighting vehicles, anti-tank, and air defense system; providing missile warning space-based ISR, supporting communications.

No other nation in the world—in the whole world—has the enabling capacity that we do—and what we have to do to thank you and your immediate predecessors.

Just a few weeks ago, I was with President Zelenskyy in Hiroshima at the G7.

I told him that we’d work with our partners to begin training Ukrainian pilots in Europe on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including the F-16, so Ukraine can defend itself today and in the future.

The Ukrainian people’s iron resolve to live in freedom will never be broken. They are incredible: average women and men fighting, giving their lives for their country and their families.

And the American people’s support for Ukraine will not waver. We’ve always stand up for democracies—always. (Applause.)

I’m going to ask you to contemplate what happens if it wavers and Ukraine goes down. What about Belarus? What about the rest of Eastern Europe?

Look, the G7 also demonstrated remarkable unity in the world’s leading democracies when it comes to China.

The United States—I’ve met with Xi Jinping more than any per-—more than any leader in the world, starting back when I was Vice President.

The United States does not seek conflict or confrontation with China. China and the United States should be able to work together where we can to solve some global challenges like climate.

But we are prepared for vigorous competition. And we will stand—stand up for our interests, for our friends, and for our values.

With our G7 partners, we issued a set of shared principles for engaging with China and minimizing the threats to our nations—by bolstering our economic security, resisting economic coercion, counter-—countering harmful practices, and protecting a narrow set of advanced technologies critical to our national security by not trading them.

By working together with nations that share the most fundamental values, we multiply one another’s strength and firmly fix a course toward our shared vision for the future.

In every part of the world, we advanced our partnerships in concrete ways that strengthen the American security.

In the Indo-Pacific, we’ve deepened our alliance and our trilateral cooperation with Japan and Republic of Korea, who are now talking together and working together to enhance deterrence against threats in the region, including from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

We’ve elevated the Quad, bringing together Australia, India, Japan, and the United States to advance an Indo-Pacific that’s free and open, prosperous and secure. Didn’t exist before.

We’re delivering on AUKUS, a new strategic partnership that brings the United States closer together with Australia and the United Kingdom, two of our most capable allies.

NATO is more energized and more united than it’s been in decades, and it’s now even stronger with the accession of our newest ally, Finland, and soon Sweden, in the Alliance as soon as possible. (Applause.) It will happen. I promise you.

We’re working with Canada to upgrade NORAD’s capabilities and ensure that North America’s air defense surveillance systems are the best in the world.

And in just the past 12 months, I’ve hosted in the United States the leaders of every country in the Western Hemisphere, every country in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. We are a Pacific nation.

These nations may not all agree with us on every issue, but they want to work with us; they choose us—not because of threats or coercion, but because of the common interests we pursue together to make the world a better and safer place for everyone. That—that is what the United States stands for.

When people around the world see a United States gray tail flying overhead, or the stars and stripes on your shoulders, they know what that means no matter where you go: freedom, opportunity, possibilities, hope.

It’s who we are. It’s what we fight for. It’s why we choose this path.

So, graduates, as you head out, whether to graduate school or pilot training, to serve as missileers or space operators, scientists or engineers, never forget the sacred oath you swear and the mission you serve is something far, far greater than any person or president. It’s our Constitution. It’s our country. And it’s our enduring American values.

You know, we’re the most unique nation in the world. And say, “Well, everybody says…”—but we are. We’re the only nation in the world formed and based on an idea. An idea. Every other nation in the world is formed based on things like geography, ethnicity, religion.

We’re the only nation built on an idea that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [women and] men are created equal…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights… life, liberty, pursuit of…” That’s the organizing principle of America. (Applause.)

We haven’t always lived up to it, but we’ve never—except on one brief moment—even thought about walking away from it.

Generations of our forebears have fought and sacrificed to defend it, sacrifices we honored earlier this week on Memorial Day.

My son was an Army officer, a major; the attorney general who sought permission to go fight with his unit in Iraq for a year. Unfortunately, his hooch was very close to these burn pits, and he came home with Stage 4 glioblastoma, and died.

I remember looking at him in the bed. This is the God’s truth. I hadn’t planned on saying this, and maybe I shouldn’t. He looked at me and said—and we’re talking about war. He said, “Dad…”—he was attorney general, odds-on favorite to become a governor. He said, “Dad, the proudest thing I’ve ever done in my life is putting on that uniform. The proudest thing.”

Just before he passed, he said, “I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid.”

That’s what you all are made of as well: pride. Pride—not in yourself, but what you’re fighting for.

It’s a sacred charge that you now inherit as well.

This year, we mark the 75th anniversary—this year—of an integrated force, the 75th anniversary of women serving in the force, and the 50th anniversary of an all-volunteer military. (Applause.) And your class is one of the diverse—most diverse classes in the history of this academy or any academy to graduate. That’s why we’re strong. That’s why we’re who we are. That’s why we’ll never give up. That’s why! (Applause.)

