F-35 Lightning: The Joint Strike Fighter Program

F-35B hover test

F-35B: off probation
(click to view full)

November 15/23: ProSim Lockheed Martin won an $8 million order, which exercises an option to procure diminishing manufacturing sources, to include lamp module assemblies and filter packs in support of the operation of F-35 ProSim Projectors for non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom; and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in June 2026.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  F-35B: off probation (click to view full) The $382 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that will have 3 variants: the F-35A conventional version for the US Air Force et. al.; the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing for the US Marines, British Royal Navy, et. al.; and the F-35C conventional carrier-launched version for the US Navy. The aircraft is named after Lockheed’s famous WW2 P-38 Lightning, and the Mach 2, stacked-engine English Electric (now BAE) Lightning jet. Lightning II system development partners included The USA & Britain (Tier 1), Italy and the Netherlands (Tier 2), and Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Turkey (Tier 3), with Singapore and Israel as “Security Cooperation Partners,” and Japan as the 1st export customer. The big question for Lockheed Martin is whether, and when, many of these partner countries will begin placing purchase orders. This updated article has expanded to feature more detail regarding the F-35 program, including contracts, sub-contracts, and notable events and reports during 2012-2013. The F-35 Lightning II Fighter Family F-35 Family Variants: Door A, B, or […]

 

F-35B hover test

F-35B: off probation
(click to view full)

The $382 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that will have 3 variants: the F-35A conventional version for the US Air Force et. al.; the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing for the US Marines, British Royal Navy, et. al.; and the F-35C conventional carrier-launched version for the US Navy. The aircraft is named after Lockheed’s famous WW2 P-38 Lightning, and the Mach 2, stacked-engine English Electric (now BAE) Lightning jet. Lightning II system development partners included The USA & Britain (Tier 1), Italy and the Netherlands (Tier 2), and Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Turkey (Tier 3), with Singapore and Israel as “Security Cooperation Partners,” and Japan as the 1st export customer.

The big question for Lockheed Martin is whether, and when, many of these partner countries will begin placing purchase orders. This updated article has expanded to feature more detail regarding the F-35 program, including contracts, sub-contracts, and notable events and reports during 2012-2013.

The F-35 Lightning II Fighter Family

F-35 Family Variants: Door A, B, or C?

F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C Specifications

Figure 1: F-35 Variants.

The above table illustrates the key differences between the baseline F-35A, the Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) capable F-35B, and the catapult-launched F-35C naval variant. Additional explanations follow.

The F-35A CTOL

F-35A weapon bay

F-35A, doors open
(click to view full)

The F-35A is sometimes called the CTOL (Conventional Take-Off and Landing) version. It’s the USAF’s version, and is expected to make up most of the plane’s export orders. It’s also expected to be the least expensive F-35, in part because it will have the largest production run. The USAF currently estimates its average flyaway cost after 2017 at $108.3 million, but early production models ordered in FY 2012 will cost over $150 million.

Its main difference from other versions is its wider 9g maneuverability limits, though its air-air combat flight benchmarks are only on par with the F-16. Canard equipped “4+ generation” adversaries like the Eurofighter, and thrust-vectored fighters like the F-22A, MiG-35, SU-35, etc., will still enjoy certain kinetic advantages. The F-35 hopes to mitigate them using its improved stealth to shrink detection ranges, the lack of drag from weapons in its internal bays, and its current electronic superiority.

The second major physical difference between the F-35A and the rest of the Lightning family is its internal 25mm cannon, instead of using a weapons station for a semi-stealthy gun pod option. The USAF removed guns from some of its planes back in the 1960s, and didn’t enjoy the resulting experiences in Vietnam. It has kept guns on all of its fighters ever since, including the stealthy F-22 and F-35. Many allies wanted the 27mm Mauser cannon installed instead, as it’s widely believed to offer the world’s best combination of firing rate and hitting power. In the end, however, ammunition standardization benefits involving 25mm land and sea platforms trumped pure performance.

The 3rd difference is that the F-35A uses a dorsal refueling receptacle that is refueled using an aerial tanker boom, instead of the probe-and-drogue method favored by the US Navy and many American allies.

The F-35A was the first variant to fly, in 2009. Unfortunately, it looks like it won’t reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) until 2017 or 2018.

 

The F-35B STOVL (Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing)

F-35B JSF STOVL Features

F-35B features
(click to view full)

The F-35B is expected to be the most expensive Lightning II fighter variant. According to US Navy documents, even planes bought after 2017 are expected to have an average flyaway cost of $135 million each. It will serve the US Marines, Royal Navy, other navies with ski-ramp equipped LHDs or small carriers, and militaries looking for an “expeditionary airplane” that can take off in short distances and land vertically. To accomplish this, the F-35B has a large fan behind the cockpit, and nozzles that go out to the wing undersides. Unlike the F-35A, it will use a retractable mid-air refueling probe, which is standard for the US Navy and for many American allies.

Those capabilities gives the plane a unique niche, but a unique niche also means unique challenges, and the responses to those challenges have changed the aircraft. In 2005, the JSF program took a 1-year delay because the design was deemed overweight by about 3,000 pounds. The program decided to reduce weight rather than run the engine hotter, because the latter choice would have sharply reduced the durability of engine components and driven life cycle costs higher. Weight cutting became a focus of various engineering teams, with especial focus on the F-35B because the weight was most critical to that design. Those efforts pushed the F-35B’s design, and changed its airframe. The F-35B gives up some range, some bomb load (it cannot carry 2,000 pound weapons internally, and the shape of its bay may make some weapons a challenge to carry), some structural strength (7g maneuvers design maximum), and the 25mm internal gun.

The F-35B completed its Critical Design Review in October 2006, and the 2nd production F-35 was a STOVL variant. Per the revised Sept 16/10 program plan, the USMC’s VMA-332 in Yuma, AZ must have 10 F-35Bs equipped with Block IIB software, with 6 aircraft capable of austere and/or ship-based operations, and all aircraft meeting the 7g and 50-degree angle of attack specifications, in order to declare Initial Operational Capability.

Flight testing began in 2009, and IOC was expected by December 2012, but flight testing fell way behind thanks to a series of technical delays. By 2013, the first operational planes were fielded to the USMC at Yuma, AZ. The USMC is currently aiming for a 2015 IOC, but it would involve just Block 2B software loads that will limit the F-35B’s combat capability. Even then, the Pentagon’s 2012 DOT&E report isn’t grounds for software schedule optimism. Planes with full Block 3 initial combat capability are unlikely to be fielded before 2018.

 

The F-35C carrier-based fighter

F-35C

USN F-35C
(click to view full)

The F-35C is instantly recognizable. It features 30% more wing area than other designs, with larger tails and control surfaces, plus wingtip ailerons. These changes provide the precise slow-speed handling required for carrier approaches, and extend range a bit. The F-35C’s internal structure is strengthened to withstand the punishment dished out by the catapult launches and controlled crashes of carrier launch and recovery, an arrester hook is added to the airframe, and the fighter gets a retractable refueling probe. According to US Navy documents, average flyaway costs for F-35Cs bought after 2017 will be $125.9 million each.

The US Navy gave up the internal gun, and the aircraft will be restricted to 7.5g maneuvers. That’s only slightly lower than the existing F/A-18E Super Hornet’s 7.6g, but significantly lower than the 9g limit for Dassault’s carrier-capable Rafale-M.

The F-35C is expected to be the US Navy’s high-end fighter, as well as its high-end strike aircraft. This means that any performance or survivability issues will have a disproportionate effect on the US Navy’s future ability to project power around the world.

The F-35C will be the last variant designed; it passed its Critical Design Review in June 2007, and the first production version was scheduled to fly in January 2009. The F-35C’s rollout did not take place until July 2009, however, and first flight didn’t take place until June 2010. Initial Operational Capability was scheduled for 2014, but looks set to slip to 2019.

F-35s: Key Features

F-35 JSF variants

F-35 Variants
(click to view full)

Stealth. The F-35 is designed as an ‘affordable stealth’ counterpart to the F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter, one that can share “first day of the war” duties against defended targets but can’t perform air-air or air-ground missions to the same standard. The F-35 has a larger single engine instead of the Raptor’s twin thrust-vectoring F119s, removing both supercruise (sustained flight above Mach 1) and super-maneuverability options. The F-22A is also a much stealthier aircraft from all angles, and independent analysis & modeling has concluded that the F-35’s stealth will be weaker from the sides and the rear. Even so, the F-35 is an improvement over existing ‘teen series’ fighters and even beats Generation 4+ options like the Eurofighter, Rafale, and JAS-39 Gripen.

Engine. The F-35 was set to offer interchangeable engine options. That has been an important feature for global F-16 and F-15 customers, improving both costs and performance, and providing added readiness insurance for dual-engine fleets. Pratt & Whitney’s lobbying eventually forced GE & Rolls-Royce’s F136 out of the F-35 program, and made their F135-PW-100 engine the only choice for global F-35 fleets. A special F-135-PW-600 version with Rolls Royce’s LiftFan add-on, and a nozzle that can rotate to point down, will power the vertical-landing F-35B.

The US military had better hope that an engine design problem never grounds all of their fighters. While they’re at it, they should hope that maintenance contracts somehow remain reasonable in the absence of any competitive alternative.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIwAOupjMeM]

F-35’s APG-81
AESA Radar
click to play video

Sensors. The Lightning II will equipped to levels that would once have defined a high-end reconnaissance aircraft. Its advanced APG-81 AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar is smaller and less powerful than the F-22A’s APG-77v1; but still offers the strong AESA advantages of simultaneous air-air and air-ground capabilities, major maintenance & availability improvements, and secure, high-bandwidth communications benefits. The F-35 also shares a “sensor fusion” design advance with the F-22, based on sensors of various types embedded all around the airframe. This sensor set is even more extensive than the F-22’s. Both planes will be able to perform as reconnaissance aircraft, though the F-35 will have superior infrared and ground-looking sensors. Both aircraft will also have the potential to act as electronic warfare aircraft.

These sensors are connected to a lot of computing power, in order to create single-picture view that lets the pilot see everything on one big 20″ LCD screen and just fly the plane, rather than pushing buttons to switch from one view to another and trying to figure it all out. As part of that sensor fusion, the F-35 will be the first plane is several decades to fly without a heads-up display. Instead, pilots will wear Elbit/Rockwell’s JHMDS helmet or BAE’s HMSS, and have all of that information projected wherever they look.

Maintenance. The F-35 has a large number of design features that aim to simplify maintenance and keep life cycle costs down. Since operations and maintenance are usually about 65% or more of a fighter’s lifetime cost, this is one the most important and overlooked aspects of fighter selection.

Stealth aircraft have always had much higher maintenance costs, but the F-35’s designers hope that new measures can reverse that trend. Some of the plane’s stealth coatings are being baked into composite airplane parts, for instance, in the hope that customers will need fewer “Martians” (Materials Application and Repair Specialists) around to apply stealth tapes and putties before each mission. Technical innovations like self-diagnosing aircraft wiring aim to eliminate one of the toughest problems for any mechanic, and the fleet-wide ALIS information and diagnostic system is designed to shift the fleet from scheduled maintenance to maintenance only as needed.

Despite these measure, March 2012 operations and maintenance projections have the F-35 at 142% O&M cost, relative to any F-16s they’ll replace. It remains to be seen if the advantages of F-35 innovations manage to fulfill their promise, or if projections that they’ll be outweighed in the end by increased internal complexity, and by the proliferation of fault-prone electronics, come true. That has certainly been the general trend over the last 50 years of fighter development, with a very few notable exceptions like the F-16, A-10, and JAS-39.

Pimp My Ride: Weapons & Accessories

F-35 armament

Initial hopes – changed
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The F-35’s internal weapon bay gives it the ability to carry larger bombs and missiles, but the price is that F-35s can carry just 2 internal air-to-air weapons, instead of a maximum of 8 on the F-22A. As the F-35 variant table (Fig. 1) shows, development, testing, and software issues have also combined to give initial F-35 fleets a very narrow set of weapons. The initial operational set that comes with Block III software has about the same weapon options as the single-role F-22A.

That’s expected to change, eventually. A large order base, and a wide international client base, will provide considerable incentive for manufacturers to qualify their weapons for the F-35. MBDA has already pledged a compatible version of its long-range Meteor air-air missile, for instance, and Britain wants to add MBDA’s SPEAR medium-range strike missile as soon as possible. Other manufacturers can be expected to follow. Norway is already developing its stealthy Joint Strike Missile with the F-35 as its explicit target, including the ability to fit the missile into the plane’s internal bays. Denmark’s Terma has turned their 25mm gun pod into a multi-mission pod that can accept a variety of sensors and equipment. Lockheed Martin’s Israeli customer is already incorporating its own electronic counter-measures systems in their F-35i, and they are certain to push for a range of Israeli weapons, including the Python-5 SRAAM(Short Range Air-to-Air Missile) and various other smart bombs and missiles.

