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 ...
Lockheed Martin said it’s “developing mitigation plans” to resume delivering new F-35s to customers. The F-35 Joint Program Office stopped delivery of new F-35s after learning that a material came from China. The material in question is an alloy in a magnet in the F-35’s ...
The mutually supporting partnership between Lockheed Martin engineers and Air Force engineers and Airmen fuels a continuous striving for the next evolution of aviation technology. This partnership is rooted in a deep understanding and a shared commitment to the mission ahead, and the desire to ...
The Lockheed Martin-controlled portion of the F-35 cost per flying hour, across all users, has fallen 50 percent in the past seven years and should go down another 35 percent in the next five years, assuming a performance-based logistics contract is forthcoming, program officials said. ...
The Air Force propulsion program tasked with producing engines for the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter awarded contracts to a mix of engine makers and aircraft builders Aug. 19, hinting that integration could be a priority in the prototyping process. GE Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, ...
Lot 15 of the F-35 fighter will include up to 129 aircraft, including 49 F-35As for the Air Force, and cost up to $7.6 billion. The final contract award came less than a month after the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin announced a ...
The Tactical Boost Glide program and the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept still have value, even though the programs they support are either in source selection or flight testing, said Gen. Duke Z. Richardson, head of Air Force Materiel Command. The Air Force is pursuing the ...
DARPA is going to keep working on its Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, even though the program for which it’s meant to be a technology pathfinder is already in source selection. A HAWC demonstrator flew successfully this month. The next phase of the program ...
The defense contractors vying for the Air Force’s “bridge tanker” program updated the status of their aerial refuelers, citing new capabilities aimed at automating the refueling process. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has repeatedly said the likelihood of a competition for the service’s “bridge tanker” ...
The Czech Republic plans to buy 24 F-35As, which would make it the 16th nation to either buy the fighter or announce the intent to do so and the 10th member or soon-to-be member of NATO to select the jet. The aircraft will replace 14 ...
Teams of autonomous vehicles collaborating with a crewed airplane, in which each aircraft in the formation performs a unique mission on its own, is far more effective than the so-called “loyal wingman” approach, in which a piloted aircraft pairs with just one similarly-equipped, autonomous multimission ...
The new “Splinter” camouflage on F-35s assigned to aggressor duty at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., shouldn't negate or interfere with their low observability, meaning they can truly play the role of a stealthy sparring partner for USAF fighters, according to a Nellis spokesperson. The ...