Pentagon blocks GAO report on F-35 jet program

The Department of War this week blocked the release of a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the F-35 jet program, drawing scrutiny from critics of the program.

The F-35 program has been mired in cost overruns and technical failures for years. The GAO report on the program was blocked from public release, Bloomberg reported. The GAO, moreover, confirmed to The Hill that the report contained information flagged by the Pentagon and would not be released to the public.

GAO was reportedly critical of efforts to put the program on track and suggested that increased funding to incentivize contractors to improve had not yielded results.

Industry analysts reacted skeptically to the news of the report being stifled. The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft's Ben Freeman, for instance, suggested that keeping the report private signaled the presence of greater issues within the program.

"What is the Pentagon trying to hide about the most expensive weapons program in history?" he said. "By not publicly releasing this report, you're throwing up a giant red flag that something is seriously wrong with the F-35."

The F-35 Lightning II has been in production since 2006 and is operated by the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and many NATO members.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.