MSN reports EAA AirVenture Oshkosh will showcase an impressive lineup of military and civilian aircraft, drawing aviation enthusiasts to witness these iconic planes. The B-52, known for its long-range capabilities, and the F-35, a state-of-the-art stealth fighter, highlight the diversity and advancement in aviation technology showcased at the airshow.
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Tag: F-35
RTX’s Pratt & Whitney Lands $3.8B F135 Production Contract
Airforce Technology reports, “Pratt & Whitney, part of RTX, has received a contract modification worth $3.8bn for the production of lots 18 and 19 of the F135 engine. The engine powers all three models of the F-35 Lightning II, which recently exceeded one million engine flight hours.”
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Canada Weighs Split Fighter Fleet, US Concerned by F-35 cuts
Aerotime reports, “Canadian officials are weighing a mixed fighter fleet that could see Sweden’s Saab account for roughly half of the eventual replacement program by value, according to a National Post column by John Ivison published on January 28, 2026, citing unnamed sources.”
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Lockheed Delivers Record 191 F-35s in 2025 as Production Accelerates
Reuters reports, “Lockheed Martin said on Wednesday it delivered 191 F-35 fighter jets in 2025 to the United States and its allies, a record for the program. ‘Annual F-35 production is now running at a pace five times faster than any other allied fighter currently in production,’ the company said in a statement.”
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Lockheed to Upgrade F-35 with Sixth-Gen Tech and Turn it into a ‘Ferrari’
Defense News reports, “Lockheed Martin plans to fold technologies it developed in its unsuccessful bid for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance platform into the F-35 and F-22 Raptor to create a “supercharged” fifth-generation fighter, company executives said. Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet told investors in a Tuesday earnings call the company is not going to challenge the Air Force’s March 21 decision to award the F-47 contract to Boeing. Instead, he said, the company will focus on upgrading the F-35 and F-22 Raptor fighters with sixth-generation technology.”
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Important Testing on Latest F-35s to Begin in 2026
Defense News reports, “An important series of tests for the latest upgrades to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will likely not begin until two years after these jets started hitting the field — and at least three years following their original due date. The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said in its annual report, submitted to Congress on Jan. 31, that dedicated operational tests for the F-35’s Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, upgrades will probably start in mid to late fiscal 2026, or around next summer. Those tests are intended to determine whether TR-3 is operationally effective.”
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Marines Plan to Buy More Carrier-based F-35Cs While Scaling Back VTOL Variant
Defense One reports, “The Marine Corps plans to double its buy of the carrier-borne F-35C variant and scale back its buy of the short-takeoff-vertical-landing F-35B, according to a new aviation plan from the service. The service’s total F-35 buy of 420 aircraft remains unchanged, but the service will now buy 280 F-35Bs instead of the planned 353 jets, and 140 F-35Cs instead of the planned 67 jets, according to the 2025 Marine Aviation Plan released Monday. This means the Marines will field 12 F-35B squadrons and eight F-35C squadrons. Notably, the plan also expands the size of F-35 squadrons from 10 to 12 fighters.”
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Lockheed Martin Delivers 110 F-35s in 2024
Reuters reports, “Lockheed Martin delivered a total of 110 F-35 fighter jets to the United States and its allies in 2024, the Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor said in a statement on Wednesday. The delivery total achieves the higher end of the range of 75 to 110 jet deliveries CEO Jim Taiclet gave in an earnings call last summer.”
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F-35 Achieves Long-Delayed Full-Rate Production Milestone
Aviation Week reports, “The Lockheed Martin F-35 has been approved for full-rate production by the U.S. Defense Department in a long-delayed decision that comes after the program has delivered more than 990 aircraft globally.” The aircraft is now cleared “to advance toward peak production levels.”
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Norwegian Air Force F-35A JSF Demonstrates Ability to Takeoff, Land from Highway
The Drive reports that “Norway has become the first country to demonstrate the ability of the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A Joint Strike Fighter to operate from a highway as part of an exercise in Finland.” Maj. Gen. Rolf Folland, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, said in a press release, “This is a milestone, not only for the Norwegian Air Force, but also for the Nordic countries and for NATO. … This demonstrates our ability to execute a concept of dispersal. Fighter jets are vulnerable on the ground, so by being able to use small airfields – and now motorways – [we can] increase our survivability in war.” Norway’s F-35As “have been training to conduct highway operations in Finland this week as part of the latest iteration of that country’s annual Baana road base exercise, which kicked off on Monday.”
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