The manufacturer of the F-35 said Friday the program is going swimmingly. In a statement for the press responding to an unfounded report of a significant cost overrun in the multi-billion-dollar stealth fighter project (see above), Lockheed Martin said its efforts are on budget and on track. “The conventional and the short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft are progressing well through their flight test programs,” the company wrote. Lockheed also stated, “The carrier version design and development is moving forward on schedule, and integration and verification of the mission system suite continues in parallel on our cooperative avionics test bed aircraft.” Further, “Production activities are accelerating with all development aircraft and now the first four low-rate initial production aircraft are in assembly,” the company said.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.