GAO Says Pentagon Still Can’t Account for $31 Billion in F-35 Parts

United States

24h ago

Michael Spooneybarger/Reuters

Source Analysis

Coverage

58 sources

Bias

Weaker Center

Factuality

High

Ownership

Independent

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What Happened

GAO found the Pentagon cannot reliably track about 26 million F-35 spare parts worth roughly $31 billion across 700+ facilities. About 17,000 parts—valued about $1.3 billion, possibly $2.5 billion—weren’t recorded in the Enterprise Logistics Management System, leaving records inaccurate, incomplete and undermining audits and readiness.

Key Implications

According to airandspaceforces.com, the GAO said the Joint Program Office will not know the full extent of losses unless it adds monitoring procedures, and its ability to mitigate future losses would be reduced. Interesting Engineering says the Pentagon also lacks procedures to investigate losses at government-managed facilities, limiting detection of fraud, waste, or theft.

What Happened

Key Implications

Timeline

November 9, 2026

GAO report released; recommendations: On November 9, 2026 GAO published a report finding the JPO cannot reliably track about $31 billion in F-35 parts, cannot account for previously reported missing parts, and identified weaknesses in property officer training and loss monitoring; GAO issued four new recommendations which DoD concurred with and set a targeted full inventory completion date for March 2027. The department agreed to corrective actions and to work toward improved interfaces and procedures.

September 2026

September 2026 shipment diversion: In September 2026 a shipment of unserviceable F-35 components sent from Australia to the U.S. for repair was diverted to Hong Kong and went missing, raising fresh concerns about oversight of contractors and intermediaries in the international supply chain. The diversion intensified scrutiny of how parts move through the multinational logistics pipeline.

March 2026

March 2026 inventory blind spots: As of March 2026, GAO found about 17,000 F-35 parts — valued at roughly $1.3 billion (and up to $2.5 billion when additional costs are included) — were not entered into ELMS, while the program’s total spare-parts pool comprised roughly 26 million parts worth about $31 billion. The JPO had not recorded or accounted for these components, leaving large gaps in the official inventory.

Summary by Ground AI