Fun facts about the F-35 fighter

Here are some raw numbers about the costliest military program in U.S. history: the F-35 jet fighter. Three different versions of the plane are being developed, and a total of 2,457 copies are to be manufactured by 2035.

4 million

 Number of lines of software code in the F/A-18 jet fighter

24 million

 Number of lines of software code in the F-35

37%

 Growth in critical software code since 2005

$15 billion

 How much the F-35’s estimated costs have increased over the past twenty months alone

$119 billion

 How much the F-35’s estimated costs have increased over the past five years

$345 billion

 The total Pentagon budget in 2002

$400 billion

 The estimated cost of buying the F-35’s

$1 trillion

 The projected cost to operate the F-35s over their projected flight times of 8,000 hours each

$15.8 million

 The amount paid by Lockheed Martin on March 23 to settle a Justice Department claim that it “recklessly” secured Pentagon payments for inflated charges by a subcontractor on the F-35 program and another jet fighter program

$80 million

 Cost of helmet now being produced as a backup to the problem plagued main F-35 helmet

$373 million

 Retrofit costs incurred by the government so far to repair newly-produced F-35 planes

5 years

 Delay so far in starting full-rate production

11 years

 How long the program has been under way

4%

 "Mission system requirements” fulfilled so far

21%

 Planned flight test points completed so far

30%

 Planned airplanes actually delivered last year

40%

 Problems in Marine Corps version of the F-35 that were fixed when Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lifted its “probation” this year

54%

2011 aircraft performance goals that were achieved

75%

 Increase in estimated cost of F-35 engines since 2001

75%

 Reduction since 2002 in the number of planes expected to be completed by 2017

100%

 Growth in estimated average acquisition cost of each plane since 2001

General Accountability Office, “Joint Strike Fighter,” March 20, 2012; Department of Defense, “Selected Acquisition Report, F-35,” Dec. 31, 2010.