Scandal? the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Claims His Colleagues Are Lying About the F-35's Problems

Dario Leone

Security, Americas

What happens now?

Furthermore Gilmore said that 276 F-35’s deficiencies remain unresolved.

Dr. J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, said in an internal memo (obtained by Bloomberg.com) to Frank Kendall, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, that a draft response to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who raised questions about the current status of the F-35 program, had contained misleading information.

John McCain, the U.S. Senator for Arizona, in a Nov. 3 letter to departing Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed his doubts about the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. Specifically McCain said he is very concerned about the aircraft continuous delays and cost overruns.

According to Bloomberg.com, in his Nov. 28 memo Gilmore says that the draft responses given to McCain “ignore acknowledged facts, are ambiguous and misleading and if signed and sent as-is” could “generate substantial issues with the Congress,” and that they should “be revised to provide clear, accurate and complete answers.”

In his memo Gilmore too raises doubts about F-35’s performance in key tests: a point of view that disagrees with Pentagon’s claims that the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is on course after earlier problems.