The bottlenecks will be two-fold.

The 1st bottleneck is American insistence on retaining all source codes, and having Lockheed Martin perform all modifications at their reprogramming facility. Unless Lockheed produces a full development environment workaround, dealing with the growing queue of requests can easily become a problem. The firm’s new Universal Armament Interface could offer the foundation for a way forward, if they decide to take it. The other question involves conflict-of-interest issues, in which Lockheed Martin or the US government decides to use the bottleneck as a way of shutting competitors out of a potential export market. These kinds of concerns have already led to pushback in Australia, Britain, and Israel.

The 2nd bottleneck involves testing resources. The F-35 testing program has fallen significantly behind schedule, and IOCs for some versions have already slipped by 5-6 years. Test time required to qualify new equipment is going to be a very secondary priority until 2018-2019, and even the few customers buying their own Initial Operational Testing & Evaluation (IOT&E) fighters are going to need them for their assigned training roles.

The F-35 Family: Controversies and Competitions

AIR F-35 Left Wingover Rear View

See me, hear me?
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The program’s biggest controversies revolve around 3 issues: effectiveness, affordability, and control. A 4th issue, noise, isn’t significant yet, but could become so.

Effectiveness: When the F-35 Lightning II is compared with the larger and more expensive F-22A, the Raptor is a much stealthier aircraft, and its stealth is more uniform. The F-35’s design is optimized for “low-observable” stealth when viewed from the front, with less stealth to radars looking at it from the sides, and less still when targeted from the rear. It also lacks the Raptor’s supercruise (sustained flight above Mach 1) and super-maneuverability thrust-vectoring options, which work with stealth to help the F-22 engage and disengage from combat at will. Lockheed Martin claims that the F-35 design is optimized for trans-sonic acceleration, but testing results question those claims, and the Raptor can cruise without afterburners at the F-35’s theoretical maximum speed. That’s important, because fuel usage skyrockets with afterburners on, limiting total supersonic time for fighters like the F-35.

These relative drawbacks have led to questions about the F-35’s continued suitability against the most modern current air defense threats, and against the evolved threats it can expect to face over a service lifetime that’s expected to stretch until 2050 at least.

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F-35 EO DAS
click for video

Where the F-35 does come out ahead is internal carriage space. F-35A/C variants will offer larger capacity internal bays for weapons, allowing a wider selection of stealth-preserving internal ordnance. The price is that slight bulges were added to the production F-35’s underside profile in order to accommodate that space, making them less stealthy from the side than the original X-35 designs.

Sensors are another F-35 advantage. All F-35s also boast more embedded sensors than the F-22, with an especial advantage in infrared and ground-looking sensors. Though this feature has yet to be tested in combat, the F-35’s all-aspect Distributed Aperture Sensors (DAS) reportedly allow 360-degree targeting of aircraft around the F-35. If that works, the inertial guidance and datalink features of modern infrared missiles like the AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-132 ASRAAM can already take full advantage of it.

Which customers can live with these relative disadvantages as an acceptable trade-off, and which will be badly hurt by them? Will the F-35 be a fighter that’s unable to handle high-end scenarios, while also being far too expensive to field and operate in low-end scenarios? Even if that’s true, could countries who want one type of multi-role fighter still be best served by the F-35, as opposed to other options? That will depend, in part, on…

AIR F-35 Commonality

F-35 commonality
(click to view full)

Affordability: The F-35 family was designed to be much more affordable than the F-22, but a number of factors are narrowing that gap.

One is cost growth in the program. This has been documented by the GAO, and statements and reports from the US DoD are beginning to follow the same kind of “rising spiral of admissions” pattern seen in past programs.

The 2nd is loss of parts commonality between the 3 models, which the GAO has cited as falling below the level required to produce significant savings. In March 2013, the JSF PEO placed the figure at just 25-30%.

A 3rd is production policy. The US GAO in particular believes that the program’s policy of beginning production several years before testing is complete, only adds to the risks of future price hikes and operating cost shocks. It also forces a lot of expensive rewaork to jets that are bought before problems are found. Part of the rationale for accepting concurrency risks and costs involves…

The 4th factor: lateness. The program as a whole is about 5-7 years behind its ideal point, relative to the replacement cycle for fighters around the globe. F-35 program customers thus find themselves in the unenviable position of having to commit to a fighter that hasn’t completed testing, and doesn’t have reliable future purchase or operating costs, while buying the expensive way from early production batches. The program office hopes to drop the flyaway price of an F-35A to $90 million by 2020, but current Pentagon budget documents list an average production cost of $105-120 million per F-35A-C, from 2017 to the end of the program.

Control: This has been a big issue in the past for customers like Britain and Australia, and has now become an issue for Israel as well. Without control over software source codes, integration of new weapons and algorithms can be controlled by the whims and interests of American politicians and defense contractors. On the other hand, America sees wider access to those fundamental building blocks as a security risk. Arrangements with Britain and Australia appear to have finessed this debate, without removing it.

Noise: The F135 engine’s size and power are unprecedented in a fighter, but that has a corollary. Environmental impact studies in Florida showed that the F-35A is approximately twice as noisy as the larger, twin-engine F-15 fighter, and over 3.5 times as noisy as the F-16s they’re scheduled to replace. That has led to noise complaints from local communities in the USA and abroad, and seems likely to create a broad swathe of local political issues as customers deploy them. In some countries, it may add costs, as governments are forced to compensate or even to buy out nearby homeowners affected by the noise.

Each customer must weigh the issues above against its own defense and industrial needs, and come to a decision. In-depth, updated DID articles that address some of these issues in more detail include:

* The F-35’s Air-to-Air Capability Controversy. A comprehensive look at the issue, and its consequences.

* F-35: I am Fighter, Hear Me Roar. Noise could become a serious political issue for the F-35.

* The Great Engine War II The Pentagon finally canceled GE/RR’s F136 alternative engine project to rely entirely on Pratt & Whitney’s F135, over the objections of its GAO auditors.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: The Program

1st UK F-35B

1st British F-35B
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Is the F-35 an industrial program for a fighter, or a fighter with an industrial program? Beyond the initial competition between Lockheed Martin’s X-35 and Boeing’s X-32, the Joint Strike Fighter was envisioned from the outset as a program that would make sense using either interpretation. A wide set of consortium partners and national government investments would form an interlocking set of commitments, drawing on a wide range of global industrial expertise and making the program very difficult for any one party to back out of or cancel.

The JSF program is ‘tiered,’ with 4 possible levels of participation based on admission levels and funding commitments for the System Design & Development (SDD) phase. All Tier 1-3 nations have also signed MoUs for the Production Phase. This is not a commitment to buy, just the phase in which production arrangements are hammered out – subject to revision, of course, if that country decides not to buy F-35s. Consortium partners and customers to date include:

* Tier 1 Partners: The USA (majority commitment), Britain
* Tier 2 Partners: Italy; The Netherlands
* Tier 3 Partners: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Turkey
* Security Cooperative Participants status: Israel (20-75), Singapore.
* Exports: Japan (42).

Italy has expressed an interest in a Lockheed-Martin Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) plant for European orders, and Fellow Tier 1 partner Britain is examining a FACO of its own for BAE. The Netherlands, meanwhile, wants to be a center for engine sustainment and heavy maintenance. The Dutch have signed an agreement with Italy to help each country get what it wants; Norway was added to that agreement in June 2007.

F-35 AA-1 Rollout

Lightning II official rollout
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The first test aircraft, an F-35A model AA-1, had its formal rollout on July 7/06. The F-35’s forced redesign for weight reasons has led to F-35 AA-1 being a unique airframe used to validate design, manufacturing, assembly and test processes. A total of 23 test aircraft will be built for various purposes (15 flight, 7 non-flight, 1 radar signature), but the exact order of build for the variants involved has shifted several times.

The testing phase was originally supposed to end in 2013, but is now officially scheduled to continue until 2018. Funding for the first sets of production-model aircraft is approved, parts fabrication began in June 2007, and component assembly began later in 2007. F-35As have already been delivered to the USAF – a sore point with the US Congress’ Government Accountability Office, which believes this dual-track approach overlapping testing with production increases project risks. Production will continue to ramp up year-to-year, and by the time the F-35 is expected to reach Full-Rate Production, the program intends to build 240 F-35s per year.

To do that, they’ll need orders. So far, only the USA, Israel, and Japan have placed orders for production F-35s that go beyond training & test aircraft.

Delays in fielding the initial set of test aircraft, fewer than expected flights, and questions about that ambitious ramp up schedule have reportedly led the Pentagon to re-examine these schedules. Development is now expected to last into FY 2019 or later.

Industrial Innovation

F-35 Program: Core Participants & Components

F-35B Cutaway

F-35B JSF Cutaway
by John Batchelor
(click to view full)

At present, F-35 production is led by Lockheed Martin, with BAE and Northrop-Grumman playing major supporting roles, and many subcontractors below that.

BAE Systems is deriving substantial benefits from Britain’s Tier 1 partner status, and Northrop Grumman is responsible for the F-35’s important ‘center barrel’ section, where the wings attach to the fuselage, and also provides many of the aircraft’s key sensors.

F-35 main production and final assembly is currently slated to take place in Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, TX plant. To cut F-35 production cycle time, the team produces major sections of the aircraft at different feeder plants, and “mates” the assemblies at Fort Worth. This is normal in the auto industry, but it’s a departure from the usual fighter-building process.

NGC center section

AF-1 center barrel
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The precise tolerances required for a stealthy fighter, however, are much more exacting than even high-end autos. In order to avoid subtly mismatched seams, which become radar reflection points, parts need to fit together so precisely that some machines are compensating for the phases of the moon!

Even the best machines won’t do any good if the various components aren’t already an excellent fit. To cope, Manufacturing Business Technology reports that the JSF manufacturing team has turned to an integrated back-end IT system. It begins with 3D engineering models (Dassault Systemes CATIA CAD), and extends into production management, where the company has rolled out a manufacturing execution system to handle electronic work instructions, workflow and process modeling, serialized parts data, quality records tracking, etc. (Visiprise).

This combination has enabled greater use of techniques like automated drilling, even as other software (Siemens PLM, TeamCenter) enables product record management and electronic collaboration around designs. On the back-end, the team uses a custom system it calls Production & Inventory Optimization System (PIOS) for manufacturing resources planning and supply chain management; it began using ERP software (SAP) in January 2008 for financials, and may eventually use it to handle supply-chain functions too.

This ‘digital thread’ has been very successful for the team, with part fits showing incredible precision, and successful coordination of plants around the end schedule for key events like the Dec 18/07 F-35B rollout. The system’s ultimate goal is to cut a plane’s production cycle time from the usual 27-30 months to about 12 months, and shrink a 15-20 day cycle to just 6-8 days from order creation to printed & matched manufacturing orders.

Testing, Testing

F-35C armed

F-35C weapon carriage
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The F-35’s development and testing program was originally supposed to end in 2013. Current estimates involve a 2018 finish for all 3 models, with Block 3F software installed and a smaller set of integrated weapons than initially planned.

The F-35’s development schedule has steadily slipped, and a combination of development and production difficulties left Lockheed Martin significantly behind their planned testing schedule. The company has made a point of highlighting testing progress in 2012, as they finally got ahead of the annual curve:

F-35 JSF family: Testing statistics

F-35 JSF family: Testing statistics
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Staying ahead of planned testing points and flights is laudable, but it doesn’t guarantee that the fighter itself is ahead of where it should be on the development curve. Bringing test points forward from future years can keep the numbers even. It won’t solve issues like late software delivery, which is preventing F-35s from fulfilling a number of planned testing points, and makes any combat related testing useless. The F-35s will also need changes in a number of areas, from their horizontal stabilizers to the F-35B’s complex system of lift fans and doors. Those changes will require further testing afterward, adding more test points to the program each time an issue is found. The table below outlines key issues as of 2012, and both of these testing-related datasets are available for download by subscribers:

F-35 JSF family: DOT&E's key 2012 findings

F-35 JSF family: DOT&E’s key 2012 findings
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F-35 JSF: Programs by Country

F-35A AA-1

Joint Strike Fighter
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The F-35 is a multinational program, and one of its challenges involves keeping all of the program’s partners moving forward. Each partner has its own issues, and increasingly, its own timeline.

Since early-production fighters can add 50-100% to the cost of full-rate production planes, most of these timelines are determined by how cost-sensitive each customer is.

Home Base: The American Program

US F-35 Family Program Dashboard

In many ways, the American F-35 program sets the tone for all others. Countries that want the F-35, like Japan, are already seeing price hikes because of American decisions to slow initial F-35 production. Current per-plane costs are over $120 million, with initial spares and training infrastructure added on top of that. That price is expected to come down, but it requires volume orders. That means someone has to spend the money, and right now, that someone is the USA.

This leaves the United States on the horns of a dilemma.

