# Pentagon can't track $31 billion in F-35 parts

> The Defense Department owns 26 million F-35 stealth fighter parts worth $31 billion but struggles to account for them, a government watchdog found.
- Title: Pentagon can't track $31 billion in F-35 parts | Shortify
- Summary: The Defense Department owns 26 million F-35 stealth fighter parts worth $31 billion but struggles to account for them, a government watchdog found.
- Keywords: pentagon, f-35, government accountability office, inventory tracking, defense spending, military readiness, Business Insider
- Source: Business Insider — https://businessinsider.com/pentagon-f35-parts-inventory-tracking-problems-gao-report-2026-11
- Author: Chris Panella
- Published: 2026-11-09T21:08:35.368+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: pentagon, f-35, government accountability office, inventory tracking, defense spending, military readiness, business, technology
## Pentagon loses track of fighter parts
The US Department of Defense cannot reliably track F-35 stealth fighter parts, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.
## Massive inventory problem identified
As of March 2026, the F-35 Joint Program Office did not know the status of over one million parts worth over eighty-five million dollars that the GAO had flagged in 2023.
## Scale of the parts stockpile
The Pentagon owns roughly twenty-six million F-35 parts worth an estimated thirty-one billion dollars, spread across over seven hundred government and contractor-managed facilities.
## System failures at the root
The Enterprise Logistics Management System is unreliable because it pulls data from multiple sources and isn't updated for real-time changes. It cannot connect directly to contractor systems.
## Missing maintenance records
As of March 2026, roughly seventeen thousand parts worth about one point three billion dollars undergoing maintenance or repair were not entered into the official system.
## Spending without results
Since 2020, the F-35 Joint Program Office spent at least seventeen million dollars conducting physical inventories at contractor and government facilities, but problems persist.
## Readiness already declining
The mission-capable rate for F-35 aircraft fell from sixty-seven percent to forty-four percent between fiscal years 2021 and 2025. The full mission-capable rate dropped from thirty-eight percent to twenty-five percent.
## Pentagon commits to fixing tracking
The Department of Defense concurred with GAO recommendations and is developing program-specific procedures and training for Accountable Property Officers to improve parts accountability.

> The JPO is actively developing program-specific procedures and tailored training for Accountable Property Officers, alongside a detailed plan to define and structure the APO program.
## Key takeaway

The Pentagon cannot reliably track F-35 parts worth $31 billion across 700 facilities, the Government Accountability Office reported, hampering military readiness.