The Lockheed Martin F-35A is in trouble again. The U.S. Air Force is openly considering more affordable alternatives, including a clean-sheet design for a new fourth-generation fighter.

A repair bottleneck, meanwhile, is choking the supply of engines, which threatens the operational fleet with groundings and restricted operations. And promised cost savings could still fall short of an ambitious target.

Access exclusive subscriber-only coverage as hundreds of orders by the Air Force for F-35As far into the future could be at risk, starting with the size of the President Joe Biden’s first budget request to Congress for fiscal 2022.

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