Lockheed Martin announced that it has delivered the first production units of the Electro-Optical Targeting System being built for the F-35 stealth fighter to the company’s F-35 assembly plant in Fort Worth, Tex., for integration onto the aircraft. “This delivery marks a pivotal achievement for the EOTS as we transition from a system design and development program to a production program,” said Rich Hinkle, Lockheed’s EOTS program director. The company says it is ramping up to produce up to 200 EOTS units a year. The EOTS is a passive sensor system embedded into the F-35 fuselage that will provide F-35 pilots with forward-looking infrared and IR search and track functionality for air-to-air and air-to-ground situational awareness. (The first production equivalent F-35A, the USAF conventional takeoff and landing variant, flew for the first time from Fort Worth in November.)
Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich assumed command of U.S. European Command on July 1, taking over the key assignment as the U.S. and its allies contend with a resurgent Russia and a grinding war in Ukraine.