We also recognize that with every step we’ve taken to harness the full diversity of our nation, to tap more of our indomitable American spirit, our Armed Forces have only grown stronger, more effective, and more admired. The same is true of this institution.

This year’s graduating class is among the most diverse in academy history. You’re graduating the highest percentage of women. By the way, I met with the—who are those guys that fly over shortly? You’ve heard of them, haven’t you? Three of them are women. (Applause.) So don’t screw around, guys. And the highest percentage of minority cadets in history.

You’re a strengthening force, a force that depends—depends on American values, that reflect America itself.

And each of you has an obligation to treat the Airmen and Guardians you lead, and everyone you encounter, with dignity.

Your honor code says, “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.”

So it’s on all of you to root out the scourge of sexual assault and harassment in the military and to never tolerate it among—never tolerate it; to make sure that every member of our Armed Forces, no matter who they are, who they love, feels safe and respected in the ranks.

Class of 2023 —

AUDIENCE: Thor!

THE PRESIDENT: —you’ve been trained to lead, to set an example of leadership for others. You’ve been given the skillset to think clearly, to make strategic decisions, and to do what is right, under pressure.

You’ve earned the trust and respect of your fellow cadets and your in-—instructors.

And you are the very embodiment of the American military excellence, and you are ready for anything. Anything.

As I look out today, I give you my word as a Biden: I’ve never been more optimistic—never been more optimistic about the future of this country, in no small part because of you. I mean it sincerely.

Four years ago, you arrived as individuals. Today, you’re part of a Long Blue Line. Future generations will stand in your footsteps, strive to meet the heights that your—of your expectations, draw inspiration from the example of honor and integrity that you’re going to set.

Held aloft by the core values you learned here, our Air Force, our Space Force, our Joint Force, indeed our nation, is safe and steady hands with all of you.

May God protect you all as you set out on your journeys. And remember—remember: Never bend, never bow, never yield. And remember who we are.

May the Lord guard and guide the ones who fly through great space and sky. And may God protect all those who wear the uniform of the United States of America.

Let us hear us one more time for the Class of 2023.

AUDIENCE: Thor! (Applause.)

Biden Tells USAFA Grads: You Have Rare ‘Chance to Change Trajectory’ of US

June 1, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Speaking at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony June 1, President Joe Biden urged the Class of 2023’s 921 graduates “to keep us at the forefront of air and space dominance.”

The newly-commission Air Force and Space Force officers must lead, he said, at an “inflection point” in history: “Your Airmen and Guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration, because the world is going to get more confusing,” Biden said. “They’ll put their trust in you. You in turn must strive to always be worthy of their confidence. Listen to them. Listen to them.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, competition with China, the impacts of climate change, and unknown challenges stemming from the rise of artificial intelligence will all change the world.

“It’s not going to be easy decisions, guys,” said Biden. “I met in the Oval Office with eight leading scientists in the area of AI. Some are very worried that AI can actually overtake human thinking.” Yet, at the same time, he said, the Air Force and Space Force face a future of “incredible opportunity.”

“We’re working across multiple domains developing new capabilities, like our new next-gen B-21 Raider,” Biden noted. “You’re going to be flying that sucker. We’re going to count on you to keep us at the forefront of air and space dominance, enabling the entire joint force.”

Speaking before Biden, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall emphasized the importance of new technology and changing global dynamics to the new officers.

“You’re accepting a leadership role in a military in the midst of a strategic competition that is as great a challenge as we have faced in decades, certainly in my career,” said Kendall, who graduated from West Point 52 years ago. “You will be challenged to meet the requirements of our current missions while preparing for an uncertain future. You will be challenged to get everything you can out of today’s force to help build tomorrow’s force.”

Biden and Kendall’s remarks echo the National Security Strategy released last year, which referred to the 2020s as a “decisive decade.”

“The decisions we make today are going to determine what the world looks like decades from now,” Biden said. “No graduating class gets to choose the world into which they graduate. Every class enters the history of a nation up to the point that has been read by others. A few classes once every several generations, enters at a point in our history where they actually have a chance to change the trajectory of the country.”

In order to effect that change, Biden and Kendall said, new officers will have to foster a positive environment for their troops.

“Our nation’s parents are entrusting their sons and daughters to your supervision and care,” Kendall said. “As a leader of character, you are now responsible for creating and strengthening the readiness of the units you will serve and lead. As commissioned officers, you will be responsible for the example you set, for the conduct of those under your supervision, and for shaping the culture of organizations you lead or are a part of.”

Specifically, Biden called on the graduates to “root out the scourge of sexual assault and harassment in the military” and “make sure that every member of our forces … feel safe and respected in the ranks.”

Biden later personally congratulated each graduate as they received their degree. At the end, he tripped on a seam or wire on the stage, falling down to gasps from the crowd. The president was quickly helped to his feet by aides and returned to his seat under his own power; he later posed for photographs with the new officers.

480th ISR Wing Honored with Gen. Doolittle Award

June 1, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., received the 2023 Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle Award in recognition of its top-notch ISR support of major commands and joint and combined force commanders across the world over the past two years.

