According to a communiqué from the 39th Security Consultative Meeting between the US and South Korean defense leaders, Seoul has completed upgrading a training range needed by USAF units on the peninsula. The lack of suitable air training ranges prompted former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to issue an ultimatum, but as recently as September, the Government Accountability Office expressed concern that the issue had fallen through the crack. Item No. 11 in the communiqué states that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Defense Minister Kim Jang Soo noted the “successful completion of the modernization of Jik-do training range [which] is helping to ensure appropriate training conditions for the [Republic of Korea] and US Air Forces.” So, is that it
It'll take up to 18 months for Lockheed Martin to deliver the 100 or so F-35s that went directly from production line to storage, awaiting the completion of Tech Refresh 3 testing. Customers haven't complained about the order in which the backlog is being delivered.