F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Jet (JSF) The Most Expensive Defense Project In History
The stealth fighter jet that is meant to become the backbone of America's air power is going to cost the US government billions more than expected and has already suffered significant delays in its troubled development, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. When the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program went into development in 2001, it was already one of the most expensive defense acquisition projects in history at $223 billion. But in just over a decade, the price has ballooned to just under $400 billion — and jumped nearly $15 billion just between 2010 and 2011, according to the GAO report published. Also, the jets won't be in full production mode until 2018, rather than 2012 as originally planned, the report says. The report notes the planes' mixed record on meeting its testing goals last year and cites a few specific problems, including difficulties managing the electronic system's unprecedented 24 million lines of computer code and delays in the development of critical mission systems that are so behind schedule as to be "risky."
