According to Associated Press news service, the US military has activated a high powered X-band radar outpost in Aomori Prefecture, Japan to protect against ballistic missiles, amid growing concerns of North Korean weapons programs. It is part of the joint US-Japan missile defense project that began in 1998 after North Korea fired a long range missile over Japan. The radar had been located on Misawa AB, Japan, and is now at Camp Shariki, both in Aomori.
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.