Loss Of Turkish Suppliers Likely To Compound US F-35 Production Risks - Watchdog

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2020) The Pentagon's F-35 fighter program will likely face greater production risks due to the loss of Turkish parts suppliers, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Tuesday.

Last year, the US government excluded Turkey from buying and operating the F-35 because of Ankara's determination to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system defying pressures from Washington.

"The July 2019 suspension of Turkey from the F-35 program - due to security concerns after its acquisition of Russian defense equipment - is likely to compound production risks," the report said. "The program has identified new sources for 1,005 parts produced by Turkish suppliers, but the program is assessing the effect of losing those suppliers."

However, the program is not meeting standards aimed at ensuring , high-quality products, and fielded aircraft do not meet reliability goals.

Further, "only about 3,000 of the over 10,000 airframe contractor's manufacturing key processes meet predefined design standards for ensuring product quality. Also, the fielded aircraft, over 500 so far, do not meet the program's reliability and maintainability goals," the report warned.

The cost to modernize F-35 systems went up about $1.5 billion, or 14 percent, since the program's May 2019 annual report to Congress. putting estimated total development costs for that part of the program at $12.1 billion, the GAO said.