Tactical Aircraft: Operation and Maintenance Spending Varies by System, and Availability Generally Does Not Meet Service Goals
Fast Facts
U.S. fighter and ground attack airplanes are known as "tactical aircraft." This Q&A report looks at their availability for missions and the funding used to keep them flying.
Mission capable rates—the percentage of total time when aircraft can fly and perform at least one mission—are used to assess fleet readiness.
The military services generally haven't met mission capable rate goals for tactical aircraft for several years. Our prior work attributes this to numerous factors, such as aging aircraft and maintenance challenges.
The Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force spent about $57.2 billion to operate and sustain these aircraft from FY 2018-2023.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Department of Defense (DOD) spends billions of operation and maintenance (O&M) funds annually to operate and maintain its tactical aircraft, such as the F-35, F-16, and F/A-18. The O&M funds are used to buy spare parts for and conduct maintenance on the tactical aircraft so that these aircraft are able to achieve readiness goals, such as mission capable rate goals for aircraft. Mission capable rates—the percentage of total time when the aircraft can fly and perform at least one mission—are used to assess the health and readiness of an aircraft fleet. GAO found that:
- The departments of the Navy and Air Force have detailed processes for developing their tactical aircraft requests for their O&M funding that involve various organizations and levels of review over multiple months.
- Though variations exist on an annual basis, service execution of O&M funding for tactical aircraft was generally consistent with the military services' requested funding for fiscal years 2018 through 2023. From fiscal years 2018 through 2023, the Air Force and Navy generally executed slightly more O&M funding than requested for tactical aircraft sustainment, while the Marine Corps executed less.
- During the same time period, the mission capable rates for all Navy and Marine Corps tactical aircraft (AV-8B, EA-18G, F/A-18/A-D, F/A-18E/F, F-35B, and F-35C) in our review increased, while rates for all Air Force tactical aircraft (A-10, F-15/C-E, F-16C/D, F-22, and F-35A) decreased.
- Tactical aircraft mission capable rates have generally not met DOD goals for several years. GAO's prior work and agency officials attribute this shortage to numerous interrelated, complex factors, such as aging aircraft, maintenance challenges, and supply support issues.
Why GAO Did This Study
Fixed-wing fighter and attack planes, referred to as tactical aircraft, are piloted aircraft that provide air-to-air, air-to-ground, and electronic warfare capabilities. The Air Force and Navy (including the Marine Corps) are responsible for sustaining these aircraft to meet mission capable rate goals. The availability of these aircraft are vital to the success of DOD combat operations and homeland defense.
House Report 117-397, accompanying a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, includes a provision for GAO to review O&M funding and readiness for fighter aircraft. This report provides information on how the Navy (which includes the Marine Corps) and Air Force develop their O&M funding requirements for active-duty tactical aircraft; the amount of O&M funds used during fiscal years 2018 through 2023; and any association of trends in O&M funding with mission capable rates.
Recommendations
GAO did not make any recommendations in this report. GAO has previously recommended that:
- The Air Force and Navy develop mitigation plans with specific milestones to remedy maintenance challenges;
- Congress consider amending section 4323 of Title 10, U.S. Code, to require the Air Force and Navy to submit to those mitigation plans to Congress; and
- DOD reassess F-35 sustainment to determine government and contractor responsibility, identify required technical data, and make final decisions on sustainment changes.