For Immediate Release:
August 13, 2024

Contact: Gabe Murphy
gabe@taxpayer.net

Washington, D.C. – Taxpayers for Common Sense today released a report titled, “Trouble on the Horizon: Pitfalls of the Sixth-Generation Fighter Aircraft.” The report assesses Air Force and Navy plans to develop sixth-generation aircraft as well as autonomous drone wingmen known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs). It then weighs those plans against lessons learned from the calamitous F-35 program. It finds that the Air Force and Navy, while taking some steps to avoid past mistakes, are on track to repeat many of the mistakes of the F-35 program, and risk making entirely new mistakes.

“The F-35 is years behind schedule, $1.4 trillion over budget, and only fully operational about 30 percent of the time,” said Taxpayers for Common Sense President Steve Ellis, referring to the F-35’s abysmal full mission capable rate. “And now they want to build 6^th-generation fighters at $300 million apiece? We have some concerns.”

The report finds that Pentagon officials are not going far enough to avoid the mistakes of the F-35. For instance, it highlights concurrency (overlap between design and production) as a source of major schedule delays and cost overruns for the F-35, and notes that the Air Force has simply promised that concurrency for the sixth-generation fighter will happen “in a rational way, that doesn’t take excessive risk.” The report also questions the strategic rationale for the programs, highlighting that other options may exist for meeting our national security needs.

“It’s clear that the Air Force and Navy are trying to avoid past mistakes, but it’s far from clear if they’re going to succeed. ‘Trust us’ isn’t going to cut it this time,” said Ellis. “Congress needs to assert itself early on to ensure we don’t end up with another multi-trillion-dollar heap of metal that doesn’t deliver for the American people.”

The report recommends that Congress require the Air Force and Navy to conduct analyses of alternatives including unmanned options and broader alternatives to the sixth-generation fighter, and that lawmakers pause funding for the sixth-generation fighter programs pending the results of those analyses. It also recommends Congress require a high level of design completion prior to funding procurement for these programs, and a plan to avoid duplicative spending on Air Force and Navy programs for interoperable collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs). Lastly, it recommends Congress require a report on current regulations and procedures for governing the use of autonomous weapons in conflict, as well as cybersecurity risks associated with autonomous weapons platforms including CCAs.

“The F-35 taught us that racing to production can backfire spectacularly,” continued Ellis. “Pausing these programs pending a thorough review is well worth the wait. If the sixth-generation fighter can’t stand up to scrutiny, the Pentagon shouldn’t ask taxpayers to pay for it.”

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Taxpayers for Common Sense is a nonpartisan budget watchdog calling out wasteful spending and advocating for transparency.