Defense Management: DOD Needs to Monitor and Assess Corrective Actions Resulting from Its Corrosion Study of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

This report responds to House Report 111-166 to accompany the House bill (H.R. 2647) that later became the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. The House Report noted the House Armed Services Committee's concerns that the lessons learned regarding the prevention and management of corrosion in the F-22 Raptor had not been fully applied to the development and acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The House Report directed that the Director of Corrosion Policy and Oversight evaluate the F-35 program and submit a report to the defense committees within 180 days after the act was enacted. The Department of Defense (DOD) report was also to include implications for existing and future weapon systems based on the findings of the F-35 evaluation. DOD submitted its report to Congress in September 2010. House Report 111-166 also directed the Comptroller General to provide an assessment of the completeness of DOD's evaluation and submit a report to the defense committees within 60 days after the date on which DOD submits its evaluation. In assessing the completeness of DOD's corrosion study, our objectives were to determine the extent to which the study (1) assessed the incorporation of lessons learned from the F-22's corrosion problems into the F-35's corrosion prevention and control (CPC) program, (2) identified implications for other current and future weapon systems' CPC programs, and (3) was consistent with generally accepted research standards that define a sound and complete study with regard to design, execution, and presentation.