Lockheed Martin may need to undertake an additional $38 billion engine overhaul for its F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation fighter jets over the coming decades. It is reported by Bloomberg with reference to the data of the US Accounts Chamber (Government Accountability Office, GAO).

It is noted that the problem arose in the F-35's "power and temperature management system", which redistributes the pressure generated by the engine, directing air flow to cool other components. The more air is directed to cooling, the power unit heats up there more.

“The cooling system is overloaded, forcing the engine to run outside of design parameters. The extra heat increases engine wear, shortens engine life, and increases maintenance costs by $38 billion,” GAO analysts wrote. The F-35 program office noted that these costs can be reduced with the Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) package, which will be implemented in the early 2030s.

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The Accounts Chamber concluded that the power system, based on requirements developed several years ago by subcontractor Lockheed Martin, cannot meet the cooling needs of the “increasingly complex aircraft avionics” and equipment that the F-35 will receive as part of the Block 4 upgrade. Therefore the cost of modernization increased by a billion dollars, to 16.5 billion. Initially, the Pentagon pledged $1.3 trillion for the operation and maintenance of the F-35 fleet for 77 years.

In April, Defense News wrote that deliveries of F-35 fighters in 2023 would be reduced due to delays in finalizing the Technology Refresh 3 (TR3) program.

In November 2022, GAO analysts named the cost of an hour of flight for the main combat aircraft of the United States. An hour of F-35 flight costs almost $42,000.