A Declassified Report Has Put F-35 to Shame and Prompted Sharp Words From Elon Musk

The controversy surrounding the F-35 aircraft isn’t new. The fighter jet has faced numerous problems for years, including delays, cost overruns, defective and unwieldy parts, difficulties flying near thunderstorms, and questionable reliability. Despite these issues, the Department of Defense continues to emphasize the “unrivaled capabilities” of the U.S.’ “most advanced” war machine. It’s also ensured that Lockheed Martin maintains peak production levels.

However, a declassified report has recently put America’s most expensive and ambitious weapon in a difficult position. Details that were previously kept confidential have emerged following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Project on Government Oversight. While Bloomberg has shared a preview, the full study is expected to be released on Thursday.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hasn’t hesitated to voice his criticism quickly.

F-35: A Project Under Ongoing Criticism

It’s been 18 years since the F-35 fighter jet first took to the skies, yet the Pentagon is still working to resolve persistent issues. According to the Operational Test and Evaluation report, “The overall reliability, maintainability and availability of the U.S. fleet remains below service expectations.” Key concerns include weapons installation, repair times, and cybersecurity.

According to the report, the fifth-generation fighter’s system for automatically diagnosing errors records one false positive every hour. While some margin of error is expected in any system, the issue is that engineers expected an incorrect diagnosis only every 50 hours. Additionally, repairs for the F-35 can take twice as long as planned. Compounding the problem, the 25 mm cannon on the Air Force variant has consistently failed to hit targets due to design and installation errors despite years of adjustments.

Bloomberg reports that some details about how the F-35 responds to cyberattacks have been withheld. This decision makes sense, considering that the F-35 is a weapon of war with tightly guarded information. However, the report indicates that the office overseeing the program has requested extensive testing to validate the fighter’s cyberdefense capabilities in realistic scenarios.

Meanwhile, Musk has been quick to criticize the F-35. The SpaceX CEO claims that problems began as early as the project’s conception, suggesting that the aircraft was designed with too many requirements and was unable to meet them all. “Success was never in the set of possible outcomes,” he said in an X post. He added that “manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones” and that the F-35 has “a shit design.”

Musk is known for his strong comments, but his words may now carry more significance. This is largely due to his position as one of President-elect Donald Trump’s closest allies and a leader of the future Department of Government Efficiency. The DOGE is an external organization that will aim to implement large-scale structural reforms in the government, primarily focusing on significantly reducing federal spending.

Image | Department of Defense [1, 2]

Related | One of China’s Best-Kept Secrets, Revealed: This Is the New J-35A Fighter, a Rival to America's F-35