The Pentagon will have to bear all of the potential costs of repairing weather-damaged aircraft that exceed the $100,000 per jet that manufacturer Lockheed Martin is responsible for, the report said.
Lockheed Martin is planning to start delivering 75 to 110 aircraft this month, each of which costs between $82.5 million to $109 million, the report added.
F-35 fighters are at an airfield in Fort Worth, Texas awaiting the TR-3 hardware and software upgrade that was supposed to be finalized in July 2023, according to the report.
In late June, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics received a more than $1.5 billion US Navy contract to provide more logistics support and pilot training, for delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, according to the US Defense Department.