America’s F-35 fighter jets are only ‘mission capable’ HALF of the time and are costing $1.3 trillion to maintain new report claims – just days after $80M stealth plane crashed in South Carolina

The US military has admitted that they do not have the parts to keep their now infamous F-35 fighter jet in service for more than half the time they are in the air.

Days after an $80 million plane crashed in South Carolina, a new government report has revealed that the stealth craft has “inadequate equipment” to keep the plane operational.

A report from the Government Accountability Office found that the planes are “mission capable” only 55 percent of the time.

The report’s author believes taxpayers are ‘not getting value for money’ from the trade, which is intended to perform 85 to 90 per cent of the time, which falls well below target.

It also states that the program will cost more than $1.7 trillion, of which $1.3 trillion will be used directly to operate and maintain the aircraft.

The F-35 program, run by military contractor Lockheed Martin, is one of the Pentagon’s most expensive programs.

Diana Maurer, who authored the report, says the aircraft’s overall durability “depends entirely on Lockheed Martin and the subcontractors it hires.”

The Ministry of Defense aims to gain greater control of the fleet in coming years, but the report accused them of failing to identify the “technical data” to create the “desired mix of government and contractor roles.”

Military maintenance personnel at three locations told the report they are not allowed to look up spare part numbers for the aircraft because the database is controlled by Lockheed, causing delays.

Maintenance of F-35 parts is also lagging behind, with more than 10,000 parts currently waiting to be repaired, according to the report.

Currently, the jet is used by the Air Force, Marines and Navy – with previous concerns prompting the Pentagon to take over maintenance.

But the report says this switch won’t happen until late 2027, leaving a four-year window during which the issues may not be resolved.

The report was published just days after one of the fleet members went missing and later crash-landed in a rural field in South Carolina.

Of the GAO’s seven recommendations, the Pentagon agreed that all should be implemented.

They include a reassessment of who has primary responsibility for technology systems, maintenance, equipment maintenance and what, if any, changes the Navy and Air Force should make to leadership.

In a statement, Lockheed Martin said: “We stand ready to work with the government as plans are made for the future of F-35 support, ensuring mission readiness and enabling deterrence.” ‘

Audio released Wednesday revealed that the plane could have crashed due to bad weather in South Carolina.

Questions continue to arise as to why Sunday’s disastrous training session was allowed to go ahead.

According to a Forbes investigation in November, the F-35B Lightning II that the unnamed Marine pilot flew is at risk of malfunctioning when flying during thunderstorms.

Its sister aircraft, the F-35A, has been more seriously affected and cannot fly within a lightning radius of 25 miles.

The problem lies with the F-35’s OBIGGS (Onboard Inert Gas Generation) system, which pumps nitrogen-enriched air into the fuel tanks to make them inert, preventing the plane from exploding if struck by lightning.

“F-35B and C variants share some of the same OBIGGS issues as the F-35A, but have been able to mitigate the operational impact,” Chief Petty Officer Matthew Olay, spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Program Office, said in an e-mail. -mail. to Forbes last year.

Audio footage of Sunday’s crash shows the pilot telling emergency services after ejecting that he “lost the plane due to the weather.”

It took off from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina on Sunday, along with another F-35, and took off at an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 meters) – slightly less than the height of the Empire State Building.

He was only about a mile north of Charleston International Airport, in a populated area that prompted the pilot to parachute into a residential backyard.

The emergency services were called at 1.42 pm on Sunday.

An audio recording preserved by Charleston County Emergency Medical Services shows a man on the phone telling someone, “He’s not sure where his plane crashed, he said he just lost it to the weather.” ‘

The plane was on autopilot at the time, Jeremy Huggins, a spokesman for Joint Base Charleston, told NBC News.

Separate audio, obtained by aviation enthusiast @aeroscouting, appeared to show air traffic control towers in the region trying to make contact with the pilotless aircraft. In the conversation, the ‘zombie jet’ is believed to be SWEDE-11.

Air traffic control tries to talk to SWEDE-12, the wingman, and says they have lost contact with SWEDE-11.

“SWEDE-12, do you have external communications with your wingman – he is not on… frequencies,” the ATC official says.

ATC tells the pilot of the tandem plane, SWEDE-12, that they will report his colleague as ‘NORDO’ – flying without a radio.

The missing plane flew about 60 miles before crashing near Bartell Crossroads, in a rural area with well-tended agricultural fields.

Marines were unable to locate the downed plane for 28 hours, prompting a humiliating appeal on social media for help finding the missing $80 million plane.

Once it was located, a Marine Corps team was dispatched to secure the wreckage and a second team, an aircraft accident investigation team, was sent to the site.

But questions are now being asked why the plane was allowed to fly, given its proximity to storms and concerns about its sister planes.