[Gen. Eric Fick] said that both mission capable rates (MC) and fully mission capable rates (FMC) have gotten better. (MC means what percentage of aircraft on the flightline can perform at least one of the F-35’s various missions, Fick explained, and FMC means what percentage can undertake all the missions their unit has assigned them.)
“We have been seeing increases both MC and FMC increases between 2019 and 2020. And they’re not insignificant,” Fick said. “Across the fleet, and we saw the average in 2019 go from 63.2% from an MC perspective to 68.5%.” Fleet FMC, he added, has gone from 33.5% to just shy of 37% — a number that he called “still unsatisfying,” but nonetheless one that is “moving in the right direction.”
Fick elaborated that those cross-fleet numbers hide a vast disparity among the services.
The Air Force is seeing the best readiness numbers, he said, with an MC of above 73%, and an FMC of above 54%. Those represent “10% jumps over last year.”
On the other hand, the Navy and the Marine Corps readiness rates are pretty dismal. “As a matter of fact, I think we step backwards just a little bit with the Navy this past year — from just over 59 to just under 59 percent from an MC perspective,” Fick said.
Fick and Lockheed Martin’s Greg Ulmer both reassured lawmakers that sustainment costs also are going in the right direction (i.e., down). Between 2019 and 2020, the F-35A’s cost per flying hour decreased by 10%, Fick said, from $37,000 per flight hour to $33,300 per flight hour in base year 2012 dollars.
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