Tag: F-35

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.”
Full Story (Reuters)

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.”
Full Story (Defense News)

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.”
Full Story (Defense One)

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.”
Full Story (The Drive)

USN, Marines Increase F-35 Collaboration with Asia-Pacific Allies

FlightGlobal reports that US Navy Rear Admiral Christopher Stone “says that work continues to refine missions for the Lockheed Martin F-35, including working closely with operators of the type in the Asia-Pacific.” Admiral Stone “is the commander of Task Force 76/3, an experimental unit formed in 2022 that seeks to more deeply integrate the USN and US Marine Corps (USMC) at the leadership and operational levels in the Asia-Pacific region.” A focus “is improving joint capabilities amid the growing military threat from China.” The task force “comprises 11 warships centered on USS America, an amphibious assault ship that operates three USMC types: the short take-off and vertical landing version of the F-35, the F-35B, in addition to rotorcraft such as the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey and Sikorsky CH-53K.” Stone said of the F-35, “These fifth-generation aircraft are incredibly capable. The capabilities that the aircraft itself provides in terms of sensor coverage and weapons capability are truly breathtaking.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal – subscription publication)

DOD Considering “All” Options as it Seeks Upgrades to F-35’s Cooling System

Breaking Defense reports the “Defense Department is considering ‘all’ options as it seeks upgrades to the F-35’s cooling system, … with the F-35 Joint Program Office not ruling out the potential for a new competition to upgrade the system currently provided by incumbent producer Honeywell Aerospace.” Honeywell makes the F-35’s Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS), “which combines an auxiliary power unit, environmental control and emergency power into a single apparatus that, among other capabilities, cools off the aircrafts subsystems. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) wants to upgrade the PTMS in order to enable future capabilities on the fifth-generation aircraft.” When asked “whether the F-35 program is planning a competition to field a new PTMS, JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere on Thursday said, ‘All PTMS options will be assessed to ensure we provide the greatest capability to the warfighter.’”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)

USAF F-35As Will See Engine Upgrades Instead of New Adaptive Engines

Aviation Week reports that the US Air Force “has decided not to reengine its Lockheed Martin F-35s, ending a potential competition between GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney to equip the fleet with a new powerplant.” Its fiscal 2024 budget request “ends funding for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program,” which was a competition between GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney to build a new adaptive engine for the F-35 fighter platform.
More Info (Aviation Week)

GE Aerospace Continues to Urge USAF to Procure New Powerplant for F-35

FlightGlobal reports, “GE Aerospace is continuing to press the US Air Force (USAF) to procure a new powerplant for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation fighter, rather than opting to perform core upgrades on the existing F-35 powerplant.” GE Aerospace claims that its XA100 adaptive-cycle engine, built for the F-35 under the USAF’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program, provides “transformational benefits” in range, thrust, acceleration and fuel consumption. GE Edison Works General Manager David Tweedie said on February 16, “We really think AETP clearly is the solution. And we are ready to meet that challenge and continue to move forward.” According to FlightGlobal, this “push comes ahead of the expected release in March of President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal – a document that could reveal the Pentagon’s plans for addressing shortfalls with the F-35’s existing, P&W-made F135 powerplant.”
More Info (FlightGlobal)

DOD Resumes Acceptance of F-35s from Lockheed Martin

FlightGlobal reports that on March 14, the F-35 Joint Program Office said that the Defense Department has “resumed acceptance of F-35 aircraft from Lockheed [Martin].” Breaking Defense reports JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere said, “The Defense Contract Management Agency and F-35 Joint Program Office resumed acceptance of F-35 aircraft today from Lockheed Martin and are currently working with the U.S. services, partner nations and foreign military sales customers on the movement of aircraft to their operational units. … Prior to acceptance, the aircraft passed extensive technical and flight worthy checks ensuring their readiness for operational use.” Air Force Lt. Gen Mike Schmidt, the program executive officer for the JPO, said in a statement that the “Government and industry team worked tirelessly on this effort and their work demonstrates true professionalism and a devotion to accomplish complex missions with stringent ingenuity. The safety of our warfighters is always our highest priority.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal) | More Info (Breaking Defense)

