Researchers at the Romanian cybersecurity firm Bitdefender have revealed that they have found malware that has been spying on and stealing from Android users since 2016.

Researchers at the Romanian cybersecurity firm Bitdefender have revealed that they have found malware that has been spying on and stealing from Android users since 2016. Bitdefender, which describes itself as a global leader in cybersecurity, said that the malware, known as Mandrake, had remained undetected due to its precise targeting of users.
The hackers hid the malware in applications in the Google Play Store, such as OfficeScanner, Abfix, Currency XE Converter, SnapTune Vid, CoinCast, Horoskope, and Car News. The cybercriminals worked meticulously, as not only did they set up websites and accounts on social media for these apps, but they also responded to users’ feedback and fixed glitches in them.
The hackers used a three-stage process to infect devices.
After Core was downloaded to the device the hackers were given unlimited power, allowing them to extract SMS messages, send SMS messages to certain numbers, steal contact list information and financial credentials, install/uninstall apps, and conduct phishing attacks for shopping and financial applications, including cryptocurrency wallets, Amazon, and Paypal.
After stealing a target’s data, or if the victim didn’t have anything of value, the hackers would launch a command called “seppuku” (a Japanese form of suicide) that initiated a reset to factory settings, which would delete the malware itself.
The researchers at Bitdefender say there were two waves of infection: one between 2016 and 2017 and the other between 2018 and 2020. "We presume that the number of victims is in the count of tens of thousands, but we don’t know how many for sure", said Bogdan Botezatu, director of threat research and reporting at Bitdefender, told The Register.
For some reason, the hackers targeted people from developed countries – Australia, Canada, European Union members, and the United States, but ignored people from low-income countries like the former Soviet republics, countries in Africa, and some Arab-speaking nations. In all, the cybercriminals "spared" users from 90 countries. Bitdefender didn’t say where hackers come from.
The firm noted that the malware is still present and has the potential to expand its radius.

Will Obama and Biden go to jail for 50years over the Michael fynn case!!

Biden and Obama knew about the FBI seeking to investigate the incoming National Security adviser, and the former submitted a formal “unmasking” request for all intelligence agency information held on Flynn.
Donald Trump demanded Sunday morning former President Barack Obama and his deputy Joe Biden go to jail for their involvement in the witch hunt against Michael Flynn.
Speaking to Fox Business, he dubbed the targeting of his former national security adviser “the greatest political crime in the history of our country”.
“If I were a Democrat instead of a Republican, I think everybody would have been in jail a long time ago, and I'm talking with 50 year sentences. It’s a disgrace what's happened this is the greatest political scam, hoax in the history of our country. And people should be going to jail for this stuff and hopefully, a lot of people are going to have to pay,” the President fulminated.
Trump went on to celebrate the case against Flynn being dropped, calling him a “hero” for fighting the charges, and saying it was “all Obama…all Biden” behind the legal effort.
“These people were corrupt the whole thing was corrupt, and we caught them. I watched Biden yesterday – could barely speak, and he said he didn't know anything about it and now, it just gets released right after he said that – it gets released he was one of the unmaskers meaning he knew everything about it. He lied to your friend George Stephanopoulos,” Trump claimed, in reference to the Democratic presidential nominee’s Fox interview a day prior.
Trump also used the interview to discuss the US federal response to coronavirus, and alleging shutting down the country in the midst of the outbreak had in itself caused deaths.
“People are dying this way too. They're dying with this closure, with this shutdown of the country. In their house, in their apartment. Some people are too tough on it. They can't leave their house,” he said.
Original Flynn
Flynn’s one of few Trump associates convicted as part of US state investigations into an alleged conspiracy between the US president and Russia, which while dominating news headlines for over two years failed to establish a link of any kind between Trump and Moscow.
The Justice Department decided to drop its case against Flynn 7 May, a big victory for the President given he’d long-argued Obama's White House had gone after Flynn in a bid to damage the incoming administration.
The end of Flynn's three-year legal battle followed the release of FBI communications which showed the Bureau leadership discussed  whether they should "get [Flynn] to lie" or "get him fired" before interviewing him. It’s also been revealed the operation targeting Flynn found no evidence implicating the general in "colluding" with Russia and would’ve been closed if then-FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, later fired for anti-Trump text messages, hadn’t intervened to keep the case open.