One nightmare scenario is a fate similar to the high-end F-22A Raptor, which was initially supposed to field 1,000 fighters, but ended up producing just 183 thanks to spiraling development costs, unexpected upgrade costs, and production costs that never benefited from full economies of scale. Cuts led to continued high prices, which led to more cuts. That scenario would spell disaster for other F-35 customers, who would end up paying far more per plane than they had expected. Some would then defect, driving up prices again for the countries who remained.

The other nightmare scenario for the USA involves significant problems discovered in testing, which then require costly and extensive retrofits to the 400+ F-35 fighters that will be produced before the test program ends. This parallel test/production model has been the subject of heavy criticism from the US government’s GAO auditors. It’s a form of “political engineering” designed to make cancellation too expensive for politicians, even if it leads to sharply higher final costs, or hurts the future fleet.

F-35A

F-35A
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American purchase decisions can be described as a balancing act between these nightmares. If they spend too much money ramping up production, other countries are more likely to buy as prices drop, but the USAF could be on the hook for a huge retrofit bill that it can’t afford. If they throttle their efforts back too far in order to avoid retrofit risk, it makes defections by existing JSF partners more likely, and hurts the fighter’s chances of landing export sales.

Lockheed Martin has tried to thread this needle by getting multiple JSF consortium members to commit to a joint buy, in order to create a big enough pool of secure orders to drive down purchase costs for everyone. So far, they’ve been unable to get the signatures they need.

Meanwhile, past and planned American F-35 budgets for all variants are graphed below, with an Excel download as a bonus. Note that R&D forecasts aren’t yet published as a single figure beyond FY 2013:

US F-35B & F-35C Budgets, 2002-2017

US F-35A Budget Graph, 2002-2017

USAF: F-35A
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US F-35B & F-35C Budgets, 2002-2017

US F-35B & F-35C Budget Graph, 2002-2017

USN: F-35B & F-35C
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Australia (Tier 3)

RAAF F-111 & F/A-18A

The legacy roster
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Australia was originally going to replace its long-range F-111 fighter-bomber and F/A-18 AM/BM Hornet fighter fleets with a single fleet of 100 F-35A aircraft. Current plans for the F-35 are less clear. A change of governing parties hasn’t shifted Australia’s long-term commitment to the F-35A yet, but rising costs could do so.

In November 2009, the Government approved funding for Phase 2A/B (Stage 1) to acquire 14 F-35As, at a cost of about A$ 2.75 billion. In October 2010, they formally submitted a Partner Procurement Request (PPR) to the US Government, and expect a FY 2012 order for 2 initial F-35As, for delivery in 2014-15. Those 2 planes will remain in the United States for testing and pilot training. The next 12 planes would have been based in Australia, and their Year of Decision will now be 2014-15, which may also cover the Stage 2 buy of 58 planes (TL: 72). Deliveries of operational fighters aren’t expected until 2017-2019 now, which means that RAAF F-35As won’t be flying in Australia until around 2020. The AIR 6000 Phase 2C decision to add another 24 F-35s or so, and raise Australia’s total buy to 96+, won’t happen until 2018-19 at the earliest.

As of 2014, The Royal Australian Navy will begin receiving Canberra Class LHD ships that could deploy F-35Bs, but at present there are no plans to host fighters on board. If those plans change, the AIR 6000 Phase 2C decision is the likely inflection point.

The inflection point for a single fighter fleet has already passed. In May 2007, delays to the F-35 program pushed the RAAF to buy 24 F/A-18F Block II Super Hornets as an interim capability. Those aircraft have all been delivered now, and 12 of them are set to convert to EA-18G Growler tactical jamming fighters. F-35 delays may push Australia to order more Super Hornets, and the hard reality is that each new Super Hornet bought probably subtracts an F-35A from future orders.

Britain (Tier 1)

CVF Concept

RN CVF Concept
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Britain is the only Tier 1 partner outside the USA, and they have invested about $2 billion equivalent in the F-35’s development. They took delivery of their 1st IOT&E training and test aircraft in July 2012.

Britain’s original plan involved buying 138 F-35B STOVL planes for deployment on land and on their new aircraft carriers, but that will now shrink to an undetermined number.

The UK MoD has also switched back and forth between the F-35B and the catapult-launched F-35C. The F-35C’s range and weapon capacity give it significant time-over-target advantages in a Falkland Islands kind of scenario. On the flip side, the F-35B can fly from forward operating bases in situations like Afghanistan, allowing fewer planes to generate more sorties in the same time frame. The determining factor that switched Britain back to the F-35B was the cost of modifying its aircraft carriers.

Canada (Tier 3)

CF-18 20-year Colors

CF-18, 20-year colors
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In July 2010, Canada committed to buy 65 F-35As as its future fighter force, with an envisioned budget up to C$ 9 billion for the fighters, plus C$ 7 billion for 20 years of support. All without a competition. That decision has been beset by controversy ever since, and the Conservative Party government claims that they aren’t committed to buy the F-35A yet. On the other hand, they haven’t made any substantive concessions, or meaningful changes to their plans, aside from promising that if F-35 costs continue to rise, Canada will just buy fewer planes within its budget.

Canada will probably sign a contract by 2015, which would make it too expensive for any successor governments to cancel the program. If the Conservative Party government doesn’t sign a contract before the next election, they had better win again. Otherwise, the conduct of this acquisition program has so antagonized the opposition Liberal and NDP parties that the F-35 buy will be a priority target for cancellation.

In November 2012, the first cracks appeared in the government’s stone wall. The Public Works ministry took over the lead role from DND, and said that the military’s original statement of requirements would be suspended while the government reviewed fighter options. Read full coverage, including industrial participants, over at “Canada Preparing to Replace its CF-18 Hornets.”

Denmark (Tier 3)

Denmark F-16 MLU

Danish F-16 MLU
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Denmark is a consortium member, but they threw their F-16 fighter replacement order open to competition in 2007. The F-35A was competing against Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Sweden’s JAS-39E/F Gripen, but an April 2010 decision delayed the competition. The Danes reportedly have about 30 operational F-16s in 2013, with another 15 stored in reserve.

The F-16 replacement process has started again as promised, with EADS’ Eurofighter Typhoon added to the mix of invitees. A decision to buy 24-32 fighters is now expected by June 2015.

Italy (Tier 2)

Cavour carrier concept

CVH Cavour
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Italy has made significant investments in JSF development, and the country intends to host a European Final Assembly and Check-Out (FACO) production line in Cameri, near Milan.

The navy’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier will need at least 22 F-35Bs to replace its AV-8 Harrier fighters, but Europe and Italy’s slow-motion fiscal calamity makes the rest of its buy far less certain. The original plan involved 131 F-35s for the Army and Navy, but a February 2012 decision has scaled plans back to 90 fighters. The Italians are still discussing whether to buy a mix of F-35As and F-35Bs for the air force, but cost pressures are likely to push the Aeronautica Militare toward F-35As.

Given Italy’s rising borrowing costs, and the air force’s modern fleet of 96 Eurofighter Typhoons, further cuts in Aeronautica Militare F-35 purchases would be a reasonable expectation.

The Netherlands (Tier 2)

Dutch F-16s Afghan

Dutch F-16s,
Afghanistan
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The F-35 is the Ministerie van Defensie’s choice, but instability in successive Dutch governments has prevented a clear decision. The Netherlands plans to buy up to 85 fighters, and as one of the two JSF Tier 2 partners, they want to place a European maintenance hub in the Netherlands. Industry benefits figure heavily in their decision, and participation in the JSF program was structured as a payback scheme. That has sometimes created a strained relationship between the government and participating firms.

Cost is a serious issue. A September 2009 media report revealed that Saab submitted a bid for 85 ready-to-fly JAS-39NL Gripen fighters, at a reported cost of EUR 4.8 billion. In contrast, a December 2010 report to the Dutch Parliament placed the expected purchase cost of 85 F-35As at EUR 7.6 billion, and the government has said that if costs continue to rise, the only change will be fewer fighters bought.

Costs have risen, even as budgets shrank. A 2012 Rekenkamer report revealed that the MvD was admitting a ceiling of just 56 F-35As, given their EUR 4.05 billion budget. That isn’t enough for their current responsibilities, and their notional EUR 68.6 million/ $89 million per plane figure is significantly less than the Pentagon’s post-2017 average cost projection of $108 million – which allows just 48 Dutch F-35As. Throw in the 21% Dutch Value Added Tax, and the real number could be as low as 33-38 F-35As.

Keeping its F-16s flying until the required 2027 date is expected to cost another EUR 335 million, and must be figured into the total cost, even if it comes from a separate budget item. A slip to 2029, or another fighter option that took that much more time, brings that total added cost to EUR 515 million.

Finally, F-35 maintenance and operating costs are expected to be higher than either the current F-16s (+42% American projection), or the Gripen. That affects the number that can be kept flying under future budgets. The 2012 Rekenkamer report says that estimates for 30 years of F-35A operations & maintenance, exclusive of fuel, have risen from EUR 2.9 billion for 85 planes in 2001, to EUR 14.2 billion. Buying 68 aircraft only drops this estimate to EUR 13.2 billion, and that non-linear drop makes it likely that O&M costs for a fleet of 42-48 F-35As, over 30 years, would be well over EUR 200 million per-plane.

A final decision is scheduled for 2015, but successive coalition governments have been pushing through contracts for initial F-35 test aircraft, as a way of entrenching their country’s commitment. A July 2012 vote left only the center-right VVD and Christian Democrats supporting an F-35 buy, and after the elections, a coalition with the opposition PvdA Labour party changed the process for reaching that 2015 decision. Whether it will change anything else remains to be seen.

Norway (Tier 3)

Norway F-16 Libya

RNoAF F-16,
off to Libya
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Norway picked the F-35A in November 2008, after a competition that Wikileaks documents suggest was a sham. Parliamentary opposition finally caved in July 2011, and purchases began in 2012. They will buy 46-52 F-35s, with an initial 4 training aircraft slated to begin delivery in 2015. Another 42-48 planned fighters are slated to begin turning into contracts as of 2017, and the program’s official overall cost currently lists as NOK 60 billion/ $FY12 10 billion. Basing will be at Orland AB, with a satellite forward operating base up north at Evenes.

As part of their program, Norway’s Kongsberg is developing a stealthy, sub-sonic Joint Strike Missile (JSM/NSM) that will be able to hit ships or land targets, and can be carried inside the F-35A/C weapons bay. Its positioning as an internally-carried cruise missile will be unique, and Australia has already indicated interest. At present, however, there’s no firm date for integration.

Read “F-35 Lightning II Wins Norway’s (Fake) Competition” for full coverage.

Turkey (Tier 3)

Turkey F-16s

TuAF F-16s
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Turkey had talked about ordering up to 100 F-35A fighters, as the long-term replacement for its 240-plane F-16 fleet. beyond the program’s industrial benefits, they also have a geopolitical rationale. Turkey’s main rival, Greece, has been crippled by its fiscal situation, and is not an F-35 program participant. They’re unlikely to field any fighters with technology beyond their existing F-16s for quite some time, and Turkey wants an edge. The Turks are also beginning to project influence into Central Asia, have neighbors in Syria, Iraq and Iran that bear watching, and are stoking a growing level of friction with Israel, an F-35 customer.

In the near term, a combination of new buys and upgrades will ensure a long life for Turkey’s F-16s. Current plans still involve 100 F-35s, and 2012 saw the first contract – but by January 2013, Turkey was postponing its purchase of 2 training and test aircraft. The overall program is expected to cost around $16 billion.

Israel (Security Cooperation Partner)

IAF F-16C Sardinia

Israeli F-16C
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With 326 F-16s in the IAF (224 F-16A-D, 102 F-16i), Israel is the largest F-16 operator outside of the United States. Their commitment to regional superiority made them the first country outside the USA to commit to a production F-35 buy in October 2010, with a contract for 20 “F-35is” and options to raise that number to 75 planes. The F-22 Raptor had been their preferred choice, but America refused to export it.

The Israelis got some concessions from Lockheed Martin and the US government, including the ability to insert their own ECM(Electronic Counter Measures) defensive equipment. Their F-35i will also carry compatible communications equipment and some avionics, and the Israelis are expected to push for early integration of their own weapons, like RAFAEL’s Python 5 short-range air-to-air missile and Spice GPS/IIR guided smart bomb. F-35i system development contracts began in August 2012.

Read “Israeli Plans to Buy F-35s Moving Forward” for full coverage.

Singapore (Security Cooperation Partner)

RSAF F-16D Block 52

RSAF F-16D
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Singapore expects to replace its 74-plane F-16 fleet with F-35s, but they have a lot of timing flexibility. A program of significant fleet upgrades to F-16V status is expected to begin within the next year, giving them a plane that’s more advanced than USAF F-16s. Their new fleet of 20 high-end F-15SGs are already more advanced than the USAF’s Strike Eagles, and their combined fleet size and quality is expected to keep them comfortably ahead of their neighbors for a while.