The 480th ISR Wing is the 10th recipient of the award, which is presented by the Air Force Historical Foundation to an active Air Force or Space Force unit for demonstrating “gallantry, determination, esprit de corps, and superior management of joint operations” as it pursues its mission.

The award was presented by Gen. Doolittle’s granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, the president of the Air Force Historical Foundation. The ceremony was held at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Va., on June 1.

“There isn’t any group that works harder behind the scenes and gets things done and nobody even sees,” said Doolittle Hoppes. “We don’t realize that you’re there until the mission that we’ve set out on is accomplished.”

Among the 480th’s notable accomplishments are its support of the bed down of Afghan refugees, both in the air and on the ground; its collection of crucial intelligence around the Russia-Ukraine conflict; its support of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first-of-its-kind visit to Taiwan; its involvement in watching North Korean ballistic missile launches; and its assistance in bringing down the Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this year.

“I’m tremendously proud of this unit and our accomplishments, and they’ve already reached the stratosphere,” said 480th Commander Col. Nathan L. Rusin, who accepted the award. “I’m also extremely proud of receiving recognition of those accomplishments because again, we do a lot of this shrouded in secrecy. As I talked about before, we celebrated our 20th birthday of the 480th ISR Wing this year, and truly I can’t wait to see what we accomplished by the time we hit 40.”

F-35 Block 4 Costs Keep Going Up. The GAO Says It’s Hard to Know Exactly Why

June 1, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The development cost of the F-35 fighter’s Block 4 upgrade is up more than $16.5 billion over original estimates, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. But because of the way the program is structured, it’s hard to know whether the jump is due to mismanagement, added scope, or a combination of factors.

Block 4 is an ambitious, long-planned, and highly-anticipated upgrade to the F-35, the basic design of which was set in the early 2000s. It includes the new AN/APG-85 radar, electronic warfare systems, other sensors such as an upgraded electro-optical targeting system, communications and navigation upgrades, new weapons, new antennas, and a raft of classified capabilities.

But costs have steadily increased in recent years. Starting in 2018, it was expected the program would cost $10.6 billion in then-year dollars. The GAO recorded a $300 million increase in 2019, then a $3.5 billion jump in estimate in 2020. By June 2021, the estimate had grown another $700 million, and just two months later, it had surged again, to $16.5 billion. The figures were not adjusted for inflation.

The GAO’s most recent congressionally-mandated assessment, released May 30, is based on that August 2021 estimate—data that is now almost two years old. Costs have likely increased since then.

“The program’s cost reporting mechanisms do not fully explain the reasons for cost growth,” the GAO report states. “For example, DOD’s reports to Congress on Block 4 cost growth do not distinguish higher-than-expected costs for previously planned Block 4 capabilities from growth due to adding new capabilities. Consequently, Congress does not have a complete picture of escalating F-35 modernization costs.”

Keeping Block 4 within the baseline F-35 program masks cost increases by making them a smaller percentage of the overall program, GAO noted, making them less likely to trigger “Nunn-McCurdy breaches”—under the Nunn-McCurdy law of 1982, if a program has cost increases beyond certain benchmarks, it receives added scrutiny or may be automatically canceled.

The audit agency said better visibility into where the money is going could be obtained by making Block 4 its own Major Acquisition Program, something GAO previously recommended but the Pentagon has declined to do.

Previous F-35 program executive officers have argued against separating Block 4 or the planned F-35 propulsion upgrades from the main F-35 program, saying such moves would create obstacles to coordination and information-sharing within the program and reduce their ability to manage it comprehensively. It would also make it harder for partners and allies to participate in those aspects of the program, they have said.

The F-35 Joint Program Office “describes Block 4 as an evolving, and ever-increasing, set of new capabilities with a rising overall cost for completing them,” the GAO report states. But without information on what parts of extra costs are due to newly-added capabilities, “the program’s cost reporting is inadequate for useful oversight,” the GAO pointed out.

Further, “without the program formally tracking the estimated cost of each capability to the actual cost of developing each and sharing that information,” it’s harder to hold the program and contractor Lockheed Martin accountable, the audit agency said.

That issue formed the basis for one of GAO’s recommendations: the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment should ensure the F-35 program office reports to Congress on the difference between original estimates and actual costs for a defined group of capabilities.

The Pentagon concurred with that recommendation. In a statement, the F-35 Joint Program Office said it looks forward to working with Congress and Pentagon leadership on GAO’s recommendations. It did not offer a rebuttal to GAO’s assessment of the program.

The centerpiece of Block 4 will be its electronic warfare system, outgoing Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. Kelly said at at the AFA Warfare Symposium in March.

“Most of what we need the F-35 to do rests on the Block 4 electronic warfare capabilities,” he told reporters.

However, Block 4 depends on the timely success of the Tech Refresh 3 upgrade, now in flight testing, which adds a reported 25 times more processing power to the jet. That additional processing activity is one of the reasons the F-35 will need much more cooling power with the advent of Block 4, which GAO discussed separately in its report.

