DefenseNews.comValerie Insinna

Pentagon: Only 36% of F-35 fleet meets full mission-capability goals

The US Department of Defense says it is still not meeting its F-35 readiness goals, with only 36% of fielded aircraft capable of performing the full set of missions the jets were designed to execute. The gap underscores persistent availability and software/sustainment challenges as the program scales deployments.

2026-04-27T04:34:26.151110-07:00