In the nearer term, their fleet of about 34 upgraded F-5S/T fighters will need replacement. Singapore is reported to be about to announce an order for 12 F-35Bs, as part of a larger export approval request that could go as high as 75 planes. Their alternative would be to order more F-15SGs as F-5 replacements, and wait until it was time to begin replacing their F-16s. An order of 12 Strike Eagles would cost less, and would offer a much wider array of capabilities until about 2025 or later. F-35Bs would offer more risk, and would enter service much later, in exchange for stealth and the ability to take off and land from damaged runways.

Exports: Beyond the Program Team

 

Japan

F-4EJ Kai

F-4EJ “Kai(zen)”
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The F-22 Raptor had been Japan’s preferred choice, but America refused to export it. In December 2011, therefore, Japan picked the F-35A over Boeing’s F/A-18E Super Hornet International, and the Eurofighter Typhoon. The F-35A was said to have the best capabilities, based only on mathematical analysis of the paper submissions Japan received. It eked out a narrow “Gilligan win” on overall cost by offering dorsal aerial refueling and finishing 2nd in both sub-categories, and was even with the others in terms of maintenance contracts offered. The only major category it lost was domestic industrial participation, but the winning Eurofighter bid had cost issues with that aspect of its submission.

The JASDF has an approved Foreign Military Sale request for 42 F-35As, and has committed to 4 so far. This set of 42 F-35As will replace its fleet of 91 upgraded F-4 “Phantom Kai” fighters. Eventually, Japan will also need to replace about 213 F-15J Eagle air superiority fighters with at least 100 new planes, but the F-35 will have to compete for that.

Past fighter orders from Japan have involved extensive license production. So far, reports and documents indicate that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will be involved in work on F-35 aircraft bodies, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. on mission-related avionics, and IHI Corp. on F135 engines.

Read “Japan’s Next Fighters: F-35 Wins The F-X Competition” for full coverage.

Future Sales Opportunities

F-15SEs concept

F-15 Silent Eagles
Boeing concept
(click to view full)

Lockheed Martin continues to promote the F-35 in the international market, but its priority is securing production orders from the countries that are already part of the JSF consortium.

South Korea’s F-X-III fighter competition is probably the F-35’s biggest near-term export opportunity. The F-35 is competing against Boeing’s stealth-enhanced F-15SE Silent Eagle and the Eurofighter Typhoon for that 60-plane order.

A number of Middle Eastern countries are shopping for fighter jets, including the UAE, Oman, and Qatar. Kuwait is expected to join them soon. So far, the F-35 hasn’t featured prominently in reporting about these competitions. It isn’t a contender in Oman, and the UAE’s focus appears to be fixed on either France’s Rafale or the Eurofighter Typhoon.

In Europe, Belgium and Portugal will need to replace their F-16s pretty soon, but political and fiscal woes make such buys unlikely. Eastern European countries either have medium-to-long term commitments in place, or are too small and poor to be likely F-35 customers. Lockheed Martin’s brightest hope beyond its existing consortium partners is probably Spain. Like Italy, Spain will eventually need to either buy the F-35B as its only real option to replace the AV-8 Matadors (Harriers) on the Juan Carlos I, or downgrade the ship to a helicopter and UAV carrier. Europe’s slow-motion collapse has pushed its fiscal difficulties close to their limit, however, and there are no Spanish plans at present for an F-35 buy.

The F-35 has been promoted to India, especially as a naval fighter option for its new carriers. It was not a contender for India’s M-MRCA buy, however, and prospects for a future sale seem dim due to competition from a range of existing naval (MiG-29K, Tejas naval) and air force (SU-30MKI, SU-50i FGFA) program commitments.

F-35 Contracts & Decisions

LRIP = Low Rate Initial Production. Unless otherwise noted, US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in Patuxent River, MD manages these contracts.

FY 2013 – 2023

F-35A JSF & F-22A Raptor

F-35A & F-22A,
Eglin AFB
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November 15/23: ProSim Lockheed Martin won an $8 million order, which exercises an option to procure diminishing manufacturing sources, to include lamp module assemblies and filter packs in support of the operation of F-35 ProSim Projectors for non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom; and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in June 2026.

October 25/23: IOT&E In a landmark achievement for the F-35 Lightning II program, the final Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) event was successfully completed on September 21st. This pivotal phase of testing took place in the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE), marking a significant milestone in the development of the world’s most advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft.

September 25/23: Life Extension Lockheed Martin won an $98 million deal to provide for the development of production engineering change proposals, retrofit engineering release reports, investigations and subcontractor support for investigations and qualifications in support of increasing the life of F-35 aircraft parts for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, California; and Samlesbury, United Kingdom, and is expected to be completed in February 2026. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued.

September 22/23: Interim Building Reason Building Group won a $10.3 million deal for constructing the interim building for the F-35. This contract provides for the purchase and construction of a temporary facility to house the F-35 Partner Support Complex Exchange Reprogramming Laboratory Office to support F-35 mission data development and verification for Japan, South Korea, Israel, Belgium, and Poland (in a secure environment), as international partners in the F-35 program. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 2, 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales to Japan, Israel, Belgium, and South Korea. This contract was a competitive acquisition and four offers were received.

September 19/23: Denmark’s first four Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft arrived home at Fighter Wing Skrydstrup in southern Jutland. The stealth craft came from the Azores, where they stopped over shortly after crossing the Atlantic from their base in the United States. This comes after the nation announced the allocation of $20.5 billion  over the next decade to strengthen its defense and security.

September 14/23: Sustainment Lockheed Martin won a 841.5 million modification, which exercises options to provide non-recurring site activation, initial sustainment and associated administrative support, to include fleet management, support equipment, pilot flight equipment, post ejection survival training material, program management, and earned value management in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California; Orlando, Florida; Fort Worth, Texas; and Lancashire, United Kingdom, and is expected to be completed in December 2029.

September 12/23: F135 Raytheon Technologies won a $220.9 million deal, which provides material and support equipment, program administrative, labor, supplies, services, planning, and unit level support equipment for F135 propulsion depot maintenance, non-recurring sustainment activities, and depot activations in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Military Sealift Command, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department for Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut; Windsor Locks, Connecticut; Cherry Point, North Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Jacksonville, Florida; Volkel Air Base, Netherlands; Marham Air Base, Norfolk, United Kingdom; Yuma, Arizona; USS Kearsarge; various locations within the continental US (CONUS); and various location outside the CONUS, and is expected to be completed in September 2026.

August 24/23: Support Lockheed Martin won a $606.8 modification, which procures long lead time materials, parts, components, and efforts in support of maintaining on-time production and delivery of 173, Lot 19, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, California; Warton, United Kingdom; Cameri, Italy; Orlando, Florida; Nashua, New Hampshire; Baltimore, Maryland; San Diego, California; and various locations outside the continental US, and is expected to be completed in January 2028.

August 21/23: Germany Lockheed Martin won a $622.4 million deal to provide program management, non-recurring unique requirements, and training in support of integration efforts for the government of Germany into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program as a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customer. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (70%); Orlando, Florida (15%); and Greenville, South Carolina (15%), and is expected to be completed in December 2027.

August 17/23: 125th The Florida-based 125th Fighter Wing is gearing up for a significant transformation. After three decades of flying the F-15C Eagle, the 125th Fighter Wing is embarking on a journey into the future with the arrival of the F-35A Lightning II, marking a new chapter in the unit’s storied history. The momentum towards this transition gained significant traction on August 14, 2023, when Maj. Brannon Ferguson, a seasoned pilot at the 159th Fighter Squadron, flew an F-15C Eagle to its final resting place at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The symbolic departure signified the divestiture of the F-15C Eagle airframe for the 125th Fighter Wing, setting the stage for a remarkable evolution.

August 11/23: Romania The Romanian Ministry of National Defence has requested the parliament’s approval for the purchase of 32 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, according to Defense Minister Angel Tîlv?r. The planned procurement is estimated to be worth about $6.5 billion. In an interview with local broadcaster Antena 3, Tîlv?r said his ministry is “taking the first step towards equipping the Romanian Air Force with a state-of-the-art capability which will give Romania a consolidated status in the security architecture on [NATO’s] eastern flank and in the Black Sea region.”

August 10/23: Fuel Tanks The low-drag external fuel tanks and pylons Lockheed Martin is developing for the F-22 Raptor could be integrated with other fighter jets, such as the F-35, according to a company official. The F-22 Low Drag Tank and Pylon (LDTP) is one capability being developed for the fifth-generation aircraft to keep up with adversary advances through 2030.

August 1/23: Small Diameter Bomb II Raytheon won a $50 million deal for right-sized hardware and software integration of the Small Diameter Bomb II onto the F-35B and C platforms. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by October 31, 2024. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

July 27/23: Morocco According to media sources, Morocco is considering the purchase of fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets to enhance its capabilities vis-à-vis its neighbor Algeria. The two countries are engaged in an ongoing dispute concerning the sovereignty of the Western Sahara territory, which Morocco claims as its own. While Algeria upgraded its Air Force with fourth-generation aircraft like the SU-30 and MiG-29, the Moroccan Air Force still operates third-generation planes such as the F-16, F-5, and Mirage F-1.

July 17/23: Delivery Lockheed Martin won a $99.5 million modification, which procures long lead time materials, parts, components, and efforts in support of maintaining on-time production and delivery of 147 Lot 18 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, California; Warton, United Kingdom; Cameri, Italy; Orlando, Florida; Nashua, New Hampshire; Baltimore, Maryland; San Diego, California; and various locations outside the US, and is expected to be completed in January 2027.

July 7/23: Fuselage Rheinmetall plans to build a plant to manufacture the F-35A fighter jet’s center-fuselages in Germany. This will be the second F-35A center fuselage integrated assembly line after Northrop Grumman’s facility in Palmdale, California. The decision was taken after aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin, principal partner Northrop Grumman, and Rheinmetall signed a letter of intent in February.

July 3/23: Czech Republic The US State Department has approved the potential foreign military sale of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets and munition to the Czech Republic. According to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announcement, Prague has requested 24 F-35s in the conventional take-off and landing configuration. It also seeks to procure 25 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines, 70 AIM-120C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, and 86 StormBreaker all-up rounds.

June 20/23: Handheld Imaging Tool The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin a $12.8 million modification, which adds scope to provide for the integration of the handheld imaging tool into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in support of establishing a baseline organic maintainer capability, as well as providing joint technical data, training and services required to allow for the transition to organic maintainer capability for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in June 2025.

June 7/23: F135 Pratt and Whitney Military Engines a $2 million deal, which exercises options to procure materials, parts, and components for Lot 17 of the F135 Propulsion system for F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft as well as global spares requirements to include spare engines, power modules, and other hardware in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants, cooperative program partners, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (17%) (labor surplus area); Indianapolis, Indiana (10%); Middletown, Connecticut (8%); Kent, Washington (7%); North Berwick, Maine (4%); El Cajon, California (3%) (labor surplus area); Cromwell, Connecticut (3%); Whitehall, Michigan (3%); Portland, Oregon (2%); San Diego, California (2%); South Bend, Indiana (2%); Columbus, Georgia (2%); Hampton, Virginia (1%); Manchester, Connecticut (1%); Cheshire, Connecticut (1%); Elmwood Park, New Jersey (1%); and various locations outside the continental US (CONUS) (33%), and is expected to be completed in December 2025.

June 1/23: F-135 Lockheed Martin was awarded a $8.3 million deal to provide corrective maintenance to repair or replace F-135 propulsion systems for F-35A/B/C production aircraft in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in March 2026. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued.

May 31/23: No Sale To Thailand The Royal Thai Air Force’s (RTAF) bid to procure the highly sought-after F-35 fighter jets has been met with disappointment as the United States has declined to sell them to Thailand. The decision comes as a result of various factors, including training and technical requirements, according to RTAF spokesperson, ACM Prapas Sornchaidee. In a statement released by the RTAF, it was revealed that the sale of the fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter jets was subject to stringent conditions, such as time constraints, technical specifications, and maintenance compatibility. Unfortunately, the United States was unable to meet these criteria and therefore could not offer the sale to Thailand.

May 15/23: Cyber Support Lockheed Martin won a $34.7 million modification, which provides program management, software engineering, software engineering transformation, and cyber support to develop the Beyond Line of Sight F-35 Capability. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (50%); and San Diego, California (50%), and is expected to be completed in February 2026. Fiscal 2023 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $200,000 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

May 4/23: Electronic Warfare Band Lockheed Martin won a $1.4 million deal, which provides for the continued development of critical F-35 warfighting capabilities, to include Electronic Warfare Band 2/5 Radar Warning Receiver, Modernized Countermeasure Controller, Multi-ship Infrared Search and Track Increment 2, and Beyond Line of Sight communications, as well as supports required training and combat data systems development for Lots 16 and 17 production aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (60%); Nashua, New Hampshire (16%); Baltimore, Maryland (9%); Orlando, Florida (5.5%); Torrance, California (2%); San Diego, California (2%); El Segundo, California (2%); Northridge, California (1%); Clearwater, Florida (1%); Buffalo, New York (1%); and Tucson, Arizona (0.5%), and is expected to be completed in March 2028.

