The Pentagon has signaled it needs an additional $12 billion through 2031 to fix the F-35 fighter jet, one of the most advanced yet troubled weapons systems in its arsenal.
At the heart of this massive funding request is a simple but critical problem: the jets aren't ready to fly when needed. The Mission-Capable (MC) rate, which measures the readiness of an aircraft fleet, has been stuck in the low 50% range. This is far below the target and means that at any given time, nearly half of the multi-trillion-dollar fleet is grounded. The primary culprits are a severe shortage of spare parts and a backlog in the repair depots, creating a major bottleneck.
This situation didn't happen overnight; it's the result of a chain of compounding issues. First, the request for $12 billion came shortly after Congress had already approved an extra $440 million for F-35 spares in early 2026. This shows that lawmakers are aware of the problem, but the initial funding was just a drop in the bucket, validating the need for a much larger, multi-year surge.
Second, for over a year, government watchdogs like the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the DoD Inspector General have been sounding the alarm. Reports from late 2024 and 2025 highlighted the chronically low availability rates and pointed to failures in the sustainment contract model. A planned long-term Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) deal with Lockheed Martin stalled, forcing the Pentagon into a less efficient, transactional model of simply buying more parts as they break. This created immense pressure to fund a more direct solution.
Finally, these immediate issues sit on top of deeper, long-term trends. The F-35 program was approved for full-rate production in 2024, meaning more jets were being built. However, the support infrastructure—the supply chain for parts and the capacity of repair depots—failed to keep pace. This created a growing gap between the size of the fleet and the number of aircraft actually available for combat, a classic trigger for a crisis in military readiness. This $12 billion is a direct attempt to buy its way out of that crisis, boosting the revenues of prime contractors like Lockheed Martin and engine-maker Pratt & Whitney (an RTX company) in the process.
- Mission-Capable (MC) Rate: A metric used by the military to assess the percentage of a fleet of aircraft, vehicles, or equipment that is ready to perform at least one of its core missions. A low MC rate indicates poor readiness.
- Performance-Based Logistics (PBL): A contracting strategy where the supplier (e.g., Lockheed Martin) is paid based on delivering outcomes (e.g., a guaranteed level of aircraft availability) rather than for specific parts and services. The F-35's PBL deal stalled, leading to the current situation.
- Sustainment: The activities required to keep a weapons system operational over its entire lifecycle, including maintenance, repairs, spare parts, and technical support. It is often the most expensive part of a program.