Deficiencies

In addition to Block 4 costs and cooling power, the GAO report also noted that as of January 2023, the F-35 has 821 open deficiencies.

Five of those deficiencies are classified as “Category 1,” defined as “critical and could jeopardize safety, security, or another requirement.” The rest are Category 2, “those that could impede or constrain successful mission accomplishment.”

The report did not specify what the Category 1 deficiencies are but did say flight testing is needed to close them. The program office said it would address three of the Category 1 problems in 2023. The other two require additional documentation and one will also need additional funding.

The program office “does not plan to resolve all of the Category 2 deficiencies because the program office, in consultation with the warfighters and contractors, have determined that they do not need resolution,” the GAO reported.

One of the newest technical risks identified with the fighter is “Fuel Tube Vibration,” discovered in the wake of the December 2022 crash of an F-35B. The tube failed “due to a malfunction with the main fuel throttle valve.” One attempt at mitigation for the tube issue—which Pratt & Whitney has described as a “harmonic resonance” issue—hasn’t worked, the GAO said, and Naval Air Systems Command is still seeking a root cause for the December crash.

Another new issue is cracking of the “gun blast panel,” where the aircraft skin is blistering and cracking near the internal gun—unique to the F-35A model. The issue, found in Lots 13-15 aircraft, has been ascribed to higher-than-expected pressure conditions when the gun is being fired. If not corrected, the panel could break off in flight. The issue is being addressed with post-flight inspections and panel replacements.

Amid all this, the GAO noted the F-35 still has not passed its full-rate production milestone, which has been postponed four times from the original target of 2013. The main roadblock has been integrating the F-35 with the Joint Simulation Environment, which pits various configurations of the U.S. military against anticipated adversaries. The point is almost moot, though, because the F-35 program is producing 125 jets a year for U.S., partner and allied countries, very near its maximum capacity, the report stated.

Medics and Finance Personnel Repairing Runways? The Air Force Tests It Out

June 1, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Seeking to make life harder for a potential adversary like China, the Air Force wants more airfields in more locations, giving the service more freedom to operate in combat.

But runways serve little purpose if they are damaged beyond use. The Air Force recently conducted a “beta test” to figure out if Airmen without previous specialized training could repair them quickly.

“The concept of a cross-section of Airmen carrying out important wartime tasks seems like a good idea, but does it work?” the Air Force Installation and Training Support Center wrote in a press release.

So the service sought to find out, sending 25 Airmen from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, to a training site at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. to participate in an exercise May 22-24.

The Air Force has introduced the concepts of Agile Combat Employment, operating more flexibly with a smaller fixed footprint, and Multi-Capable Airmen, asking service members to perform more tasks to support those operations. The service plans to invest billions in building out infrastructure at more bases and building aircraft shelters in the Indo-Pacific, many within the likely range of Chinese missiles. It will need to ensure those facilities can recover and get back up and running as needed.

“In a deployed location, we might not be able to rely solely on civil engineers,” Master Sgt. Broc French, a training program manager with Air Force Civil Engineer Center, said in the release.

Five of the Mountain Home Airmen from the 366th Civil Engineer Squadron attended a preparation course last year. Once at Dobbins, they walked the other members of their team through the basics of rapid runway repair for two days, according to the service.

In the end, the civil engineers, along with finance, maintenance, munitions, medical, and operations support Airmen had to complete six concrete crater repairs and other runway damage operations within four hours.

“I was super nervous to come in here and start cutting concrete after two days,” said Senior Airman Kayla Panzarella, a medic at Mountain Home.

“I can’t explain the feeling of doing this wartime task, this mission,” she added. “I remember looking out from inside [of the heavy equipment] and having the feeling of, ‘Wow, we’re doing this.'”

And according to the Air Force, they did it well.

“After two days, they’ve been able to fill craters and, if it were a real-world scenario, be able to get aircraft off the ground quickly,” French said in the release. “This is a great concept that works, and we’re looking to expand it in the future.”

If the Multi-Capable Airmen concept is to succeed, more service members who are traditionally far away from the flight line will have to get their hands dirty.

“If you could take different career fields like security forces, medical, and finance like we had out here, you could put people together” in groups that can conduct complex procedures like runway repair, Master Sgt. Patrick Murphy, the instructor lead for the exercise said. “With that, you could take care of everything with a small force, as long as you had the right attitude like we had with folks this week.”

Air Force Bomb Techs Practice WWII Tactics for Near-Peer Fight

June 1, 2023 | By David Roza

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah—Over the past 20 years, military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians have become very good at using high-tech tools like robots, communications jammers, smartphones, and next-generation bomb suits to disable improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in crowded urban environments.

When it comes to a possible conflict with a near-peer adversary like China or Russia, though, EOD techs are preparing for different environments, faster timelines, less sophisticated tools, and more explosives. And to meet that challenge, they’re turning to “old-school World War II tactics,” Airmen told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

During the Global War on Terror, troops often had to secure a city block against ground attack so that bomb techs could safely defuse a single IED. In the future, Air Force EOD techs may have to clear isolated runways of large numbers of air-dropped unexploded ordnance as quickly as possible before another air attack arrives.

