U.S. soldiers do maintenance work on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter at Ford Island, Hawaii, on Nov. 4, 2025. A Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday noted that the Army’s heavy-lift helicopter did not meet its availability goals between 2015 and 2024. (Olivia Cowart/U.S. Army)
Years of delayed maintenance and staffing shortfalls continue to drag down overall readiness, according to a Defense Department watchdog agency report that acknowledged the military’s ability to carry out specific missions despite those limitations.
The Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday drew on years of studies examining issues such as the condition of ships and aircraft, personnel levels and training.
The report was assembled before the U.S. on Saturday launched its most recent attacks on Iran and makes no mention of the ongoing war. But its findings are less focused on the immediate needs of a major campaign than on long-term sustainability.
The GAO said the Pentagon has yet to fully implement more than 150 recommendations from earlier reviews intended to improve equipment availability, strengthen personnel pipelines and support better decision-making on readiness.
Many of those recommendations span multiple administrations and remain open years after they were issued. The GAO said the Defense Department generally agreed with its recommendations.
“U.S. military readiness has been degraded over the last two decades due to a variety of challenges, including maintaining existing systems while acquiring new capabilities,” the report says.
One of the most persistent problems involves a shortage of trained maintainers for ships and aircraft.
Technicians and mechanics are responsible for keeping complex systems operating safely, and the GAO said many units lack enough qualified workers to keep up with required repairs.
Short staffing has contributed to long-running maintenance backlogs, with aircraft and ships spending extended periods out of service.
Across the Army and Air Force, only two of 27 aircraft types reviewed met their availability targets in most years between 2015 and 2024, the report said. The Army’s CH 47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopter and the Air Force’s C 130J transport plane failed to meet availability goals for much of the past decade, as units struggled with parts shortages and delayed depot work.
A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft sits on the flightline at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2021. The Air Force met the availability goal for the aircraft one time between 2015 and 2024. (Trevor Gordnier/U.S. Air Force)
The Navy reported similar problems, the GAO found.
Executive officers surveyed by GAO said many ships did not have enough trained sailors to complete required maintenance while underway, leaving some tasks deferred until vessels returned to port.
Safety concerns also weighed on readiness. The report noted an increase in serious accidents involving the V-22 Osprey in 2023 and 2024, including crashes that resulted in deaths, serious injuries or aircraft destruction.
Gaps in oversight and information sharing limited the Defense Department’s ability to fully understand safety risks involving the aircraft, the GAO said.
The report also highlighted readiness challenges in specific regions.
In Europe, it pointed to problems with moving equipment and supplies quickly across the Continent in the event of a conflict with Russia.
In the Indo-Pacific, challenges include maintaining and repairing equipment in contested areas and ensuring reliable fuel supplies for military operations.
The report emphasizes that many of these problems are long-standing and will require continued attention from military leaders and lawmakers.
A U.S. Navy aviation mechanic performs maintenance on an MH-60R Sea Hawk aboard the USS George H.W. Bush in the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 25, 2026. Many vessels don’t have enough sailors available to complete maintenance work while at sea, as noted in a government watchdog agency’s report Wednesday on overall military readiness issues. (Juan Serratosguzman/U.S. Navy)
