U.S. Marine Corps Still Targeting 2030 to Replace Aging F/A-18 Hornets Written 6 January 2025
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An F-35A Lightning II aircraft | U.S. Air Force photo by MSgt John Nimmo Sr.; Wikipedia; Public Domain
Defense One reports, “While Marines wait for new F-35s, officials say recent delivery delays haven’t altered their goal to fully switch to the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet by the end of the decade. The service is replacing its aging F/A-18 Hornets with F-35s, a massive effort complicated by a year-long pause in deliveries of the newest version of the jet. But for that plan to work, Lockheed Martin needs to finish clearing a backlog of deliveries caused by technology-development problems that led the Pentagon to stop accepting the aircraft for a year. In July, Lockheed received the green light to resume deliveries without the full version of the upgrade, dubbed Technology Refresh-3.”
Full Story (Defense One)