Whether the F-35 fighter will get new engines from the Air Force’s cutting-edge Adaptive Engine Transition Program is a question that needs to be resolved at the Defense Department level, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told lawmakers May 17—and he anticipates an answer in the ...
The F-35’s troubled sustainment enterprise is getting better but is still falling short of the services’ goals for the program, officials told Congress. And lawmakers are running out of patience. “The message for me—and I hope from my committee, and I know I'm going to ...
The Air Force would have to bear the full development and integration cost of putting new Adaptive Engine Technology Program engines in its F-35 fleet because the other services can’t fit the powerplants in their versions of the fighter, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. ...
Upgrades in missile technology over the past several years have made the F-35 less survivable than previously hoped, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Aug. 31 as he pushed for more investment in smaller, unmanned platforms. The Air Force plans to buy ...
The Air Force won't be able to retrofit its existing fighters with new technology created in the Adaptive Engine Transition Program, the service's program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft reported. He and the propulsion directorate are instead partnering on squeezing more capability out ...
More than 40 F-35s across the U.S. Air Force are currently without engines according to the most recent data, top officials told Congress on July 13. Speaking before the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, acting Assistant Secretary of the Air ...
The Air Force will soon embark on a major new analysis of its tactical fighter mix, looking for the right capabilities in the high-, middle- and low-end spectrum of warfare, service Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said Feb. 17. The study will ...
Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon are negotiating the next three lots of F-35 production, expecting a contract by the end of the fiscal year, the Joint Program Office reported. The negotiating strategy calls for a “base year” contract followed by two options, likely to allow ...
Japan has gotten a green light from the State Department to buy 105 more F-35s in two variants, which will make that country the largest operator of the Lightning II outside the U.S. The news comes the same week Japan's defense ministry informed the country's ...