Pratt & Whitney Moves Ahead on F-35 ECU Program

Aviation Week reports that Pratt & Whitney now “has 400 engineers working on a major upgrade for the F135 engine that powers the Lockheed Martin F-35, as the company waits for congressional approval of the formal program go-ahead in fiscal 2024.” The team assigned “to the Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) program has been funded with previous congressional add-ons to the fiscal 2023 budget that now total $180 million in awarded contracts, including a $66 million award announced on July 11, says Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt’s military engines business.” The awards are funding work “on early architecture studies and engineering preparation for the preliminary design review, Albertelli said.” Both efforts have been “launched as Congress considers the Pentagon’s request to launch full development of the ECU program in fiscal 2024.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

General Says F-35 Supply Chain Too Risky for Future War

Defense News reports that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter “will need a more resilient supply chain to ensure the military can keep it flying in a future, highly contested war, the Air Force officer in charge of the program said Monday.” Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the program executive officer, said during a panel discussion at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference being held this week in National Harbor, Maryland, that the F-35 program was created with a “just in time” supply chain, which means that parts are designed to arrive when needed, with little stockpile of inventory. Schmidt said that sort of thinking works in the private sector, but in a future war, it could lead to a catastrophe. He added, “When you have that [just-in-time] mentality, a hiccup in the supply chain, whether it be a strike … or a quality issue, becomes your single point of failure. We need to look at, what does ‘right’ look like in the future, to give us more resilience in a combat environment.”
Full Story (Defense News)

Lockheed Martin Agrees to Deliver 151 to 153 F-35s in 2022

Reuters reports that Lockheed Martin announced Monday that it had “agreed with the Pentagon to deliver 151 to 153 F-35 fighter aircraft in 2022, fewer than the 169 jets it had hoped to deliver.” Lockheed Martin “also said it was expecting to deliver 156 aircraft to the United States beginning 2023 and for the ‘foreseeable future.’”
Full Story (Reuters)

Forty-Six F-35s Are Currently Without Functioning Engines

The Drive reports that a “total of 46 F-35 stealth fighters are currently without functioning engines due to an ongoing problem with the heat-protective coating on their turbine rotor blades becoming worn out faster than was expected.” During Tuesday’s hearing before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, “Air Force Lieutenant General Eric T. Fick, director of the F-35 Joint Program Office, confirmed that 41 U.S. Air Force F-35s, as well as one Joint Strike Fighter belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps, another from the U.S. Navy, and three that had been delivered to foreign air forces were grounded without engines. Those figures were as of July 8.”
Full Story (The Drive)

BAE Systems to Provide Lockheed Martin with Additional EW Systems for F-35 Lightning II Aircraft

Seapower Magazine reports that BAE Systems said in a Monday press release that it is “providing Lockheed Martin with additional electronic warfare (EW) systems, retrofit kits, and spares for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.” This contract builds on the company’s “on-time delivery of more than 800 state-of-the-art AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasure systems to date, providing F-35 jets with critical situational awareness and survivability capabilities.”
Full Story (Seapower Magazine)

F-22 And F-35 Datalinks Communicate Freely With Each Other During Project Hydra Demonstration Event

The Drive reported that during a demonstration event known as Project Hydra, “five F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and a single F-22 Raptor ‘talked’ with each other using their proprietary stealthy datalinks via a U-2S Dragon Lady spy plane carrying a specialized communications gateway payload.” Skunk Works Vice President and General Manager Jeff Babione said in a statement, “Project Hydra marks the first time that bi-directional communications were established between 5th Generation aircraft in-flight while also sharing operational and sensor data down to ground operators for real-time capability.” Babione added, “This next-level connectivity reduces the data-to-decision timeline from minutes to seconds, which is critical in fighting today’s adversaries and advanced threats.”
Full Story (The Drive)

Lockheed Martin F-35s Not Meeting Readiness Goals

Air Force Times reports that the F-35 joint strike fighter’s mission capable rate figures are well below the military’s target, according to DoD’s former acquisition chief Ellen Lord. The F-35’s mission capable rate is currently 69%, short of the “military’s longstanding 80 percent goal, said Ellen Lord.” She added that, when looking at fully mission capable aircraft that are able to perform all of the F-35’s assigned missions, “we’re currently at 36 percent fully mission capable, and we are striving to be at 50 percent for the fleet.” She attributed the low rate to ongoing issues with the F135 engine’s power module and the F-35’s canopy.
Full Story (Air Force Times)