EXCLUSIVE: Marine reveals what could've happened to missing F-35

Former Marine Dan Grazier , who works at a Defense watchdog, authored a report in 2019 warning that the Department of Defenses ' most expensive weapon system is plagued with cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

He told DailyMail.com today : 'There are thousands of penetration points, weaknesses in the entire enterprise that a hacker could access the software' The $145 million jet went missing for hours over South Carolina when the pilot ejected during a training exercise and was found 28 hours later .

Pentagon has refused to detail what caused what it called a 'mishap'.

Grazier served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror , where he was a tank officer.

He said the F-35 program has continued to exist because it is 'politically engineered' He explained that the program has been approved and spread money around the country before anyone knows about the program, like who it works and any problems.