Trump's acting defense secretary called F-35 fighter jet program 'f----d up'

[Celerity]

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/25/politics/pentagon-gao-patrick-shanahan-f-35/index.html

Washington (CNN)Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told investigators from the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General that he called the F-35 fighter jet program "f----d up," but made clear that he wasn't referring to the aircraft itself, which he said was "awesome," according to a Department of Defense report released Thursday.

Shanahan's comments were detailed as part of an ethics investigation by the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General into allegations he was promoting the interests of his former employer, Boeing, and repeatedly disparaging the company's competitor, Lockheed Martin, which is the primary contractor for the F-35 fighter jet.

Ultimately, Shanahan was cleared of any wrongdoing as investigators determined his "comments about the F-35 program were substantive, related to the program's performance, and were consistent with comments about the F-35 program made by other senior Government officials." But his troubling assessment of the state of the F-35 program, particularly his concern about the lack of spare aircraft parts, was only amplified by a separate report released Thursday from a federal watchdog group.

Nearly 30% of the US military's F-35 stealth fighter jets were unable to fly during a months-long period last year due to a shortage of spare parts, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

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[RockRaven]

1. He might be right, but would he ever say the same about a Boeing DOD program?

I doubt it.