F-35’s $31 Billion Parts Pool Still Has One Million Parts Unfound

The Pentagon manages roughly 26 million F-35 spare parts valued at about $31 billion, yet it still cannot produce a complete, real-time account of that property. More than one million parts previously valued at $85 million remained unfound as of March 2026, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Nov. 9.

The unresolved losses are the clearest symptom of a wider logistics-control problem. Records are frequently inaccurate or incomplete, contractor databases do not connect directly to the government’s main logistics system, and some information arrives only quarterly. The result is an inventory picture that may already be more than three months old when officials use it.

A shared pool increases the tracking burden

The F-35 supply model is unusually broad. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps share a worldwide pool of government-owned parts with international partners and customers. That inventory ranges from complete engines and support equipment to tires, bolts and screws.

Pooling parts can help operators move equipment where it is needed rather than maintaining entirely separate national inventories. It also creates a demanding property-management problem: the government must know each item’s location, condition, value and responsible custodian while parts move among military sites, prime contractors, lower-tier suppliers and repair facilities.

That visibility is incomplete. Property-management systems used by F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin and engine maker Pratt & Whitney do not interface directly with the government’s Enterprise Logistics Management System. The F-35 Joint Program Office instead imports information from several tracking sources. One source updates quarterly, preventing the government record from functioning as a live operational inventory.

The age of the data is only one limitation. GAO found uncertainty over parts held by lower-tier contractors, incomplete treatment of components in transit and gaps involving equipment undergoing maintenance or repair. Program officials also told auditors that the $31 billion estimate probably understates the pool’s value because some property is excluded from the official tally or is itself missing.

Physical counts have not established a reliable baseline

A physical inventory should provide the reference point needed to correct weak database records. Since fiscal 2020, however, the Joint Program Office has spent at least $17 million conducting inventories at government- and contractor-managed facilities without producing a fully reliable count.

Auditors cited poor underlying records, parts moving between locations and uncertainty about property held by sub-subcontractors. Those conditions make a count more complicated than checking objects on warehouse shelves. If an item is in transit, at a repair station or recorded under an incomplete identifier, the physical count and database can disagree even when the property still exists.

The more than one million unresolved parts illustrate that distinction. “Lost” property reporting can cover items that were damaged or destroyed as well as equipment that cannot be located, so the figure is not a finding that every item was stolen. The control failure is that the program still could not establish the status of the parts identified in 2023 or determine the full extent of its losses.

That uncertainty affects both public accounting and fleet support. Without dependable location, quantity and condition data, managers have a weaker basis for deciding which components are available, what needs repair and what must be purchased. Taxpayers can consequently fund inventories and new spares while the government remains unable to verify all the property it already owns.

GAO also linked the F-35 record problems to the Defense Department’s continued inability to pass its financial audits. Weak loss monitoring reduces the program’s ability to identify patterns and detect fraud, waste or theft, although the unresolved inventory itself is not evidence that any of those occurred.

The fix requires connected systems and accountable people

GAO recommended effective procedures for monitoring reported losses, clearer responsibilities for accountable property officers, program-specific training and methods for valuing missing items when cost information is unavailable. The Joint Program Office agreed with the recommendations.

The office said it is developing tailored procedures and training while establishing direct, real-time connections between government and prime-contractor systems. That technical integration could remove the quarterly lag, but a live connection will only be useful if incoming records contain accurate identifiers, locations, values and status information.

Lockheed Martin said it is working with the program office, military services, international customers and suppliers to improve parts availability, repair turnaround times and supply-chain performance. The company also said it has invested more than $2 billion in advance funding for spare parts to support fleet readiness.

Additional inventory spending raises the importance of establishing a trustworthy baseline first. The Defense Contract Audit Agency is working with the Joint Program Office on a fuller inventory targeted for completion in March 2027. That count will be a concrete test of whether the program can turn disconnected contractor records into an authoritative account of a $31 billion global parts pool.

By David Whitaker — Associate editor for AMI’s aerospace and drone systems desk, translating flight systems, aircraft programs, spaceflight, and UAV developments into accessible technical stories.