“We’re worried about ‘how do I clear this runway fast using the least amount of stuff,’ because it’s going to happen again,” said Staff Sgt. Cody Patterson, a member of the 775th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight at Hill Air Force Base.

“We are boiling down to old-school World War II tactics where we use rope, tape, and zip ties to pull submunitions off a runway all at once,” he added. “Or, if one’s available, we can fill a backhoe bucket full of concrete, drop it down, and push them off. You’re trying to be quick; the longer our planes are sitting on the tarmac, the longer they are a target.”

eod — Senior Airman Daniel West, an explosive ordinance technician with the 775th Civil Engineering Squadron, prepares to place a counter charge on a vehicle born improvised explosive devise during a training scenario at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, March 22, 2011. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Renae Pittman)

In a future fight against the likes of China, the Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment concept calls for dispersing Airmen and aircraft to smaller, more austere bases in order to complicate an adversary’s targeting.

But those bases won’t be immune from attack. In particular, planners worry that an adversary would drop submunitions across an airfield. Submunitions are small explosives that may be distributed over a wide area. Not all of those submunitions detonate on impact, so they pose a lingering threat to military operations such as running an airfield.

In such a scenario, EOD techs would face new challenges given the nature of those small, austere, remote bases.

“How is an EOD unit with fewer tools, less manning, fewer explosives and potentially spoofed radios on an island in the middle of nowhere going to be able to recover that runway?” Patterson said. “It is going to come down to thinking outside the box, figuring out a way to clear those out so that we can launch aircraft.”

Clearing a runway of submunitions in the middle of a near-peer fight may look relatively Stone-Aged. The old-school but effective techniques include shooting the fuse off a bomb with a .50 caliber slug or using a “tape-and-line,” where EOD techs use tape, rope, and a wrench to pull the fuse out of a bomb from a distance.

“The whole idea is to use a rope that’s extremely long, usually about 1,000 feet for a 500-pound bomb,” Patterson explained. “That technique is from the 1940s and we still test that in EOD to this day.”

eod — An Airman with the 775th EOD flight examines the wiring on a pressure plate used in an IED. Airmen from the flight participated in a week-long training event Nov. 2.-6, 2015. U.S. Air Force photo by Micah Garbarino.

In a future fight, the Air Force may not be able to fly a 700-pound robot to an island in the middle of the Pacific, but EOD techs are accustomed to working with what they have on hand.

“What we are used to operating out of, if you can give us one Humvee or a solid truck, we’re going to be able to hammer out every mission,” said Patterson, who cautioned that more equipment may be required when chemical or biological weapons are involved.

The 775th EOD Flight in particular gets plenty of practice disabling submunitions on the Utah Test and Training Range, an area about the size of Delaware where military aircraft practice dropping a wide range of ordnance. Not all of those weapons detonate on impact, which can pose a hazard to range workers or scientists trying to collect data on weapons tests, so EOD steps in to finish the job.

Part of the challenge of a possible near-peer fight is that EOD technicians may be the first ones to see some of the enemy’s ordnance up close.

“I know that they are going to drop submunitions and I know that, most likely, I am not going to know what they are,” Patterson said. “A small piece of what we’ll have to do is exploit the first one we run into, get all the technical data, figure out how it works, pass that on to our buddies and push them off the runway.”

There is also the possibility Russia or China may use IEDs as well as conventional ordnance. U.S. troops will also likely keep facing IEDs during operations in eastern Africa or the Middle East.

“It is never going to go away, but we try to treat everything similar, whether it is an IED, an [unexploded ordnance], or a WMD,” Patterson said. “We want to command and control the situation because we are the technical experts.”

eod — An example of the patch worn by the 775th EOD flight as of November 2, 2015. U.S. Air Force photo by Micah Garbarino.

Patterson emphasized that defusing explosives would not be Air Force EOD’s sole contribution to a near-peer fight. As experts in explosives, EOD technicians are frequently consulted by other service members in the process of building air bases and deciding how and where to place hardened aircraft shelters (HAS).

“They will turn to an EOD expert and ask ‘Hey, I want to put a plane in this HAS, what happens if a bomb hits the outside of it? Where should we put our common and control station? Do you think this is enough dirt to stop a bomb?’ That sort of thing,” Patterson explained. “We’re integral in the planning phase to protect assets.”

Standing up an air base or restarting it after an attack may also see EOD pick up unusual new roles. As part of its shift to smaller, distributed airfields, the Air Force also wants to generate airpower with fewer Airmen, which will require them to pick up new tasks outside their usual job specialty. EOD techs may find themselves helping a weapons jammer or refueling truck move through a recently-cleared path to get an aircraft ready for takeoff.

“We’re going to be a very vital piece not just to the recovery portion, not just to the planning portion, but to everything in between,” Patterson said. “We’re really good at greasing the cog.”

