Lockheed Martin began delivering F-35s again on July 19, after a year of building the fighters and putting them directly into storage because their Tech Refresh 3 systems and software were not fully tested.
More than 90 brand-new F-35s, many in storage since last fall, can be delivered now that a “truncated” version of the Tech Refresh 3 software has been approved for use.
Due to the prolonged delay in deliveries of the Tech Refresh 3 version of the F-35 fighter, Denmark is pulling six of its TR-2-configured F-35 jets stationed in the U.S. back to home base in order to consolidate aircraft and get better training for its ...
Even after the F-35’s Tech Refresh 3 hardware and software package is cleared for operational use, the Joint Program Office warns that software patches and updates may be needed every two to six weeks, rather than every six months.
So many new F-35s have piled up waiting for TR-3 upgrade testing to conclude that it will take a year to deliver them all once deliveries get the green light to resume, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. That go-ahead isn't likely to ...
Exasperated with the delays to the F-35’s Tech Refresh 3 update—which has held up deliveries of completed fighters since last fall—the House Armed Services Committee wants to slash the military services’ fiscal 2025 F-35 purchase by at least 10 aircraft and as much as 20.
The production rate for the F-35 will likely remain stable for at least five years, Lockheed Martin aeronautics executive vice president Greg Ulmer said.
“The year 2024 will stand as a transformative year for modernizing the U.S. Air Force’s fighter force. Bottom line: the service needs to reset fast. That is why it was welcome news when Lockheed Martin recently announced the Tech Refresh 3/Block 4 variant of its ...
New F-35s are coming off the production line with the TR-3 upgrade and going right into storage because testing is incomplete. Next lot negotiations are continuing, but talks over a performance-based logistics contract have stalled.
Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet thinks completing flight testing of the F-35 Tech Refresh-3 by the middle of 2024 is "manageable," saying the complex changes are taking time because the technologies are comparable to those in driverless cars and autonomous aircraft.
More delay may be in store for the TR-3 update of the F-35 fighter, program executive officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Test resources, software lab capacity, and too much concurrency have put the effort at least two years behind ...
The first F-35s with the Tech Refresh-3 upgrade—largely a processor upgrade upon which the Block 4 configuration of the fighter will ride—will be delivered before the middle of next year, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said Sept. 6. But that will have an impact on Air ...