How informed Bloomberg, the head of the F-35 program, Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, said that only 50% of these fifth-generation multifunctional stealth fighter-bombers are ready for real combat.
In February, the average monthly mission readiness rate for the US fleet of more than 540 F-35s was 53.1%.
At the same time, Schmidt points out that some of the F-35s that entered the positive statistics can only perform part of the required tasks, such as combat and demonstration flights, training and testing.
“The share of aircraft capable of performing all their tasks was less than 30%,” the general noted.