Besides clearing training ranges and disarming IEDs at home and abroad, Air Force bomb techs also help airfield crews render safe jammed aircraft guns or malfunctioning ordnance; assist with the protection of VIPs like the President or visiting dignitaries; support domestic law enforcement missions; help train foreign partners overseas; and a range of other missions.

“We’re surrounded by some of the best people in all the branches,” Patterson said. “I have not met one guy that was a bad dude or was not smart enough to handle the job. It’s been a real pleasure to serve with these guys.”

How Boeing’s KC-46A Accelerates Mission Readiness for the Joint Force Today and into the Future

June 1, 2023

As near-peer adversaries have increased their reach and lethality, the U.S. Air Force is accelerating the tanker fleet recapitalization and aggressively pulling forward the Next Generation Aerial Refueling System (NGAS) to meet the threat.

Globally operating the KC-46A has advanced mission readiness for the joint force as the service strategizes the path to a future “team of systems” for aerial refueling.

Extending the KC-46A program of record offers three key distinct advantages to the warfighter:

First, the KC-46 is ready now and primed to evolve for the future.

Second, the KC-46A offers unmatched access and operational capability.

Third, extending the KC-46A fleet frees up resources for future U.S. Air Force investment in NGAS.

Ready Now, Evolving for the Future

Boeing is already building and delivering combat-ready KC-46As to the U.S. Air Force and allies in partnership with its supplier network of 650 U.S. business. These suppliers employ 37,000 American workers throughout more than 40 states.

No other tanker meets the stringent airworthiness and performance requirements of the U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration. Boeing’s substantial investments to meet these precise and unique requirements have made the KC-46A the most advanced multi-mission refueling system in the world. Any other aircraft would require restarting the development process just to catch up to the KC-46A, delaying the mission readiness of the warfighter—and at a cost which the taxpayer would bear.

With the KC-46A, the U.S. Air Force can focus on evolving for the future by integrating emergent technological capabilities that will benefit generations of service members. As an example, Boeing partnered with the Air Force to field the Pegasus’s Remote Vision System 2.0 upgrade, which has been designed and developed side-by-side with engineers and boom operators to ensure it is exactly what’s needed for the mission.

The U.S. Air Force has also designated the Pegasus for the first Advanced Battle Management System implementation, building on the KC-46A’s existing data and communications connectivity.

Unmatched Access and Operational Capability

In addition to refueling support, the KC-46A delivers combat-ready defensive features and data connectivity necessary in a multi-mission tanker for the 21st century warfighter—capabilities that were not traditionally baked into legacy tankers.

*Shown here with a C-17, the Pegasus delivers data to the joint force, as well as fuel, enabling fleet battlespace awareness and decision-making advantage. (Photo credit: Paul Weatherman, Boeing)*

Armed with data links and an integrated tactical situational awareness suite, the KC-46A tanker and crew can relay comprehensive battlespace awareness to warfighters and long-range back to base for real-time information superiority in operational decisions. That information advantage that will further increase as the KC-46A integrates Advanced Battle Management System capabilities as well as upgrades including military-certified Gen 6 radios and additional line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications technologies with anti-jamming and encryption features. Delivering data and communications connectivity as well as fuel makes the KC-46A a game changer for the joint force.

The multi-mission KC-46A Pegasus tanker also enables Agile Combat Employment—one of the Air Force’s seven Operational Imperatives—by accessing more small bases and austere airfields, maximizing maneuverability of the USAF fleet throughout vast operational theaters, and ensuring fleet connectivity in contested environments.

By leveraging a network of smaller, dispersed locations, the KC-46A facilitates ‘more booms in the air’—more refuelers spread throughout the operational theater and closer to the battlespace—giving warfighters quicker access to fuel so they can stay in the fight where they are needed. The KC-46A can also receive fuel, unlike many legacy tankers, extending its mission range and flexibility.

With its defensive features and countermeasures, the KC-46A provides fuel, data and multi-mission transportation to support all facets of air mobility into the tactical edge of contested environments.

Sustainment Savings to Invest for the Future

The KC-46A fleet also brings lifecycle sustainment advantages for the U.S. Air Force, freeing up resources to meet future needs.

With more KC-46As already in service than any tanker except the Boeing-built KC-135, extending the KC-46 program of record ensures mission readiness today and generates operational and sustainment savings that can be reinvested in future capabilities. (Photo credit: Tech. Sgt. Victoria Nelson, U.S. Air National Guard)

As the KC-46 fleet recently surpassed 50,000 flight hours and thousands of maintenance tasks performed, the Air Force and Boeing can confidently begin fine-tuning the maintenance program based on robust fleet performance data, an improvement relative to the initial conservative assumptions of a new program. For example, as the KC-46A fleet flight hours have grown, the U.S. Air Force and Boeing are optimizing the frequency of scheduled maintenance based on the platform’s proven performance and dependability, yielding cost avoidance and increasing maintenance efficiencies.