There was another massacre of citizens in ituri this ended weekend

The province of Ituri in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was on Sunday the scene of a new killing of at least 20 civilians, in addition to the nearly 1.000 victims and tens of thousands of moved since December 2017.
Men, women and children were massacred in the middle of the night with diffétentes weapons, including machetes, by the attackers in this province where some of the leaders denounce the indifference of Kinshasa authorities 2.000 km away.
"We are currently recording 20 people killed and 17 others injured, some of whom have been admitted to hospital", said to an AFP correspondent, Adel Alingi.
Another source in the local government is making a record of 22 victims, including "eight men, seven women, the others are children".
"The victims are of all ages, children, young, women and old people, killed with machete, knife, with guns", says a custom leader, Pilo Mulindro, joined by AFP correspondent.
A photo of children cut to pieces has been circulating several times on Twitter.
At least 274 people have been massacred and another 200.000 have fled the violence since the beginning of the year, estimated the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 8 May.
On 10 January, a joint report of the United Nations Mission in the Congo (monusco) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had at least 701 people killed since the end of 2017.
"We were able to confirm crimes against humanity", said High Commissioner for Human Rights Michèle Bachelet visiting Ituri on 23 January.
The killing is awarded to a religious-religious militia, the Co-op for the Development of Congo (Codeco).
- "Terrorist and genocidal acts" -
The claims to defend the interests of a community, the Lendu, mostly farmers. The victims are mostly members of the Hema community, mainly farmers and merchants.
This is what happened on Sunday: the militiamen attacked a Hema chiefdom, detailed the admin of the territory. The attackers came from a Lendu territory, said a source of civil society, Charity Charity.
The violence takes place in the territory of Djugu, where the villages and lands of both communities are intertwined in each other.
" We have pursued these out ", provides a spokesperson for the Congolese army, who denounces the " terrorist and genocidal acts " of the Codeco.
" This is a militia from the civil population. They retire to their community " after their killing adds this spokesperson, Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, joined by AFP.
"No army in the world can be everywhere in an area like Djugu", he says by asking the people to collaborate with the army through alert systems. The territory of Djugu covers just over 8.000 km2
Two United Nations battalions are also present in Ituri province. They were reinforced by "special reserve forces", said the on 28 April.
"The mission of these Blue Helmets is to support the Congolese police and the Congolese army to secure the people of several bodies who are victims of the abuse of the militiamen", said the.
The Blue Helmets are patrolling and evacuated injured Congolese soldiers last week.
This week, Ituri parliamentarians met with the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate to ask them about the security situation in their province.
Between 1999 and 2003, tens of thousands of people had been killed in Ituri in a conflict between Hema and Lendu militias.
The violence resumed at the end of 2017. Contrary to the war of 1999-2003, the Hema community did not reconstituted militias to respond to the violence caused by Codeco.
The Hema community "in its majority, has so far refrained from reprisals", had stressed the High Commissioner for Human Rights during her visit in January.
Recently out of prison after serving his sentence by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a former active war leader in Ituri, Thomas Lubanga, called his " brothers " of the Codeco " to stop their criminal business ".
THis is what Mukwege has said on these killings!

Dr. Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize 2018 condemned this Sunday, May 17, the new killing recorded the day before in several cities in Ituri, especially the death of at least 18 people in the village Jisa-Wada in Buku group in the territory of Djugu.
It was on his twitter account that the famous Congolese gynecologist spoke. He believes that the free world should be ashamed of these massacres that have been going on in the country for years.
As in the case of the anniversary of the of massacre in the plain of the (South Kivu), Mukwege calls to " dig up " the United Nations mapping report that traces massacres in the East and their authors who are " known and protected ".
" The free world, born after 1945, should be ashamed of the massacres that have been taking place in the DRC for more than 2 decades. Criminals are known and protected. The mapping report needs to be dug up to end this scandal calls Denis Mukwege.
It should be noted that several civilians were killed by militiamen on Saturday night at this ended week, May 17th in Djugu.
The president of the civil society of the territory of Djugu, who confided in the local press, was talking about at least 18 people killed and about ten of the wounded. A record he still called a temporary.
In an interview with Laprunellerdc. info, this Sunday, the army spokesperson in Ituri, is talking more about a "cowardly" attack of militiamen against civilians because, unable to cope with the army.
Jules Ngongo, presents his compassions to the families of the new victims of this killing.