April 19/23: MCAS VMFA-311, also known as the Tomcats, was recently reactivated at US Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, California, on April 14. As the US Marine Corps’ second F-35C squadron, VMFA-311 brings its unique capabilities to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) as a long-range compliment to their existing aviation assets. This reactivation represents a key transition for the squadron to the F-35C Lightning II and supports the Marine Corps’ ongoing modernization efforts across Marine aviation.

April 17/23: Material Modification Kits Lockheed Martin on a $172 million modification, which definitizes the order and adds scope to provide special test/tooling equipment for increasing Block 4 manufacturing capacity, as well as procures material modification kits in support of removing life limits, correcting deficiencies, and retrofitting aircraft to incorporate Next Gen Distributed Aperture System hardware and associated Power and Thermal Management System modifications efforts. These modifications are in support of F-35 aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in December 2030.

April 13/23: UK Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have signed a $225 million capability support contract for the UK’s F-35 fleet. BAE Systems will act as subcontractor under the contract, providing most of the personnel at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Marham air base.

April 12/23: Romania Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) approved the acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 fifth-generation fighters. A meeting of the CSAT led by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, was held on April 11, 2023, to discuss the security situation in the Black Sea region and Romania’s position in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The council ruled that the development of Romania’s air defense was necessary to deter possible aggression, with the help of both air and anti-missile defense capabilities and long-range precision fire and strike capabilities. To achieve the latter, the CSAT confirmed a future order of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters.

April 4/23: Updates Raytheon won a $212.7 million modification, which definitizes the existing contract and extends the period of performance to provide continued recurring sustainment, program management, financial and administrative, propulsion integration, engineering, material management, configuration management, software sustainment, security management, equipment management and product management support activities. Additionally, this modification definitizes and extends the period of performance to continue to provide joint technical publication updates, training, depot level maintenance and repair for all fielded propulsion systems at the F-35 production sites and operational locations for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) partners, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Indianapolis, Indiana; West Palm Beach, Florida; Windsor Locks, Connecticut; Brekstad, Norway; Leeuwarden, Netherlands; Iwakuni, Japan; Williamtown, Australia; Cameri, Italy; Marham, United Kingdom; and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in November 2023.

March 31/23: Flight Tests Lockheed Martin won a $120 million modification, which exercises an option to provide continued engineering, maintenance, logistics, and material support in support of the development, production, and sustainment of software builds, as well as to execute developmental flight tests in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) partners. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (80%); Orlando, Florida (7%); Linthicum, Maryland (3%); Nashua, New Hampshire (3%); San Diego, California (2%); El Segundo, California (2%); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (1%); various locations within the continental U.S. (CONUS) (1%); and various locations outside CONUS (1%), and is expected to be completed in March 2024.

March 28/23: Spares Lockheed Martin won a $80 million modification, which adds scope to procure additional initial spares in support of F-35 Lightning II Lot 17 deliveries for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in December 2029.

March 2/23: Singapore Singapore’s Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) has exercised an option to acquire eight additional F-35B Lightning II Fighter multirole combat aircraft from Lockheed Martin. The update builds on a deal inked in 2020 for 12 F-35Bs to be delivered by the end of the decade for the Singapore Air Force (RSAF).

February 27/23: NextGen Open Mission Lockheed Martin won a $32.5 million modification, which adds scope to design, develop, and establish the F-35 NextGen Open Mission services in support of the Mission Planning Enterprise Software, encompassing the usage of modern cloud-based technologies and modern software methodologies for the Joint Strike Fighter Program. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas; and Eglin, Florida, and is expected to be completed in March 2027. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

February 21/23: German Components German manufacturer Rheinmetall said Friday it had reached an agreement with US arms company Lockheed Martin to supply components for the F-35 fighter jet, which Germany has chosen to replace its aging Tornado fleet.  The two companies have signed a letter of intent for Rheinmetall to produce “centre fuselage” parts for the aircraft, the German group said in a statement. The fuselage is the main body of a plane and the part that normally holds passengers and crew.

February 16/23: Building Renovations Conti Federal Services won a $8.4 million deal for building renovations of Air Force Building #1643 to support the F-35 aircraft. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by April 8, 2024.

February 10/23: Greece US Senator Bob Menendez, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has approved the sale of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets to Greece. Greece had sent a Letter of Request for 20 F-35A fighters to Washington DC via the US embassy in Athens in June 2022. This is the first step in a multi-stage process to acquire the stealth fighters. “I am pleased that two days ago I signed off for the F35-s to the Hellenic Republic and I did so not because I am simply a fan of the Greek people; I did so because this is a country that shares our values, that is aligned with us to things that are important in the world; democracy, human rights, rule of law, a country that is not belligerent to its neighbors,” Menendez was quoted as saying.

February 9/23: 1,000 The final assembly of the 1,000th Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has begun, with BAE Systems announcing the delivery of the aft fuselage section on 7 February. BAE Systems announced the milestone delivery from its Samlesbury facility in the North of England, noting that it came about 18 years after it shipped the first aft fuselage to Lockheed Martin in 2005.

February 6/23: Engineering Computer Systems won a $49.3 million deal to provide systems engineering, systems architecture analysis, and data analysis for the advanced requirements characterization, engineering and representation process in support of mission planning systems for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Work will take place in Virginia, and is expected to be completed in February 2028.

January 17/23: Canada Canada announced last week plans to buy 88 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters for $14 billion. Defense Minister Anita Anand said in an online briefing the Royal Canadian Air Force would receive its first four Lockheed Martin-made F-35s in 2026, with the next six in 2027 and another six in 2028. The remainder would come in subsequent years.

January 13/23: TR-3 The US Air Force’s F-35 Lightning II fighter has completed its first flight in the new Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) configuration. The service’s 461st Flight Test Squadron demonstrated the capability with an instrument F-35 flight test aircraft at Edwards AFB in California. For 50 minutes, the plane flew close to the speed of sound at an altitude of 35,000 feet (10,700 meters) over the Mojave Desert.

January 4/23: Huge Delivery The US Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin have finalized a $30 billion deal to deliver up to 398 F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The agreement includes 145 Lot 15s, 127 Lot 16s, and 126 Lot 17s for Finland, Belgium and Poland. “The F-35 delivers unsurpassed capability to our warfighters and operational commanders,” F-35 Joint Program Executive Officer USAF Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt stated.

December 28/22: Advanced Production Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $1.05-billion deal to advance the production of its F-35 fighter jets for the US armed forces. According to the US Department of Defense, the deal includes purchasing long-lead materials, spare parts, and necessary components to ensure the on-time delivery of the aircraft. The procurement of long-lead items is a critical step in advancing F-35 production since such materials often have a lengthier delivery period, affecting the duration of production.

December 15/22: Support Lockheed Martin win a $24.4 million contract modification, which adds scope for maintenance and support of F-35 chase aircraft necessary to support F-35 aircraft acceptance and delivery, including all pre and post-flight activities, the removal and replacement of failed components, and return the aircraft to a clean and compliant condition suitable for first-time delivery of F-35 Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense participants, and Foreign Military Sales customer’s operational aircraft. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be in December 2023.

November 29/22: Titanium Lockheed Martin has awarded Magellan Aerospace a contract to provide machine titanium components for its F-35 Lightning II Fighter Aircraft. The agreement covers the development of machined wing tie bars for the plane’s flap. Tie bars are placed on an aircraft’s joints, curb, or shoulder parts, connecting bordering or adjoining portions to prevent separation and damage in flight.

November 24/22: Ancillary Mission Equipment Lockheed Martin won a $47.3 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure Ancillary Mission Equipment in support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lot 17 production aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in December 2025. F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and programme partners from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and US allies. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be in December 2025.

November 11/22: AIM-120C The US State Department has greenlighted the foreign military sale of AIM-120C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs) to Belgium. Belgium requested the $380 million deal to arm its F-16 Fighting Falcons and future F-35 Lightning II fleet. According to the US Defense Security Agency (DCSA), the approval allows Belgium to buy up to 120 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMs and 10 C-8 Guidance Sections.

November 1/22: CRT Lockheed Martin won a $111 million contract modification, which adds scope for the development of a Common Reprogramming Tool (CRT) minimum viable product, as well as establishing network connections required to establish the CRT development network and selection of a service-oriented architecture needed to commence development of enhanced reprogramming tools in support of efforts to replace legacy programming tools utilized by reprogramming labs to modernize and revolutionize F-35 reprogramming. Work will take place in Texas. Expected completion in October 2024.

October 25/22: Gun Pod Containers Lockheed won a $12 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure Lot 15-16 gun pod containers in support of F-35 Lightning II aircraft ancillary mission equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) partners, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in February 2026.

October 21/22: Convectional Take-Off Raytheon Technologies won a $9.8 million modification, which adds scope to procure one F-35 Convectional Take-off and Landing variant, full scale, high fidelity, main engine mock-up, and engine maintenance training package in support of the for the F-35 Lightning II program. Work will take place in Australia. Expected completion will be in March 2025.

October 18/22: Crash Recovery A first-of-its-kind, F-35 crash recovery course was held at Hill Air Force Base and twenty-nine maintainers had the opportunity to train on handling different scenarios using a real F-35A. One of the scenarios in the five-day Crash Damaged or Disabled Aircraft Recovery course involved dealing with a collapsed nose gear, which will be destructive when done on a real jet. Instructors were able to use a repurposed F-35A for this type of training.

October 4/22: Supplies, Services And Planning The US Navy awarded Raytheon Technologies a $232.8 million deal to procure material and support equipment for depot maintenance facilities and unit level support equipment, as well as to provide program administrative support for non-recurring sustainment activities and supplies, services, and planning for depot standup and expansion in support of the for the F-35 Lightning II Program. Work will take place in Connecticut, Florida, Oklahoma. Japan, Norway, Australia, Indiana, Netherlands, North Carolina and Arizona. Expected completion will be by September 2025.

September 29/22: Manufacturing Sources Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won an $115.4 million deal, which provides diminishing manufacturing sources parts for F-35 Lightning II program for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense participants, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will take place in Texas. Expected completion will be in September 2023. Just recently, the US Navy, in collaboration with Raytheon, carried out two StormBreaker smart weapon-guided test vehicle releases from an F-35B Lightning II at .9 Mach, bringing the F-35 one step closer to receiving a major weapons upgrade.

September 21/22: Switzerland Switzerland has inked a deal to procure three dozen F-35A fighter jets, dodging a proposed popular referendum in the hopes of receiving the new jets by the end of the decade. Bern’s armaments director Martin Sonderegger and F-35 program manager Darko Savic signed the procurement contract on Monday, per a government release. The contract, worth $6.25 billion includes 36 of the conventional takeoff-and-landing aircraft variant, due to replace the nation’s fleets of F/A-18 Hornets and F-5 Tigers between 2027 and 2030. The Swiss parliament voted last week to green-light the procurement, which paved the way for the contract signatures.

September 15/22: Polish Training Poland is expected to be the first nation to train their F-35 pilots at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, the Arkansas Business said. The pilots and their aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Fort Smith in 2024 and the US Air Force is expected to build a F-35 simulator center at the base.

September 14/22: Engine General Electric Aviation said it and the US Air Force finished testing the firm’s second adaptive engine, which it hopes the military will adopt for the F-35 jet, and is ready to move into the engineering and manufacturing development phase.

September 9/22: Delivery Pause Lockheed Martin is working with the US Department of Defense (DoD) to lift a delivery pause of F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) combat aircraft following the recent discovery of material from China. The F-35 program office has assessed that the Chinese alloy does not present a safety or security risk that could expose the stealth jet to cyber attacks or other malfeasance, and an alternative source for the alloy has already been identified, F-35 JPO spokesman Russell Goemaere said in a statement. As a result, there are no plans to ground the F-35 fleet or return jets already accepted to Lockheed.

August 17/22: FLTS A new F-35A was delivered to Edwards Air Force Base on August 1 for assignment with the 461st Flight Test Squadron (FLTS). It is the first of six F-35As that the squadron and the F-35 Lightning II Integrated Test Force will use to test the Technical Refresh 3 and Block 4 configurations. For all three variants of the F-35, the 461 FLTS is the lead developmental flight test unit for sensors, weapons, and software.

July 29/22: Australia Canada United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory Lockheed Martin won a $213.3 million deal, which provides engineering, maintenance, logistics, and material support, in support of Phase 2 upgrade of the Australia Canada United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Additionally, this contract provides a new mission data production and test line to support sovereign reprogramming capabilities for the government of Australia and the United Kingdom’s F-35 air vehicles. Work will take place in Florida and Texas. Estimated completion will be in July 2027.

July 28/22: Sustainment Cost Reduction Raytheon Technologies won a $14.9 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide for the planning, implementation, management, and reporting of sustainment affordability in support of initiatives that reduce future F-35 propulsion sustainment cost for the F-35 Joint Program Office. Work will take place in Connecticut and Oklahoma. Expected completion will be in September 2024.