This is just one aspect of the time, effort, and resource savings that will be gained by extending the KC-46A program of record—savings that can be reinvested in future systems and capabilities, such as NGAS, and in advancing Operational Imperatives, including resilient basing development.

Accelerating Aerial Refueling Mission Readiness

Even as recapitalizing the KC-135 with the KC-46A remains a priority, Boeing will support the Air Force as it defines the requirements and concept of operations for future aerial refueling teams of systems. Boeing continuously develops innovative solutions to deliver advanced capabilities for customers, including next generation “team of systems”-enabling platforms, technologies and concepts of operation, as well as production and lifecycle support. The Pegasus is the world’s most advanced multi-mission aerial refueling system today and continues to evolve as a pathway to NGAS. Extending the KC-46 program of record provides production, operational and sustainment advantages that assure U.S. mission readiness now and enduring rapid global mobility and power projection advantage for the future.

ICBM Cancer Study Will Include ‘Enduring’ Environmental Monitoring

May 31, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

As part of its broad study of cancer risks at the intercontinental ballistic missile bases, the Air Force is conducting a more focused, detailed investigation of environmental hazards at the installations.

“Two separate efforts are planned in the future,” Col. Tory W. Woodard, the director of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM), which designed the study, recently told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The first is an epidemiology study to look at cancer rates in missileer and associated career fields. The second, he added, is “dedicated environmental hazard sampling to assess the work areas.”

Concern about cancer rates at ICBM bases from the veteran community spurred the Air Force to launch its much-scrutinized Missile Community Cancer Study.

Members of the study team conducted initial visits to the ICBM bases in February and March to understand what they should look for and where. The Air Force’s three ICBM bases are Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. The ICBM silos themselves are spread out over vast fields that reach into five states.

The Air Force has studied the issue before, including a study in 2001 at Malmstrom. This time, the service is planning a more exhaustive look.

There is an improved understanding of the environment and factors that can affect the issue, as well as better technology and “access both to personnel and to the actual silos and launch facilities and launch control centers,” Col. Robert Peltzer, a senior medical official at Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a recent interview. “I don’t think the 2001 folks had that same level of ability to get to the spots that they really need to look at.”

The issue is not just a concern for veterans. The service is also trying to understand the potential hazards for personnel currently stationed at the facility.

“When they got back, they looked at, OK, here’s all the hazards we identified,” Peltzer said of the initial visits. “Let’s research and find out what equipment is out there today that can detect these things.”

Among the potential dangers, the study teams found stickers indicating the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls—commonly known as PCBs—which are present in older electronics and should have been removed long ago.

“PCBs have been demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse health effects,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which notes “the data strongly suggest that PCBs are probable human carcinogens.”

PCB production was banned in 1979, but ICBM facilities are decades old. An AFGSC source familiar with the study said the Air Force began phasing out PCBs at ICBM facilities in the 1980s, but it is not clear if the process was fully completed. The person said technical orders were issued for the removal of PCBs which were marked as complete, and technical orders might not have included removing the signage. But signs denoting the presence of PCBs are present at all three active ICBM bases and the Air Force is investigating.

“We’re not going to take that the stickers are inaccurate or accurate,” Peltzer said. “We’re going to make sure and validate one way or the other—are there PCBs down there?”

PCBs are not the only hazard. Another major concern for missileers is radon exposure and water contamination. Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from bedrock and soil, and missile facilities are buried underground with personnel living in cramped quarters on 24-48 hour shifts.

“There’ll be looking for air sampling, air intake, water—both above ground and below ground,” Peltzer said.

The U.S. government does not own the land around many missile facilities where some harmful materials may be present.

“We’re going to test the water and soil at different times for environmental changes,” Peltzer said, noting the schedule for doing agriculture work, as well as temperature changes, could affect the level of risk.

The team will also keep sampling equipment, which had to get special clearance to be used in ICBM facilities, on the bases to continue monitoring well into the future.

That’s in keeping with researchers comprehensive approach of “doing it, training, and then setting up the long-term enduring part of this to make sure that we don’t have anything in the future that we weren’t aware of,” Peltzer said.

He said the Air Force would not let the classified nature of ICBM operations impede the investigation.

“One of the things that we’ve ensured is that our environmental folks do have the level of clearance to go down in those areas,” Peltzer said. “They don’t have the need to know what the rest of the stuff is going on. But they can collect information or take samples and then leave. So those are things that have changed over the years.”

GAO Urges Congress to Separate Engine Upgrade From F-35 Program

May 31, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Congress should direct the Pentagon to break out the F-35’s propulsion upgrade from the rest of the program to better to track its scope, schedule, and cost, the Government Accountability Office urged in a new May 30 report.

Meanwhile, engine-maker Pratt & Whitney added its own suggestion that the F-35 Joint Program Office decide quickly how it wants to meet the fighter’s rapidly-growing power and cooling needs, so the company can adjust its planned Engine Core Upgrade to better mesh with those requirements.