The army repeats its commitment to do everything to be everywhere in order to protect the population. To achieve this, it calls on the population to continue working with them so that the "satanic" projects of the militiamen are quickly suffocated and suffocated.

Experts of the security barometer of KIVU comfirmed that Rwandan army carried out an attack against Rwandan Hutu rebel groups in Eastern DRC thus contradicting Kigali's denial of it's presence in DRC

The Rwandan army carried out an attacks against Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in April, said the experts of the Security Barometer of Kivu, contradicting the official denial of Kigali.
The Rwandan military " attacked " on 13 April the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) " in the villages of Marangara, Kanyeru and Kazaroho in of territory " in North Kivu province, said monthly report by the security barometer of Kivu.
The Rwandan army "removed" FDLR from these villages, added the KST, a project born of cooperation between the Congo Study Group (GEC) attached to the University of New York and the American NGO Human Rights Watch ..
"During this clash, 105 houses were burned", according to the KST, which is based on a very large network of key informants in both Kivu.
This monthly report notes that on 18 April, FDLR " ambushed a convoy " of the Congolese army and the Rwandan army " near the village of Kasali in Rutshuru territory ".Two rebels, four Rwandan military and nine Congolese military were killed in this clash.
FDLR is a group of Rwandan Hutu rebels refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some founders in the early 2000 s participated in the genocide in 1994 in Rwanda. Their Chief Sylvestre Mudacumura was killed in North Kivu in September 2019.
" The government of the DRC knows that there is no (Rwandan) soldier in the eastern DRC. You can believe me, there are no RDF soldier (Rwandan Defense Forces) in this part of the world ", said Rwandan President Paul Kagame at a press conference on 27 April in Kigali.
On 24 April, 17 people including 12 Congolese Rangers were killed in an ambush near Virunga Park HQ near Goma, North Kivu province.
The management of the park and Congolese security officials then accused " FDLR-FOCA armed group " of being " the author of this killing ".
In a statement, FDLR had denied and rejected responsibility on the Rwandan army.
For almost three decades, the Congolese army has been fighting armed groups in the eastern part of the country, the border of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
The DRC has on several occassions accused Rwanda of wanting to destabilize it, while the country sees the DRC as a rear base of militias hostile to Kigali, including FDLR.

Former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan to spill the beans on the Trump-Russia probe

Speaking to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Brennan said he felt “very good” that while at the CIA, and serving for the Barack Obama administration, he was “not engaged in any type of wrongdoing or activities” that caused him to “worry about what this investigation may uncover”.
Former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan has revealed he’s yet to be interviewed by John Durham, the federal prosecutor investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia probe - although he claims he’s willing and able to do so as he’s “nothing to hide”.
“I’ve not yet been interviewed by any of those individuals involved in this matter, but I’m willing to do so because I do believe that for too long, the American public have been misled by Donald Trump, by William Barr and others,” he said to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 16, 2020
Durham, US attorney for Connecticut, has been investigating the intelligence community’s investigations and surveillance of associates of Donald Trump 2016 - 2017, and reportedly taking a keen interest in Brennan’s activities, subpoenaing his emails, call logs and other documents in order to determine what he told other intelligence officials, including former FBI director James Comey, about potential Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Durham is also examining whether Brennan privately contradicted various public statements, including his May 2017 testimony to Congress, about whether there was debate among intelligence agencies over Russian interference.
It’s become clear officials who worked on the official Intelligence Community Assessment that concluded the Kremlin did indeed interference in the Presidential vote disagreed fundamentally on whether the Russian state actually wanted to assist Trump win, and whether the salacious contents of ‘Trump-Russia’ dossier compiled by former MI6 operative Christopher Steele, which was funded by the Democratic party, were remotely credible.
Adding fuel to the fire, on 13th May a list of Obama administration officials who submitted ‘unmasking’ requests for information on national security adviser Michael Flynn was released. Among the names are then-Vice President Joe Biden, Comey, Brennan and James Clapper. Denis McDonough, who served as chief of staff to President Obama, also submitted a request on Jan. 5, 2017, the documents show.
#FLYNN unmasking docs include these key details “Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA's standard process..While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information." pic.twitter.com/vz9W3uHPSz
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020
Unmasking refers to the process by which high-level US government officials request information regarding US citizens mentioned in classified foreign intelligence reports. A flurry of requests were submitted in mid-December 2016, the records show.
Brennan has defended making these requests on the basis he and other Obama administration officials were “carrying out our responsibilities”, and claims he’s in the President’s “crosshairs” for speaking out against “the corruption, the incompetence, the mischaracterizations [Trump] and individuals around him have made to the American public”.
Durham is also investigating some of areas also probed in the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which found the Bureau made 17 “significant” errors and omissions in applications for surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Many of the omissions centered on the Steele dossier - the Inspector General report said FBI investigators withheld information that undercut the theory Page and other Trump aides were working with the Kremlin.

