WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley asked newly confirmed Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday about cost overruns and technical issues that have "plagued” the Pentagon’s high-priced F-35 fighter jet program.
The Department of Defense failed to keep adequate records on the program’s costs and installed parts that were not ready for use, according to reports from the Pentagon’s inspector general in March and June.
These shortfalls, Grassley said in a letter to Esper, have resulted in "financial waste and further delays to the mission readiness” of the plane and have "potentially jeopardized the lives” of pilots who fly the F-35.
The Pentagon’s Joint Program Office, which manages the F-35 program, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Lockheed Martin Corp, the lead contractor for the program, said in a statement that it "looks forward to partnering with” the Joint Program Office as the Pentagon adjusts procedures to address the reports.
The Lockheed parts installed by the Pentagon were not ready for installation because they lacked electronic records, the inspector general said in June. Defense Department employees instead turned to keeping manual records, the June report said.
Installing the parts inflated the flying time of "mission-ready” planes, and in turn inflated the incentive fees paid to Lockheed by the Defense Department for mission-ready flying hours, the June report said.
The Joint Program Office knew about the issue, but "did not take adequate steps” to resolve it, Grassley said, citing the June report.
An earlier report in March found the Pentagon "does not know the actual value” of government-purchased F-35 property because it failed to keep an independent record, leaving Lockheed and its subcontractor with the only record of the property, which Lockheed valued at $2.1 billion.
The Department of Defense has no mechanism to verify Lockheed’s record, the March report said.
As long as these issues remain, they will "continue hemorrhaging money” from the program and threaten the planes’ readiness and safety, Grassley noted.  
Meanwhile, reports by Israeli media suggest that the occupying regime pressured Washington behind the scenes to exclude Ankara from the F-35 fighter jet program in a bid to "preserve military qualitative edge”.
The reports said Tel Aviv fears that the sophisticated jets would give Turkey "advanced air capabilities”.
The occupying regime of Israel has signed an agreement with the U.S. to purchase 50 F-35 fighter jets. So far, it has taken delivery of 16 jets and the rest will be delivered by 2024.
 
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Bombs Rock Bangkok During Pompeo’s Visit
BANGKOK (AFP) — Several small bombs exploded across Bangkok on Friday, rattling the Thai capital as it hosted a regional summit attended by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and leaving three people wounded.
Thailand, which has a grim history of political violence, remains deeply divided after a controversial March election returned a Thai junta to power as a civilian government.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who led the junta, was told of "the bombing incidents and has ordered an immediate investigation,” Thai government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said.
 "Security measures have been tightened. The public is urged not to panic,” she added.
Small devices — believed to be so-called "ping pong bombs” around the size of a table tennis ball — exploded at several locations across the city. They appeared to be symbolic attacks aimed at embarrassing the government during the major summit but not designed to cause mass casualties.
"Three people received slight injuries from shrapnel,” said Renu Suesattaya, director of Suanluang district where the first bombs were reported.
"I received a report that they are ‘ping pong bombs’ hidden in bushes by the road.”
Two further explosions shattered glass near a well-known downtown skyscraper, emergency police added. Bomb disposal experts were deployed around the Mahanakorn Tower — owned by the King Power group that counts Leicester City football club among its assets.
At least three other blasts hit the area around a government complex, authorities said.
The bombings took place just before a keynote speech by Pompeo, who has joined the Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers meeting, in which he praised Thailand for rejoining the "democratic fold.”
Thailand’s government urged the media to avoid speculation on the motive for the bombings.
"We do not know yet how many people are involved,” deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwon told reporters, adding that "people who do it want to stir the situation.”
The blasts come weeks after former junta leader Prayut was inaugurated as a civilian prime minister, sparking outcry among many pro-democracy supporters in a kingdom scored by divisions.
The junta maneuvered itself back into power with the help of a fully appointed senate stacked with army loyalists and an electoral system its critics say was designed to limit the success of the pro-democracy parties.