The Pentagon has previously declined GAO’s suggestion to break out the engine upgrade element of the F-35 program as a separate undertaking, which is why the GAO is now urging Congress to direct the change.

Cost increases and problems with the F-35 airframe and engine tend to be masked under the current arrangement, GAO said, and the magnitude of those cost overruns and schedule issues, if judged separately, could incur Nunn-McCurdy breaches—under the Nunn-McCurdy law of 1982, if a program has cost increases beyond certain benchmarks, it receives added scrutiny or may be automatically canceled.

Other GAO recommendations related to the F-35’s engine include defining long-term requirements for the powerplant.

The GAO agreed with the F-35 Joint Program Office’s business case analysis that found Pratt & Whitney’s ECU is a better and less risky approach to the F-35’s power needs than integrating a new engine from the Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP), mainly because of the uncertainty and higher integration cost of a new engine. The AETP engines—GE Aerospace’s XA100 and Pratt’s XA101—also cannot fit the short takeoff/vertical landing F-35B or carrier-landing version F-35C without extensive extra development, the GAO found.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said the difficulty of integrating an AETP engine with those models was the principal reason the service—in concert with Pentagon leadership–dropped plans for the new engine, although cost was also a big factor.

“You can’t do everything you want to do,” Kendall told the Senate Armed Services Committee in April.

Pratt’s F135 director Jennifer Latka said on a May 31 call with reporters that the company feels the GAO report “validates the Department’s decision to pursue the Engine Core Upgrade on the existing F135.”

But while the GAO report noted the F-35 office has completed the business case regarding a new engine, it also pointed out the Pentagon “has not fully defined the power and cooling requirements the engine and related components will need to support” Block 4 capabilities through 2035.

Specifically, the Joint Program Office has yet to fully assess the cost and technical risks of different engine upgrade and thermal management options, the report stated.

Pratt would like the Pentagon to complete that work, Latka said, so it can determine how it wants to meet the F-35’s increased needs from its Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS), which provides cooling for avionics, radar, and other equipment, as well as emergency power, cockpit conditioning, some electrical power, and more.

Pratt officials have long argued the existing PTMS and engine can provide enough cooling for the F-35’s systems, but doing so requires more heat and stress on the engine, increasing maintenance and cost. Now, Latka said, it would be best from a design and development perspective for the F-35 Joint Program Office to decide its PTMS needs soon so they can be aligned with the Engine Core Upgrade.

For its part, the GAO report states that the current PTMS is already inadequate to meet the F-35’s cooling needs, and the planned Block 4 upgrade will place a heavier burden on the system. Running the engine hotter to produce more cooling is “reducing the life of the engine,” according to the report.

This problem was known back in 2013, and Lockheed wanted to change the F135’s design then to yield more air pressure from the PTMS, “but program officials determined it was too late to redesign the engine given the cost and schedule effects” of doing so, the GAO reported.

“Program officials decided to continue with the F135 engine’s original design with the understanding that there would be increased wear and tear, more maintenance, and reduced life on the engine because it would need to provide more air pressure to the PTMS than its design intended” the audit agency said.

“The misalignment of requirements with the engine and PTMS illustrates why it is important to fully understand the proposed designs at the beginning of an acquisition, prior to committing to development,” the GAO observed.

The GAO is projecting the F-35’s current cooling system won’t be able to meet the fighter’s future needs beyond 2029, particularly those planned for Block 4. Latka argued that is not exactly true but agreed the increased cooling will degrade the F135’s service life, requiring replacement or heavy, unplanned maintenance costs.

It’s “more an art than a science” knowing exactly when the Engine Core Upgrade and PTMS, which are separate systems, will become critical needs, Latka said, but she urged the Pentagon to get on with both efforts as quickly as it can.

“It’s really important to know that [the JPO doesn’t] have a Block 4 plan out to 2035,” Latka said. “They have increments of capabilities that are funded in the next few years that are coming on to the jet, and then they have some more thought-out ideas of what could come on to the jet …and then there are dreams of what we could put on the jet way into the future.”

The F-35’s high sustainment have been a headache for the Pentagon and a source of controversy in Congress for some time now, and the GAO is predicting an extra $38 billion in predicted life-cycle costs. Latka could not say how much of that could be avoided by Pratt’s engine upgrade and a new PTMS.

The GAO report also stated that late engine deliveries are affecting the F-35’s production line, including a chart showing that 97 percent of engines delivered in 2022 were late, up from 46 percent late in 2017.

Latka disputed that part of the report, saying it was based on old data. Deliveries of F135 engines and F-35s were paused for several months to investigate a December 2022 crash of an F-35B caused by an engine problem, and during that time, Pratt’s buffer of extra engine waiting at airframe-maker Lockheed Martin shrank. Now, however, it is back to normal, Latka said.

In a statement responding to the GAO report, the JPO said it’s waging a “war on cost” in the F-35 program, that new countries are indicating their confidence in the program by signing up to buy the jet, and that the JPO “looks forward to working with the GAO and program stakeholders” on its recommendations.