On 15/05/2020 ,the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) asserted that even though seasonal change in Somalia has prevented the force from carrying out airstrikes against al-Shabaab targets, the US military force remains committed to its support of the country’s government against the militants.

On 15/05/2020 ,the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) asserted that even though seasonal change in Somalia has prevented the force from carrying out airstrikes against al-Shabaab targets, the US military force remains committed to its support of the country’s government against the militants.
Stars and Stripes on Thursday called attention to what is now AFRICOM’s five-week break from airstrikes in Somalia - the longest hiatus in air-based attacks from the force in over a year.
Despite a pause in reported airstrikes since the
April 10 strike against an al-Shabaab terrorist in Jamaame, Somalia, the military force has not ceased additional operations in and around the region, AFRICOM spokesperson Col. Chris Karns insisted.
“With the rainy season there can be shifts in al-Shabaab and broader activity,” the AFRICOM spokesperson claimed. “There is always effort, not always opportunity to conduct airstrikes. There is certainly no pause.”
According to recent numbers from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia, 24 people have been killed and an estimated 283,000 have been displaced following heavy rains in the country triggered by the warming Indian Ocean.
AFRICOM managed to conduct a total of 40 airstrikes in Somalia within the first four months of 2020 - a significant increase after only 63 airstrikes were conducted in 2019.
The frequency of airstrikes against militants in Somalia began to increase following al-Shabaab’s January 5 attack on Kenyan and American troops at the Kenyan Defense Force Military Base in Manda Bay.
During its five-week halt on airstrikes, the US released its first quarterly casualties report and
confessed to killing two Somali civilians and injuring at least three more in a single airstrike.
“While we follow very precise and rigorous standards, in instances where we fail to meet our expectations, we will admit the mistake,” AFRICOM Commander US Army Gen. Stephen Townsend said in the report.
“Regrettably two civilians were killed and three others injured in a February 2019 airstrike. We have the highest respect for our Somali friends, and we are deeply sorry this occurred.”
The authenticity of AFRICOM’s reporting on civilian casualties in Somalia has previously been brought into question by human rights organization Amnesty International.
More recently, AFRICOM has been providing COVID-19 novel coronavirus-related humanitarian assistance to countries in Africa grappling with the highly contagious disease.
The command, in conjunction with the US Embassy in Mauritius and Seychelles, provided the Seychelles Department of Health with 2,900 KN95 masks and 200 face shields on April 28. Likewise, on April 20, the Mauritius Ministry of Health and Wellness received 2,000 N95 masks, 21,000 pairs of gloves and additional personal protective equipment.
In addition to the flooding, COVID-19 pandemic and airstrikes, Somalians are also experiencing food insecurity brought about by waves of voracious desert locusts that have found the recent moist conditions extremely favorable .

