It’s hard to know why the F-35 Block 4 upgrade's cost—now $16.5 billion and rising—is going up because it is mixed with the rest of the program, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.
BAE Systems has received a $491 million F-35 electronic warfare suite production contract from Lockheed Martin to outfit Block 4 jets in 2024. Program director Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt says the Tech Refresh 3 that will underwrite the upgraded EW will be ready by then.
The latest F-35 deal between the government and Lockheed Martin calls for 398 of the fighters to be delivered across production Lots 15-17; nearly 100 fewer fighters than in the last three-lot deal. Meanwhile, unit costs will increase because the newer jets are more sophisticated, ...
Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have agreed that F-35 production will peak at 156 jets per year in 2023 and remain at that level "for the foreseeable future." The "re-baselining" of the program is meant to ensure predictability and stability in production.
A Pentagon declaration that the F-35's initial development is complete is still months away, but even when it comes, it won't trigger a surge in production of the fighter. “I don’t think you’ll see a large deviation” in production when full-rate is declared, according to ...
Turkey will be mostly out of the F-35 by March, and all the way out by the end of 2020, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen Lord said Jan. 14. Lord said there’s been no discussion with Ankara about the disposition of four F-35s owned ...