Newly-built F-35s that have been stacking up in storage could start to be delivered as soon as July, assuming a “truncated” Tech Refresh 3 software package is stable and safe enough for operational crews, the Joint Program Office said.
So many new F-35s have piled up waiting for TR-3 upgrade testing to conclude that it will take a year to deliver them all once deliveries get the green light to resume, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. That go-ahead isn't likely to ...
Lockheed Martin may not resume deliveries of the F-35 until this summer, but international partners and the Joint Program Office are looking at accepting aircraft earlier, without full validation of the Tech Refresh 3 upgrade.
The first F-35s with the Tech Refresh-3 upgrade—largely a processor upgrade upon which the Block 4 configuration of the fighter will ride—will be delivered before the middle of next year, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said Sept. 6. But that will have an impact on Air ...
Lockheed Martin won’t make its goal of 156 F-35s in 2023 due to engine delivery delays and continuing development and testing of the Tech Refresh 3 update, which underwrites the Block 4 upgrade. However the company expects a Performance-Based Logistics Contract by the end of ...
Lockheed Martin is again delivering F-35s after a three-month hiatus, following a back-to-flight approval on March 8. Investigators continue to plumb the cause of a Dec. 14, 2022 crash and implement a fix to an issue with the F135 engine. The first aircraft delivered after ...
Lockheed Martin restarted flying operations at its Fort Worth, Texas, facilities March 6, paving the way for deliveries of F-35s to resume after a nearly three-month hiatus. It's not yet clear when the first new F-35 of 2023 will be delivered.
The entire F-35 fleet is slated to get the retrofit engine maker Pratt & Whitney has identified to mitigate the problem that led to suspended deliveries and flight restrictions for some aircraft for nearly two months—a move that will affect hundreds of fighters globally. The decision ...
A month after F-35 fighter deliveries were halted pending an investigation into a Dec. 14 crash, Pratt & Whitney said it has a fix in hand that will allow deliveries to resume by the end of February. The problem had to do with harmonic resonance, ...
Pentagon acquisition boss William LaPlante is optimistic that the pause in new F-35 fighter deliveries will not drag on for long—but the problem does highlight a “constant” issue with the supply chain, he said. The halt in deliveries came after Honeywell, a subcontractor for the ...
The head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe is “convinced” the command will base F-35As at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., on time in late 2021, despite some delays to military construction and a possible slowdown in F-35 deliveries because of COVID-19. “I am clear eyed that ...
The Air Force's F-35A fleet has become its third-largest fighter fleet—larger than that of the F-15C/D or E variants and larger than the F-22 Raptor fleet—and the type will likely surpass 250 air frames by the end of August, according to the Joint Program Office. ...