July 22/22: Czech The Czech government has decided to launch negotiations with the United States to buy 24 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets for the country’s Air Force. The aircraft are to replace the 14 Saab JAS 39 Gripens currently operated by the Czech military, making the country the second Eastern European ally after Poland to order Lockheed Martin’s fighters.

July 20/22: Netherlands Lockheed Martin won a $224.9 million contract modification, which increases the ceiling to procure long lead-time materials, parts, components, and effort for the production of three Lot 15 F-35A aircraft and nine Lot 16 F-35 aircraft for the government of the Netherlands. Work will take place in Texas, California, the UK, Italy, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland and Japan. Estimated completion will be by May 2026.

July 15/22:Reliability and Maintainability Improvement Program Implementation Lockheed Martin won a $70.9 million contract modification, which increases scope to provide Reliability and Maintainability Improvement Program implementation and the Anomaly Failure Resolution System backlog in support of establishing improvements to the reliability, availability, and maintainability to the F-35 and continued improvements to the F-35 total ownership costs for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Foreign Cooperative Program partners, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be in July 2025.

July 13/22: Poseidon’s Rage F-15Es and F-35As from Royal Air Force Lakenheath are now in Souda Air Base, Greece for Exercise Poseidon’s Rage. The exercise will take place from July 11-22 and Hellenic Air Force’s 115 Combat Wing will be the exercise’s host. This exercise is the first concurrent deployment of F-15Es and F-35As from USAFE to the same forward operating location. It is also the first time the F-35A from Lakenheath is deployed to Souda.

July 7/22: Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System Lockheed Martin won a $22.6 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure 22 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System shipsets for Distributed Aperture System for Technology Refresh-3 developmental and operational testing, Block 4 testing, the Electromagnetic Environmental Effects aircraft, and a spare sensor set provision in support of F-35 Lightning II next generation capabilities. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be by July 2023.

July 4/22: LoR Greece has signed the Letter of Request (LoR) to buy the F-35 fighter, local media reports. The letter was sent by the Greek defense ministry to Washington on June 29. Athens hopes to buy 20 aircraft with options for another 20.

June 22/22: Canada Canadian government documents have disclosed that Lockheed Martin is required to deliver nine F-35s to Canada by December 1, 2027. The last aircraft will have to be delivered before December 31, 2031. The Liberal government plans to purchase 88 U.S.-built F-35s as part of a project expected to cost taxpayers between $15 billion and $19 billion. Critics of the purchase have noted, however, the full lifecycle cost for the planes is estimated at $77 billion.

June 14/22: Pilot and Maintainer Training Lockheed Martin won a $53.1 million modification, which adds scope for non-recurring engineering, delivery and installation of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Pilot Training and Maintainer Training technical refresh hardware. Work will take place in Florida and Texas. Estimated completion date is January 2025. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

June 1/22: Lapland Finland will initially bed down its F-35As at Rovaniemi airport in 2026, the country declared on May 26. It is Finland’s most northern air base and lies within the Arctic Circle. The country ordered 64 F-35As and will be operational with the aircraft by 2030.

May 30/22: Delivery Schedules Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $97.5 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure Block 4 special tooling and test equipment in support of non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customer’s F-35 Lightning II delivery schedules. Work will take place in Texas, California, Orgeon, Tennesse, Israel, Michigan, Washington, Netherlands, Massachusetts and the UK. Expected completion is in December 2024.

May 19/22: Material Support Lockheed Martin won a &632.1 million deal, which provides engineering, maintenance, logistics and material support to continue to develop, sustain and produce software builds, as well as carryout developmental flight tests in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customer, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants’ funds. The deal also provides unique sea trials on aircraft carriers for the government of the United Kingdom. Work will take place in Texas, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, California, United Kingdom and Canada. Expected completion is in March 2024.

May 13/22: Unit Video Mixer Lockheed Martin won a $43.6 million order, which provides for diminishing manufacturing sources non-recurring engineering in support of a redesigned panoramic cockpit display electronic unit video mixer for F-35 Lightning II production aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in January 2029.

May 9/22: Mission Equipment Requirements Lockheed Martin won a $372.4 million modification, which adds scope to procure F-35 Lightning II Lots 15-16 ancillary mission equipment requirements for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Additionally, this modification adds scope to procure F-35 Lightning II initial spares for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas. Expected completion will be in December 2024.

May 3/22: UK According to the “UK Defence Journal”, the head of the Royal Air Force has confirmed plans to purchase 74 F-35B jets adding that it is “possible” the UK may eventually have a fleet of 138 F-35s. The specific number was apparently revealed by Air Marshal Knighton during a Defense Select Committee meeting.

May 2/22: Electronic Warfare Capabilities Lockheed Martin won a $93 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure special tooling and test equipment in support of electronic warfare capabilities for F-35 Lightning II low rate initial production for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in New Hampshire, Maryland and expected completion date is in November 2024.

April 28/22: Maintenance Hangar Walsh Federal won an $184.8 million deal for construction of an aircraft maintenance hangar at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina.  The work provides for the construction of a two-story, low rise, two squadron maintenance hangar for the F-35B Lightning II aircraft, including a high bay space, crew and equipment space, and administrative space. The deal also contains seven unexercised options, which if exercised would increase cumulative contract value to $206,064,819. Work will take place in North Carolina and is expected to be completed by June 2025.

April 25/22: Iceland The Italian Air Force is getting ready to deploy 4 F-35As to Keflavik Air Base, Iceland from Amendola Air Base next month. The two-month deployment will commence in May and more than 130 personnel will be heading to Iceland.

April 19/22: Product Support Maintenance Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $23 million deal, which provides initial product support maintenance of the F-35 Lightning II chase aircraft necessary to support F-35 aircraft acceptance and delivery at the final assembly and check out facility, to include all pre and post-flight activities, the removal and replacement of failed components, and return the aircraft to a clean and compliant condition suitable for first-time delivery of the operational F-35 aircraft to the Air Force, Navy, non-US Department of Defense participants, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will take place in Texas. Expected completion date is in December 2022.

April 15/22: FY 2023 The US Air Force (USAF) has told Congress it could use additional dollars for more F-35 Lightning II fighters, hypersonic weapons testing, and munitions if the funds are available in fiscal year (FY) 2023, according to the service’s unfunded priority list. The service said it could use an additional $921 million to buy seven more Lockheed Martin F-35A conventional variant fighters to add to its official request for 33 fighters.

April 11/22: Lot 17 F-35C Lockheed Martin won a $261.4 million contract modification, which increases scope for the procurement of long lead-time materials, parts, components, and efforts for the production of nine Lot 17 F-35C aircraft for the Navy, 13 Lot 17 F-35A aircraft and two Lot 17 F-35B aircraft for non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas, California, Maryland and Japan. Estimated completion is in May 2026.

April 5/22:Weapon Bay Door Drive System Lockheed Martin won a $23 million contract modification adds scope for the development and stand up of the initial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter depot repair capability for the Weapon Bay Door Drive System and Hydraulic Power Generation System, as well as provides increased repair capacity for the Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System. Work will take place in the UK, California, Texas and Illinois. Estimated completion will be in April 2025.

March 25/22:Israel Unique Software Data Load Lockheed Martin won a $16.6 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide for the development, integration, and testing of the Israel unique software data load in support of integration of Technology Refresh 3 (TR3) onto the F-35 Lot 15 Israel production aircraft. The integration efforts will include reverification of a select subset of the 3F+ software capability captured in the Israel System Development and Demonstration TR-3 reverification systems requirements document, airworthiness related flight testing of 3F+ software on TR-3 enabled aircraft, and weapons certification updates for use with TR-3 aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, California, Missouri, Arizona, Florida and Israel. Expected completion date is in March 2024.

March 16/22: Germany Germany will buy up to 35 copies of the F-35 fighter jet, reversing years-long plans that saw the fifth-generation warplane eliminated from consideration, defense leaders announced Monday. The planes will take over by 2030 the nuclear-weapons mission from the aging fleet of Tornado aircraft, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said during a joint statement with Air Force Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz in Berlin.

March 8/22: Mission And Weapon Systems Lockheed Martin won a $869.9 million contract modification, which adds scope for integrating mission and weapon systems capability development, including flight-test hardware, through system functional review to development test complete on the F-35A, F-35B, F-35C aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, New Hampshire, Florida, Maryland, California, Missouri and Arizona. Estimated completion will be in December 2026.

March 7/22: Training Devices Lockheed Martin won a not-to-exceed contract modification, which adds scope for the procurement, delivery, installation, and configuration of 22 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training devices. The total quantity of training devices includes full mission simulators, multispectral database, and interactive courseware. Additionally, this modification provides non-recurring engineering to identify and integrate a replacement rechargeable battery module to be installed within the blade server system of pilot training devices in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will take place in Texas and Florida. Estimated completion will be in December 2027.

February 22/22: Mission Equipment Lockheed Martin won a $42.1 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure ancillary mission equipment in support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lot 16 production aircraft for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2024.

February 16/22: UK Three more F-35B aircraft are being delivered to the UK, bringing the fleet to 25 aircraft. The aircraft are being flown from Texas to RAF Marham (via MCAS Beaufort) and assisted in crossing the Atlantic by a Voyager tanker. Three more jets will arrive later in 2022 and seven more will arrive in 2023.

February 9/22: Program Services System High Corp won a $104.9 million deal, which provides program services for the F-35 Joint Program Office to include program management, general security, information security, information security, industrial security, physical security, personnel security, counter-intelligence and foreign disclosure support. The deal also provides special security studies, program protection cybersecurity and security control assessments as well as and engineering services support. Work will take place in Virginia, Ohio, Germany, Texas, Maryland and Florida. Expected completion date is in February 2027.

February 7/22: F-35s in Ebbing The US Air Force has held an online meeting for the public to discuss the setup of a training base for foreign military pilots at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith on February 4. Patrick Jeanes of the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command disclosed that Singapore will relocate its 12 F-16s from Luke Air Force Base to Ebbing in June 2023. The first F-35 will arrive at Ebbing in July 2024, however, there is no information on which country owns the F-35 that will be delivered there.

February 4/22: Crewstations JF Taylor won an $8 million deal for F-35 high fidelity crewstations. The contract provides for cockpits, spares, manuals, training, installations and integration in support of High End Advanced Training and Tactics simulator missions. Work will take place in California and Nevada. Estimated completion will be by November 17, 2023.

January 5/22: Out To Sea The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is underway for a patrol of the Indo-Pacific and this deployment notes a number of firsts. The Marine Corps is sending its F-35C out to sea for its first operational deployment by bringing VMFA-314 aboard the carrier. VRM-30 will also deploy for the first time along with its CMV-22B. The squadron was established at NAS North Island in 2018.

December 29/21: IOC In The Netherlands The Netherlands Ministry of Defense officially declared Initial Operational Capable (IOC) for the Air Force’s F-35 squadron. The military will now be able to deploy a unit of 4 F-35s with personnel and equipment anywhere in the world for a short period of time.

December 28/21: 2022 Modification Lockheed Martin won a $324.1 million contract modification, which exercises options to support calendar year 2022 modification and retrofit activities for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program to include the procurement of material modification kits as well as program management, non-recurring engineering, aircraft induction, contractor field, depot site and laser shock peening site support. The modification adds scope for the procurement of material kits as well as special tooling and test equipment necessary to support F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft retrofit and modification efforts for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers from the governments of Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Work will take place in Texas, Japan, Italy, Australia, North Carolina and Utah.

December 16/21: Packages Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $9.3 million contract modification, which increases the ceiling to partially definitize fiscal 2021 air vehicle initial spares, to include global spares packages, base spares packages, deployment spares packages, and afloat spares packages in support F-35 Lightning II Air Vehicle deliveries for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, non-US Department of Defense participants, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2021.

December 14/21: Finland Finland chose the F-35A to replace its ageing F/A-18 fleet and will order 64 of the jets and their support equipment in a $9.4 billion deal. The government of Finland authorized the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command to sign a procurement contract with the Government of the United States on Finland’s next multi-role fighter. The procurement includes 64 F-35A Block 4 multi-role fighters, substantial and versatile weaponry tailored for the operating circumstances, required training and sustainment solutions, other related systems as well as sustainment and maintenance services until the end of 2030.

December 13/21: Out the Window Lockheed Martin won a $20.5 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering for the selected F-35 “Out the Window” replacement solution in support of full mission simulator production for the Air Force, Navy, and non-US Department of Defense participants. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter. Its advanced sensor package is designed to gather, fuse and distribute more information than any fighter in history, giving operators a decisive advantage over all adversaries. The F-35’s engine produces 43,000 lbs of thrust and consists of a three-stage fan, a six-stage compressor, an annular combustor, a single-stage high-pressure turbine, and a two-stage low-pressure turbine. Work will take place in Florida. Estimated completion is in March 2024.

