F-35 Production Still Marred by Quality Woes, Pentagon Test Office Says

The annual public test report finding and its classified sections are likely to be scrutinized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Photographer: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images
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Lockheed Martin Corp. is still delivering F-35 fighter jet aircraft with quality defects after 13 years of production, according to the Pentagon test office’s annual weapons-evaluations report.

Quality defects from the production line “are still being discovered in the field,” the assessment found. In one case, a US Marine Corps squadron in California found defects with “a number of F-35C aircraft delivered” to the unit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, it said.