Cost, Reliability Issues With Fighter Aircraft Program Plague Pratt

Even after four years of building Joint Strike Fighter prototypes, Pratt & Whitney is having problems managing the suppliers who provide 80 percent of the engine's parts, Government Accountability Office auditors say, creating a need for "substantial improvements in the global supply network."

Because Canada, Australia, Turkey and five European countries have agreed to both buy fighter planes and fund the technology's development, each country has companies contributing to both the engines and the planes, built by Lockheed Martin.

The GAO noted that the planes are failing more frequently than expected in testing — managing just 1 hour, 50 minutes between failures in the Air Force version, and 25 minutes in the Marine Corps version, known as STOVL, for short take off and vertical landing.

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