November 23/21: ASQ-239 Lockheed Martin won a $584.8, which adds scope to provide system integration engineering for the development of new ASQ-239 electronic warfare/counter measure hardware in support of the F-35 aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-US Department of Defense participants. The ASQ-239 system can provide fully integrated radar warning, targeting support, and self-protection capabilities that will enable pilots to engage, counter, jam, or evade threats to improve survivability and mission effectiveness. Work will take place in New Hampshire, Texas, Maryland and the UK. Estimated completion is in April 2026.

November 19/21: Crypto Ignition Keys Lockheed Martin won a $19 million contract modification, that adds scope to provide delivery and installation of a multispectral database and delivery of crypto ignition keys in support of F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in support of the Air Force and the government of the Republic of Korea. Work will take place in Wisconsin and. Texas. Estimated completion will be in September 2023.

 

November 12/21: Cross-Decked F-35Bs from VMFA-211 cross-decked from HMS Queen Elizabeth to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex on November 8 while both ships were in the Gulf of Oman. A Royal Navy Merlin helicopter flew personnel from VMFA-211 to USS Essex initially to help with the recovery and refueling of the F-35Bs before launching the jets back to the British aircraft carrier.

November 2/21: Maintenance Support Lockheed Martin won a $30.5 million modification, which exercises options to provide operation and maintenance support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter development labs in support of testing developed configurations across the F-35 platform for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas and is expected to be finished in March 2022.

October 27/21: 355th Wing The 355th Fighter Squadron at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska took delivery of four more F-35As on October 19. The 354th Fighter Wing is slated to have a total of 54 F-35As by the end of 2022.

October 25/21: Norway The Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency (NDMA) has signed a contract with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS to to supply the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for Norway’s fleet of F-35A Lightning II fighters. The contract is valued at $473 million. The partnership between KONGSBERG, the Norwegian Armed Forces and Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in the definition, development and test of the JSM has been critical factor in developing a missile with such advanced capabilities.

 

October 22/21: Technical Data Packages Lockheed Martin won a $206.9 million modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering, detailed aircraft modification execution planning and technical data packages in support of modifications to the F-35 developmental test fleet aircraft. These modifications are necessary to support flight tests for the F-35 developmental test fleet and for the capabilities delivered under the F-35 Block 4 modernization in support of the Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas, Maryland and California. Estimated completion in December 2025.

October 8/21: Nuclear Weapon Capability The US Air Force announced that two F-35A Lightning II aircraft recently released B61-12 Joint Test Assemblies, or JTAs, during the F-35A’s first Full Weapon System Demonstration, completing the final flight test exercise of the nuclear design certification process. The 422nd and 59th Test and Evaluation Squadrons led Air Combat Command’s portion of the test effort, with Airmen from the 57th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 926th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and Bolt Aircraft Maintenance Unit leading all maintenance efforts.

October 6/21: Valkyrie Resurrection The US Air Force 48th Fighter Wing has reactivated the 495th Fighter Squadron, known as the “Valkyries”. It is the first USAF F-35A squadron in Europe. RAF Lakenheath will receive the squadron’s aircraft when they begin to arrive later this year.

September 27/21: Gun System Lockheed Martin won a $14.8 million contract modification, which is adding scope to provide depot level repair capabilities for the F-35 gun system in support of F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production Lot 11 aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and programme partners from the NATO and US allies. Work will take place in Varmint, Texas and Maine. Expected completion will be in November 2024.

 

September 17/21: RN Operations The Royal Navy currently has two aircraft carriers at sea, both flying F-35 jets. This is something that only one other navy in the world is capable of. Separated by 7,000 miles, HMS Prince of Wales in the North Sea and HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Pacific have been launching and recovering the stealth strike fighter on round-the-clock sorties.

September 15/21: $2 Billion Lockheed Martin won a $2 billion contract, which provides logistics support, to include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activities, automatic logistics information system operations and maintenance, reliability and maintainability, supply chain management, pilot training, maintainer training, and training system sustainment in support of delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter air systems for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Foreign Military Sales customers and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas, Florida, South Carolina and the UK. Estimated completion will be in December 2021.

 

September 6/21: Hangar Addition Harper Construction won a $101.7 million construction contract for design and construction of an F-35C hangar addition at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The project will include the construction of a two-module addition in support of F-35C operational squadrons. It will construct an aircraft parking apron and marshalling area, access apron and shoulders, taxiway connections and associated lighting, and construct an alternate mission equipment storage facility. The hangar addition will be constructed with reinforced concrete masonry unit, structural steel frames, metal deck and pile foundation. The work to be performed includes design and construction of the F-35C hangar addition to Hangar 6. Work will take place in California. Estimated completion will be by March 2024.

August 24/21: Big Lizzie Launch A US Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211 conducted a first-of-its-kind operation which saw F-35B aircraft launched from British HMS Queen Elizabeth land on the amphibious assault ship USS America to load ordnance, refuel, and strike follow-on objectives on August 20th, 2021.

August 16/21: Japan In its budget proposal for 2022, the Japan’s Ministry of Defense will budget $912 million to acquire 10 F-35 fighters from the US. This is nearly double of what the ministry had budget in 2021 for six aircraft. Japan’s mid-term defense plan is to acquire 27 F-35As and 18 F-35Bs.

August 4/21: Customer Unique Capabilities Lockheed Martin won a $51.8 million deal, which provides for program management support to include development of customer unique capabilities in support of the continued development of the air system for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program for a Foreign Military Sales customer. Work will take place in Texas, California and Florida. Estimated completion date will be in January 2024.

 

August 2/21: ITS Cavour An Italian F-35B Lightning II, belonging to the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) landed on the Italian Navy’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier for the first time on July 30, 2021 during navigation in the Gulf of Taranto. The aircraft is the BL-4 built at the Cameri Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO), in northwestern Italy, and recently delivered with the serial MM7454 and codes “4-03”, which flew for the first time in June. As the other two F-35Bs delivered to the Navy, it features the wolf’s head insignia on the tail, the wolf’s paw prints on the rudder, the Italian Navy roundel and the “MARINA” text.

 

July 29/21: JS Kaga The Yomiuri reports that Japan will send JS Kaga back to the dock for modernization works to prepare the warship to operate the F-35B. Meanwhile, the defense ministry is considering plans to have USMC F-35Bs operate from Kaga’s sister ship Izumo to test out the modifications that were done to allow the helicopter destroyer to operate the F-35B.

 

July 28/21: Special Tooling Lockheed Martin won a $37 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure special tooling and test equipment for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter production line in support of second source canopy tooling and other known capacity gaps for the Navy, Marines, Air Force and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in California, Texas, Australia and New Jersey. Estimated completion will be in August 2023.

 

July 23/21: 16 Operational Data Integrated Network Base Kits Lockheed Martin won a $19 million contract modification to to procure 16 Operational Data Integrated Network Base kits, to include software installation and integration support for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program in support of the Navy, Air Force and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion date is January 2024.

July 20/21: Radar Expertise According to the UK Defence Journal. BAE Systems has been awarded a £3 million ($4.1m) contract to provide technology for Kongsberg’s Joint Strike Missile system for the F-35. The new contract will see BAE Systems provide expertise of radar absorbing material and sensor development and technology integration to the highly capable Joint Strike Missile system which is currently being adopted by Norway and Japan.

July 15/21: FMS Lockheed Martin won a $23 million deal, which provides for the integration of a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) country into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and provides country-specific program support for F-35 aircraft production, modifications, logistics, and sustainment efforts. Work will take place in Texas. Japan, Florida, California, UK and is expected to be finished in March 2025.

July 14/21:High Fidelity Visual Display Systems Collins Aerospace won a $22.4 million contract for High Fidelity Visual Display Systems required to support the F-35 Joint Simulation Environment. The contractor will deliver, install, and provide training for the visual display systems. Work will be performed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Edwards AFB, California; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and is expected to be completed July 31, 2023. The F-35 Lightning is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and programme partners from the NATO and US allies. Work will take place at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Edwards AFB, California; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Estimated completion date is July 31, 2023.

 

July 6/21; FOC The US Marine Corps announced last week that its 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314) declared full operational capability (FOC) for the F-35C Lightning II. FOC is significant in its confirmation that VMFA-314 is fully prepared and equipped successfully deployed aboard United States Navy aircraft carriers, marking the first FOC declaration for Marine Corps. This inaugural event is met after VMFA-314 received their first F-35C on January 21, 2020 when their first jet arrived at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar from Naval Air Station Lemoore.

July 2/21: Logistics Services Lockheed Martin won a $1.8 billion undefinitized contract action, which provides for the procurement of recurring logistics services for delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter air systems in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Services to be provided include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, automatic logistics information system operations and maintenance, reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support, supply chain management and activities to provide and support pilot and maintainer initial training. Work will take place in Texas, Florida, South Carolina, the UK and California. Estimated completion will be in December 2021.

 

June 1/21: Poland Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $24.3 million contract, which provides non-recurring engineering and logistics and sustainment program support for F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft in support of the government of Poland. Work will take place in Texas, Florida, California, the UK and Maryland. Estimated completion will be in April 2024.

May 19/21: ASQ-239 Lockheed Martin won a $194.7 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide non-recurring engineering, integration and testing of the aircraft interface module in support of ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasures system upgrades planned for F-35 Lot 17 aircraft deliveries for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and non-Department of Defense participants. The AN/ASQ-239 provides offensive and defensive options to enable the F-35 to identify, monitor, analyze, and respond to threats like radar-guided anti-aircraft missile batteries and air-search radars. Work will take place in New Hampshire and Texas. Expected completion will be in April 2024.

May 12/21: Second Largest Fighter Fleet US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee on May 7 that his service now has more F-35As compared to the A-10, F-15C/D and F-15E fleet. With 283 jets delivered, the fleet of stealth fighters is second only to the F-16.

May 5/21: Airstrikes The F-35Bs assigned to the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron will carry out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria during the maiden deployment of the UK Carrier Strike Group (CSG21). There are eight F-35Bs from 617 Squadron. They are joined by 10 F-35Bs from the U.S. Marine Corp’s VMFA-211.

May 3/21: Baltic Air Policing Mission Four Italian F-35As have deployed from Amendola Air Base, Italy to Ämari Air Base, Estonia to augment the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission. This marks the first time the F-35 is used for this mission. As part of the “Baltic Eagle II” mission, the Italian F-35A aircraft, operating within the Task Group Falco of the Task Force Air Estonia will replace the German Air Force Eurofighters which have been deployed to Amari since late August.

April 29/21:Common Reprogramming Tool Development Network Lockheed Martin won a $22.5 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide support required to establish the common reprogramming tool development network and selection of a service-oriented architecture for the development of enhanced reprogramming tools. This is essential for all standing labs in support of the F-35 aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas and Florida. Estimated completion is in December 2021.

April 28/21: UAE A news release from NAVIR’s Air-to-Air Missiles Program Office (PMA-259) International Programs team disclosed that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had “finalized an agreement with the US this March to procure the F-35.” The country also requested to buy additional AIM-9X missiles for its F-35 fleet.

April 20/21: Denmark Danish and American officials recently celebrated the rollout of the first F-35A Lightning II for the Royal Danish Air Force at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. Like the F-16 before it, the F-35 is spearheading NATO’s air power and ensuring strategic integration of allied combat airpower. The vital interoperability of the fifth generation F-35 binds 13 allies and partners with the US in air dominance and enabling critical joint capabilities. The F-35 will serve as a force multiplier for Denmark, allowing the Royal Danish Air Force to train and fight alongside NATO allies and create a strong deterrent.

April 16/21: UAE The US State Department is moving forward with the sale of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and MQ-9 drones to the United Arab Emirates, a decision which will now face a legal challenge from a nonprofit seeking to halt the weapons agreement. At stake is an arms package approved in the waning days of the Trump administration, which includes 50 F-35s,18 MQ–9B Reapers, as well as thousands of munitions and hundreds of missiles. The total sale comes with an estimated $23 billion price tag.

April 9/21: Exercise The Cyprus National Guard carried out a joint training exercise with Israel on April 5 to April 6. Exercise ONISILOS GEDEON 2021 involves the Tor M1 air defense missile system and Israeli F-15s and F-35s.

March 25/21: Scramble Duty Japan is preparing to have its F-35A fleet take up scramble duty. A pair of F-35As were seen entering the alert shed that is located next to Misawa airport on March 22, according to news reports. #09-8722 and #89-8708 landed after their flight and both taxi to the shelter on a YouTube video that was taken on March 15.

March 22/21: JSM F-35A, AF-1, has successfully carried out the in-flight release of the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) over at Edwards Air Force Base last month. Forsvarsmateriell, the Norwegian Defense Material Agency, was responsible for conducting successful test drops of the JSM missile from the F-35A in the desert at Edwards Air Force Base in California in February. Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace (KDA) is developing the JSM. The testing took place as part of the programme to integrate the JSM into the F-35, under the JPO (Joint Program Office) which is responsible for the F-35 cooperation programme, and is carried out in close cooperation with US authorities.

