The Pentagon™s most expensive F-35 fighter jet program is expected to become even more pricey as costs spike nearly 7 percent to $406.5 billion. There is at least $27 billion in overruns, according to a draft of the Selected Acquisition Report to be submitted this week to Congress obtained by Bloomberg.
After years of declines, the report expects costs will hit $379 billion from a previous high of $398.5 billion in early 2014.
Experts have said plane prices are declining, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in April released a report that said œcascading F-35 testing delays could add more than $1 billion to the cost of the program.
Additional Marine Corps and Air Force F-35A models may also have contributed to the revised cost estimates.
President Donald Trump has tweeted about the costs of the program before, saying that they were “out of control” and taking credit for a price decrease of $728 million in February.
Comment from F-35 program spokesman Joe DellaVedova was not immediately available; the Joint Strike Fighter program office typically waits until the report is presented to Congress before commenting, Bloomberg reports.
