For years, sustainment challenges and spare parts shortages have hindered the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s readiness. But the Air Force’s experience flying F-35s heavily in operations against Iran have showed what the jet can be capable of, if maintainers get all the supplies and support ...
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
The base cost of an F-35A, the Air Force variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, is going up 11.5 percent from $82.5 million to $92 million for the latest lots of the fifth-generation aircraft, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed.
Inflation and rising costs for critical upgrades are swelling the price of the F-35 fighter, according to a newly released acquisition report on the fifth-generation jet.
A major planned upgrade for the F-35 fighter’s engine is expected to reach a major milestone in August when it undergoes its critical design review, an Air Force official said July 27.
Software shortcomings, spare parts shortages, and corrosion problems mean only about one in four F-35 stealth fighters were ready to carry out all their possible missions at any given time in fiscal 2025, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
Repeated delays to critical F-35 upgrades helped drive the Air Force to more than double its planned fleet of F-15EX Eagle II fighters, a top official said May 12.
The Air Force wants to replace 24 F-16 Fighting Falcons at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida with an equal number of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters.
The Pentagon on March 30 announced a a $3.8 billion contract modification to buy F135 engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from contractor Pratt & Whitney.
The first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with ballast, rather than an advanced radar in its nose, flew an acceptance flight the last week of February, Air & Space Forces Magazine has learned. F-35s will arrive without radars at Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps bases ...
The looming decision on the future of the F-35’s engine—Pratt & Whitney’s F135—has fostered plenty of debate, with some suggesting the F135 should be completely replaced with a new engine through the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP), while others say integrating a new adaptive engine into...
The Lockheed Martin-controlled portion of the F-35 cost per flying hour, across all users, has fallen 50 percent in the past seven years and should go down another 35 percent in the next five years, assuming a performance-based logistics contract is forthcoming, program officials said. ...
Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt took command of the F-35 Joint Program Office on July 5, succeeding Air Force Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, who is retiring. The succession of an Air Force PEO by another—breaking more than 25 years of back-and-forth joint leadership—may ...
