F-35 Jet Funding Is Running $1.4 Billion Short, Pentagon Tells Congress

  • Shortage disclosed in ‘unfunded priorities list’ to Congress
  • The wish list outlines $25 billion in programs short of funds

An F-35 jet flies during a training mission in Hill Air Force Base, Utah. 

Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg
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The Pentagon has found that it’s $1.4 billion short of funds for the next major contract to buy F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp., according to a new list of so-called unfunded priorities sent to Congress.

If more money isn’t found, the pending three-year contract, valued at as much as $30 billion, will yield fewer aircraft for the US’s costliest weapons program, which is now estimated at $412 billion.