The American military's newest weapons system, the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW), will be delivered to US special operations ground forces

A previous addition to the American special operations forces' arsenal, the XM25 air-burst system, failed to generate much love from soldiers due to it being heavy and unreliable. The new weapons system, however, has been developed with their direct participation.
The American military's newest weapons system, the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW), will be delivered to US special operations ground forces, such as the Green Berets or Army Rangers, once its development is complete, Joel Babbitt, a representative from the Programme Executive Officer Special Operations Forces Warrior shared in an interview with the website Military.com.
"We are an enthusiastic supporter of the Army's 6.8mm Next Generation Squad Weapons. We expect there will be Next Generation Squad Weapons in our formations as soon as we can receive them via fielding", he said.
NGSW prototypes have already been developed by four different contractors and are currently being evaluated by the military, who will pick one manufacturer for the entire weapons system. The latter will include an NGSW-based rifle, which will replace the Army's M4A1 carbine, and an NGSW-based automatic rifle to replace the M249 light machine gun. It's unclear if a separate NGSW-based LMG will be developed as currently, the Army is content with the automatic rifle's performance, Babbitt noted.
The RM277 - General Dynamics' new bullpup offering for US Army's NGSW program. GD in collaboration with True Velocity is also offering 6.8mm polymer-cased ammo for 30-40% weight reduction for the ammo. Other companies competing in NGSW are SIG Sauer and Textron Systems.
Unlike another addition to the military's arsenal, the XM25 air-burst system, NGSW have been developed in concert with representatives of the armed forces. The XM25 was received coldly by special forces due to it being too heavy to carry and was eventually discarded for being unreliable.
High-Tech Weapons System
NGSW items, which are expected to hit the Army shelves around 2023, will feature a long list of improvements, compared to existing weapons systems . It will be based on a unified lightweight 6.8 mm ammunition, which is expected to outperform the 5.56 mm ammo in terms of range and lethality.
The weapons themselves will also be lightweight, allowing soldiers to carry more ammo and supplies on missions, while featuring higher precision and better ergonomics than their predecessors. In addition, the NGSW guns will have a reduced acoustic and flash signature thus making soldiers using them less detectable to enemies.
The new weapons system will also have capabilities for further modernisations, such as installing gadgets to calculate bullet ballistics, intelligent targeting, and even tracking enemies on the battlefield.

FARDC take position on borders with Zambia

The Rapid Reaction Units of the 22th Brigade and the 22th FARDC Naval Group are deployed on the border locations of the DRC at the border of Zambia. The news is confirmed by Didier Mumbere, the admin of the territory of Moba, in the province of Tanganyika, says
radiookapi.net.
At a press conference held on Wednesday 13 May in Tanganyika, Didier Mumbere assured that FARDC have chosen to maintain their presence in all border communities with Zambia.
Since the beginning of their deployment in April, FARDC has continued to take a stand in almost all border villages with Zambia. " We are deploying military, strengthening total security at the level of our Congolese and Congolese border limits, deployed the military at the level of Moliro, and at Kalubamba, Libondwe, Kibanga, even to, to and in Musosa, even Kabondwe on the side of Pweto, that our population cannot live (with) fear in the belly ", said Didier Mumbere.
Beyond the of group, FARDC deployed throughout the border with Zambia, including the Kapingu village, which had also been invaded by the Zambian security forces in 2007, says Didier Mumbere.
HARARE TO HELP IN SOLVING THE Crisis
The DRC approached Zimbabwe President Mnangagwa to referee his long-standing border dispute with Zambia. DRC Special sent, Marie Nzeza, met on Monday with Zimbabwe President Emerson Mnangagwa at State House to inform him of the situation. Chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mnangagwa said after the meeting that the two countries would support SADC's intervention on this issue. "A special sent from my brother Tshisekedi from the rd Congo has informed me of the situation in rd Congo, especially in connection with the current pandemic-19 pandemic and how they deal with it".
"There is also the security situation where the DR Congo and Zambia want the Defense and Political Body to consider a small case that exists between the Republic of Zambia and the DR Congo", he said.
The border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia includes, inter alia, the panhandle of the Katanga boot. Kasumbalesa is one of the main crossing of the border (road and rail), on the road between Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kitwe and Ndola in Zambia.
The DR Congo and Zambia had misunderstandings over part of their 80. km common border, the last one from an attempt to define the border with tags in the late 1 s.
In its eastern part, the border is embodied in the Lwapula River and then Lake Moero. To the west, it almost coincides with the water-sharing line between the Congo-Lualaba basin in the north, and that of the Zambezi to the south.
As all countries fight to contain the progress of the Covid-19 on their territory, a border conflict between the two countries will only make it more difficult for people, as is already the case of the inhabitants of of , who had to desert their homes to get safe.

