The Air Force is combining components from two damaged F-35 aircraft to craft a single operational fighter, a first-of-its-kind project anticipated to yield significant cost savings.
Lockheed Martin
New F-35s are coming off the production line with the TR-3 upgrade and going right into storage because testing is incomplete. Next lot negotiations are continuing, but talks over a performance-based logistics contract have stalled.
The Air Force aims to release a request for proposals for the KC-135 Recapitalization Program—formerly called the “bridge tanker”—in fiscal 2025 but has yet to set an acquisition strategy for the aircraft, waiting for more industry input, a service spokesperson said. The service isn’t saying ...
The Air Force has given Lockheed Martin a $996 million contract to produce a reentry vehicle (RV) for its new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile by Oct. 20, 2039.
Lockheed Martin has withdrawn its LMXT aerial refueler from the Air Force’s KC-135 fleet recapitalization program—previously referred to as the “bridge tanker” effort—the company said Oct. 23. However, its partner Airbus said it will press on, offering its Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) version of the ...
The Pentagon needs a new acquisition system—parallel to the one that takes years to develop new physical platforms like airplanes and ships—to achieve the speed needed to achieve deterrence, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet said this week.
Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet thinks completing flight testing of the F-35 Tech Refresh-3 by the middle of 2024 is "manageable," saying the complex changes are taking time because the technologies are comparable to those in driverless cars and autonomous aircraft.
The first U-2 equipped with the Avionics Tech Refresh has flown, setting the stage for a test program and deployment that should carry the U-2 through its retirement.
The Department of the Defense and the military services want to take more control over the massive F-35 sustainment enterprise—and are required by law to do so in 2027—but they lack a detailed plan to do so and should reassess their approach to key parts ...
More delay may be in store for the TR-3 update of the F-35 fighter, program executive officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Test resources, software lab capacity, and too much concurrency have put the effort at least two years behind ...
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 ...
The Space Development Agency successfully launched 13 small satellites into orbit Sept. 2, more than doubling the size of “Tranche 0” of its planned constellation in low-Earth orbit. And while it only took three years from contract award to launch for this latest batch—breakneck speed by ...
