While warning that “every weapons system has its own story,” Lawrence said three main factors contribute to the service-wide low rates of aircraft availability. Some of the lowest rates during that time period were among platforms undergoing “service life extension programs,” like the B-1, B-2, and F-15E. Here, “there is a need to prepare for a near-peer adversary,” Lawrence said. “It’s painful to take these aircraft off the front lines, but we know we’ve got to do it.” The F-22A Raptor also suffered a low availabilty rate at 46 percent, which Lawrence said was primarily caused by work on the aircraft’s stealthy low observable platform surfaces. Second, as the average age of the Air Force inventory increases, “the amount of time we have to spend working on those aircraft tends to increase,” leaving them in the depots longer. Third, aircraft availability has been impacted by “the
maintenance manpower shortfall.” The aircraft availability data were provided in a pre-hearing memo to the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee ahead of the March 22 hearing on the “current state of the Air Force.”
http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2017/March 2017/March 30 2017/The-Air-Force’s-Low-Aircraft-Availability-Rates.aspx
F-35:n valmiusasteeseen vaikuttaa vanhempien 2B-koneiden suuri määrä. 3F-koneilla valmiusaste on 70% luokkaa. Varaosaongelmaa pahentaa ongelmat ALIS:n kanssa, erityisesti false positive-vikailmoitusten määrä, sekä se, että osat lähetetään valmistajalle takaisin eikä niitä vielä korjata varikoilla. USAF ei ole myöskään rakentanut tarpeeksi varikko- ja korjauskapasiteettia F-35:lle.