F-35 operating costs will significantly increase unless reliability improves, warns U.S. Defense Department test office

The U.S. Defense Department’s testing office is warning that the costs to operate and support the F-35 will significantly increase unless reliability of the aircraft improves, the Bloomberg news service is reporting.
Bloomberg’s Anthony Capaccio has obtained a copy of a May 8 presentation written for the DoD. The availability of spare parts for the 203 F-35s already assigned to bases “is getting worse, affecting fly rates” and pilot training, Capaccio writes. Reliabi