Joint Strike Fighter: Impact of Recent Decisions on Program Risks

Abstract : The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is the Department of Defense's (DoD) most expensive aircraft acquisition program. DoD is expected to develop, procure, and maintain 2,443 aircraft at a cost of more than $950 billion. DoD plans for the JSF to replace or complement several types of aircraft in the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Given the program's cost and importance, it is critical that decisions are made within this program to maximize its benefit to the nation. This testimony highlights a number of those decisions and impacts. The testimony does the following: (1) discusses emerging risks to the overall program, and (2) updates information for GAO's cost analysis of last year regarding sole-source and competitive scenarios for acquisition and sustainment of the JSF engine. Information on the overall program is from GAO's mandated annual report, also issued today. GAO tracked annual cost and schedule changes, reasons for changes, decisions affecting development, and compared DoD cost estimating methodologies to best practices. For the two engines, GAO updated cost data from last year's testimony and made new projections. This testimony does not have recommendations, but GAO's mandated report recommends revisiting the mid-course plan and improving cost estimates. DoD substantially agreed.