The Biden administration left the F-35 procurement plans for the financial year 2022 unchanged.
Under the administration of Donald Trump, the Pentagon planned to purchase 85 Lockheed Martin F-35 fifth-generation fighter jets through 2022.
The current administration left those plans unchanged, according to information obtained by Bloomberg.
The plan is set to cost American taxpayers $11 billion, a sum similar to the one dedicated to the procurement of the jet in both 2021 and 2020.
The decision comes after a number of pleas to curb its production due to ballooning costs. Proposals to increase the amount of aircraft purchased also failed, as in April 2021 the House Armed Services Committee Tactical Air and Land Forces and Readiness panel leaders called the ongoing program “a self-inflicted wound”.
The Lockheed Martin F-35, United States’ latest fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, has become the most expensive fighter jet program in the country’s history.
Although it has enjoyed relative success in foreign sales, its operational and unit costs have been widely criticized, leading to a sharp decrease in production plans.