The Pentagon has blocked the public release of the Government Accountability Office's annual report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, marking the first time in more than two decades that the report has not been made publicly available.
According to the report, the document was designated as "Controlled Unclassified Information" with no current plans for public release.
The report said the F-35 program, produced by Lockheed Martin, has faced longstanding challenges involving engine deliveries, software modernization, rising costs, and aircraft readiness.
According to the report, the Pentagon declined to explain its decision to withhold the document.
The report also noted that the GAO recently found only about one in four F-35 aircraft to be fully mission capable and concluded that contractor incentive payments worth hundreds of millions of dollars since 2020 had not produced the expected improvements in performance.
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Pentagon bars release of GAO’s report on F-35 programhttps://t.co/RPYg6ekRkb
— The Hill (@thehill) July 15, 2026
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