Army announcesArmy announces the identification of military and senior officers in Butembo

The General Staff, command of the 3310th Regiment of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an official statement reached 7,. CD this Friday, May 2020, 15, announced the identification of the military and senior officers who are based in different areas of the commercial city of Butembo (North Kivu).
The Congolese army calls on the inhabitants of Butembo to provide, in their immediate environment, the address of "all military and senior officer" resident in the city for identification by the specialized services.
"The heads of cells, heads of neighborhoods and civil society of the communes are asked to collect all this information and send it to us through the channel of the mayors of the communes for centralization", says Lieutenant Colonel Ombeni Murengisi, Commander of FARDC-Butembo.
It should also be mentioned that several military positions are already installed in different remote areas of Butembo. This, with a view to dealing with insecurity (Kasuku phenomenon, Ndlr) in the r in Butembo
15/05/2020
The General Staff, command of the 3310th Regiment of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an official statement reached 7,. CD this Friday, May 2020, 15, announced the identification of the military and senior officers who are based in different areas of the commercial city of Butembo (North Kivu).
The Congolese army calls on the inhabitants of Butembo to provide, in their immediate environment, the address of "all military and senior officer" resident in the city for identification by the specialized services.
"The heads of cells, heads of neighborhoods and civil society of the communes are asked to collect all this information and send it to us through the channel of the mayors of the communes for centralization", says Lieutenant Colonel Ombeni Murengisi, Commander of FARDC-Butembo.
It should also be mentioned that several military positions are already installed in different remote areas of Butembo. This, with a view to dealing with insecurity (Kasuku phenomenon, Ndlr) in the region.

Ankara was unceremoniously booted out of the F-35 fighter programme in July 2019 after refusing to give up on its Russian-made S-400 air defence systems

Ankara was unceremoniously booted out of the F-35 fighter programme in July 2019 after refusing to give up on its Russian-made S-400 air defence systems. The Pentagon claims the S-400 is incompatible with NATO air defence standards and says it poses an unspecified potential threat to the F-35.
The timely production of key components for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation multirole combat aircraft has been put out of whack thanks to US lawmakers’ decision to kick senior development partner Turkey out of the programme, Breaking Defense has reported , citing a fresh report by the Government Accountability Office.
According to the spending watchdog, as many as 15 key components for the F-35 once produced in Turkey are currently not “being produced at the needed production rate.” At the same time, the GAO reported that Lockheed has had to scramble to find new suppliers for a whopping 1,005 different components previously made by Turkish defence contractors.
Turkey’s decision to buy Russian-made S-400s led Washington to halt the delivery of F-35s to the country, and to threaten the allied nation with sanctions. US officials also indicated that Turkey would not get access to the Patriot missile system so long as the S-400s were deployed in the country. This week, US special representative for Syria engagement James Jeffrey said the S-400 issue is the biggest snag to normalized relations between Washington and Ankara.
Tardy Contractors
The production bottleneck caused by the halt in Turkish parts deliveries has been further aggravated by the fact that contractors have developed a habit of being late with parts deliveries, the GAO says. According to the Defence Contract Management Agency, a Pentagon agency responsible for administering DoD contracts, “between August 2017 and July 2019, the number of parts delivered late increased from under 2,000 to more than 10,000,” with “roughly 60 percent of parts shortages…attributable to 20 suppliers.”
Another problem, the GAO notes, is that only about 30 percent of the “manufacturing leading practices” outlined by the watchdog are meeting predefined quality standards, with the 500+ aircraft already delivered to the armed forces failing to meet both reliability and maintainability standards.
“Although the contractor is changing the manufacturing processes to address problems and improve efficiency, more remains to be done. Unless the program office evaluates the risks of not meeting these leading practices, the military services and international partners are at risk of not receiving the quality aircraft they purchased,” the GAO concludes.
With an estimated lifetime price tag of $1.6 trillion , the F-35 programme is easily the most expensive weapons project in human history, and hugely controversial. Efforts by the Pentagon and Lockheed to create a one-size-fits-all fighter for use by the Air Force, the Navy, and the Marine Corps have necessitated a series of innovative solutions, but have also left the plane with serious drawbacks, such as a single engine design making it unsuitable for long-term deployment at sea, as well literally hundreds of major and minor problems, glitches and bugs caused by overengineering.