March 12/21: Denmark Denmark’s first F-35, L-001, has flown this week. The jet will be delivered to the Royal Danish Air Force in April and will be flown to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, later this year for pilot and maintainer training. Lockheed Martin says the Danish Air Force will bring its F-35s back home in 2023 and be based at Royal Danish Air Force’s Fighter Wing Skrydstrup.
March 5/21: Programmatic And Logistics Tasks Lockheed Martin won a $38.7 million contract modification, which exercises an option for ordering emerging capabilities and analysis systems engineering to include programmatic and logistics tasks that will analyze the F-35 air system’s ability to meet future operational requirements, investigating cost and weight reduction program options and conducting modeling and simulation activities. Additional assessments may include such efforts as analyzing changes to design life, operational readiness, reliability and air system design and configuration. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2021.
March 4/21: RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) received three new Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters on February 11, the Australian Department of Defense announced in March. The aircraft, which arrived at RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Sydney, after completing a three-day journey from the United States as part of ‘Exercise Lightning Ferry 21-1’, are the first to join the fleet since the F-35A reached initial operational capability in December 2020. The three F-35As had previously been based at Luke Air Force Base in the US state of Arizona, where they were used for pilot training.
February 18/21: Air Operations The US Marine Corps 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit declared that the air wing on board amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) has air operations in support of Operation Inherent Resolve from February 13. VMM-164 (Reinforced) is providing close air support operations and defensive counter air support operations while F-35Bs from VMFA-122 are executing long-range strike.
February 17/21: Engine Shortage F-35 fighter plane engines are in short supply, with the solution months away, causing the Defense Department to reduce its schedule of exhibition flights and to start planning for a shortage as soon as 2022. The Defense Department’s F-35 office has advised that about five to six percent of the US. F-35 fleet could be without useable engines by 2022, and up to 20 percent of the plane’s fleet could be sidelined by 2025. According to Defense News, the F-135 Heavy Maintenance Center, located at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, has been unable to process engines for repairs and maintenance, and catching up will take months.
February 10/21: F135 Raytheon Technologies won a $49.2 million deal, which provides for one conventional take-off and landing and two short take-off/vertical landing F135 engines to support F-35 Lightning II Block Four developmental testing program for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants. The Pratt & Whitney F135 is an afterburning turbofan developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Last week Raytheon was awarded a $290 million contract, which provides material and support equipment for depot maintenance facilities, program administrative labor for non-recurring sustainment activities, mockup engines and modules for test cells, as well as supplies, services, and planning for depot activations in support of the F-35 Lightning II Program Lot 13 propulsion system for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will take place in Connecticut, Washington, California, Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, Maine and New Hampshire. Expected completion is in January 2023.
February 4/21: UAE On Hold The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, is convinced that the deal for the sale of F-35 stealth fighters to his country will be implemented when the “review” of pending arms deals is finished. The UAE ordered 50 F-35 stealth fighters and 18 armed drones worth a total of $23 billion. During a virtual conference of the Washington Institute on Monday, he said “We did everything by the book and they will discover that once the review is complete and it will proceed,” describing the review as “pro forma”. The State Department announced that the administration is “temporarily pausing the implementation of some pending U.S. defense transfers and sales” to allies. Regarding the move, Ambassador Al Otaiba said “If you are going to have less of a presence and less involvement in the Middle East you can’t at the same time take tools away from your partners who are expected to do more.”
January 28/21: Radio Frequency Countermeasures BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin each won a contract modification in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. BAE Systems won $81.3 million to procure 1,512 radio frequency countermeasures for Lot 12 of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in support of non-US Department of Defense participants, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and for the Navy. Lockheed received $64.1 million for the procurement of Digital Channelized Receiver/Techniques Generator and Tuner Insertion program technology to upgrade F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft with Digital Tuner Insertion Program electronic warfare racks and high efficiency low voltage power supply. BAE Systems will perform work in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and New Jersey. Estimated completion will be in March 2024. Lockheed Martin will perform work in Texas and is expected to be finished in June 2025.
January 22/21: UAE Reuters reports that the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement with the United States to buy 50 F-35 fighters one hour before President Biden was sworn into office. Anonymous sources said that the agreement made the purchase request official. It was supposed to be signed in December but negotiations dragged on as both sides bargain over the delivery schedule, costs and technology packages. The UAE, one of Washington’s closest Middle East allies, has long expressed interest in acquiring the stealthy F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin and was promised a chance to buy them in a side deal when it agreed to normalize relations with Israel last August.
January 21/21: Carrier Strike Group The United States and Britain confirmed a joint declaration Tuesday for the Carrier Strike Group 2021 deployment to be led by Britain’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth Queen. Signed by acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, the joint declaration enables the deployment of US Navy and Marine Corps equipment and personnel as part of the inaugural operational deployment of the Carrier Strike Group. The deployment will include a detachment of US Marine Corps F-35 Lightning II aircraft and the Navy’s USS The Sullivans.
January 19/21: Site Stand-up Activity Lockheed Martin won a $13 million contract modification, which procures non-recurring site stand-up activity, capability development, information technology systems integration and associated changes to F-35 Lightning II program and industry processes as needed to allow the Defense Logistics Agency and US Transportation Command to assume North American regional warehouse and global transportation and distribution product support provider responsibilities. Work will take place in Texas, Florida, Maryland and South Carolina. Estimated completion date is in March 2022.
December 30/20: UK Lockheed Martin won a $101.5 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide sustainment services and outcomes for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense, supporting daily flight operations with the national specific capabilities required at various F-35 operating sites in support of the F-35 Lightning II UK Lightning Air-system National Capability Enterprise. Work will take place the UK, Texas and Florida. Estimated completion is in December 2022.
December 29/30: Australia Australia has declared Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for its F-35A fleet, clearing the way for the aircraft to be deployed for operations. “The fifth-generation F-35A, along with the F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, is key to our air combat capability and critical to achieving the objectives set out in the 2020 Defense Strategic Update to Shape, Deter and Respond,” Minister for Defense Linda Reynolds said.
December 28/20: Program Management Support Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won an $8.7 million contract modification adds scope to provide program management support to execute the planning, procurement and delivery of initial aircraft spares in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy; non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers operational aircraft. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion date is in December 2021.
December 17/20: Data Sharing The Marine Corps and the Air Force successfully tested bi-directional data sharing on the F-22 and F-35 in exercises in Arizona and Nevada for the first time. The test was reportedly the latest demonstration of the network architecture underpinning its Advanced Battle Management System. Fifth-generation fighters are generally only able to communicate with each other and to command and control centers, but not with fighters in other classes because they use digital languages that aren’t compatible. But the gatewayONE system can translate between those formats, allowing the aircraft to more fully gather and share data and intelligence. The service announced that the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), along with partner Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., had flown with the gatewayONE payload aboard a XQ-58A Valkyrie UAV demonstrator in formation with a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). “During the test event, an F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning, the air force’s two fifth-generation fighters formed up off the wings of the smaller Valkyrie as it continued to fly autonomously in formation. This is a major milestone in the service’s efforts to provide low cost force multipliers in relevant operational environments,” the USAF said.
December 3/20: Greece US Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt has confirmed Greece’s intention to buy F-35s. Pyatt says the US government welcomes the decision by Athens “at the highest levels” and will support the aquisition. “We have signaled our support for procurement and are working closely together on a future acquisition program, which would enhance Greece’s defense capabilities, ensure interoperability with US Armed Forces and improve regional stability.  All reports to the contrary are false and misrepresentations of US policy“, Pyatt said in a statement. Although some in Greek media claimed that the US was reversing its decision in procuring the F-35 fighter jet, the American ambassador ensured that these reports are false. “We take great pride in our defense and security partnership with Greece and work daily to advance that from strength to strength, including through Greece’s future acquisition of the F-35,” Pyatt said.
November 25/20: AARGM-ER Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $9.3 million contract for the Long Range Systems Division seeking to integrate the Navy Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER) into the F-35. The AARGM-ER is a Navy weapon that will provide the F-35A advanced suppression of enemy air defenses/destruction of enemy air defenses capability. The AARGM-ER (Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range) is a further development of the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile, used to destroy enemy air defense network. An anti-radiation missile homes in on the electronic transmissions coming from a hostile surface-to-air radar and destroys it. The AARGM-ER was originally developed for the navy carrier-based fighters, equipping its F-35C fighter fleet with a credible long-range weapon, which would further boost their lethality in carrying out SEAD/DEAD (suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses) sorties. With Lockheed Martin bagging the contract, the weapon system would also find its way into the US Air Force’s F-35A CTOL (conventional take-off and landing) fleet. Lockheed Martin is the parent manufacturing company of the F-35 aircraft as well.
November 20/20: ONSHILOS-GEDEON A three-day exercise between Cyprus and Israel from November 17-19 saw Israeli F-35s flying over Limassol and Paphos to test the local air defense system. Exercise ONSHILOS-GEDEON takes place in the Nicosia FIR. The Cyprus-Israel joint three-day military exercise was completed with absolute success, the Defense Ministry said. The exercise falls under the Bilateral Defense Cooperation Program between the Republic of Cyprus and Israel. The purpose of the exercise was to bring personnel up to speed with tactics and developments in the air defence sector, to increase their combat capability, as well as to gain experience from cooperation with the IAF.
November 18/20: Reprogramming Tool Lockheed Martin won a $12 million contract modification, which provides continued support required to establish the common reprogramming tool development network and selection of a service-oriented architecture for the development of enhanced reprogramming tools, which is essential for all standing labs in support of the F-35 aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and the governments of Australia and Great Britain. The F-35 is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. Work will take place in Texas and Florida. Estimated completion is in December 2021.
November 12/20: UAE The US State Department cleared sales of F-35 fighter jets and MQ-9 unmanned systems for the United Arab Emirates, making official a potential sale still opposed by many congressional Democrats. The DoS formally approved a potential $23.4 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates, including up to 50 F-35s, 18 MQ-9s, and both air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions. In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the massive arms sale package, which includes up to 50 F-35 jets worth $10.4 billion, 18 MQ-9B drones worth $2.97 billion, and $10 billion of munitions. “The proposed sale will make the UAE even more capable and interoperable with US partners in a manner fully consistent with America’s longstanding commitment to ensuring Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge,” said the statement.
November 2/20: Laboratories Lockheed Martin won a $73.9 million modification, which exercises an option to provide continued F-35 development lab infrastructure activities as well as recurring administration, maintenance and preparation of the F-35 laboratories to test developed configurations across the F-35 platform. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter. Work will take place in Texas and is expected to be finished by October 2021.
October 29/20: Testing Delayed The Pentagon delayed plans to move the F-35 program to full-rate production because simulation testing that’s needed before that can even begin has been delayed until next year. The testing phase was originally scheduled for 2017 but had been delayed to December of this year. Now it’s being moved back again because technical preparations aren’t complete, and both testing and the production decision have been pushed to 2021, according to Jessica Maxwell, spokeswoman for Defense Department acquisition chief Ellen Lord. While it’s not clear, why the test schedule has been delayed again, but in April Lockheed said it expected lower sales and slower deliveries for several of its programs this year due to disruptions caused by the current global pandemic, with the F-35 program being particularly hard hit.
October 27/20: New Attack Squadron The US Marine Corps at Iwakuni, Japan, announced formation of a new attack squadron on Friday in anticipation of the arrival of F-35B fighter planes. Marine Aircraft Group 12 re-designated Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242 to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242, or VMFA-242. The change is part of the Marine Corps’ ongoing transition process from F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes to the more-advanced F-35B. It will be the second overseas Marine squadron.
October 22/20: Pilot Training Device Software Lockheed Martin won a $138.8 contract modification, which adds scope to continue the development of pilot training device software to align the F-35 air system with continued capability development. Additionally, this modification provides for testing and continuous re-certification activities for dual capable F-35 aircraft as Block 4 capabilities are developed, matured and fielded in support of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. Just recently it was reported, that by the end of 2020, F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martins production will be equipped with a modified lightning protection system that will fix problems discovered earlier this year, the company’s head of production said. Work under the current modification will take place in Texas. Expected completion date will be in June 2024.
October 19/20: Exercise Israel and the US Air Force carried out their third joint exercise involving their F-35A fighters on October 12. The press release said the exercise involves the 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and Israel’s 116th Squadron. F-16Is from 115th Squadron played the aggressor role. The IAF’s 116th Squadron, which operates the “Adir” F-35I fighter jet, trained alongside the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing’s 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron. The 340th EARS assigned to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, participated as well. The 421 EFS operates the F-35A Lightning II, while the 908th EARS and 340th EARS provided aerial refueling support with a KC-10 Extender and KC-135 Stratotanker.
October 16/20: UAE Or Not? The Senate remains skeptical of the F-35 Sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to „Military Times“, two key democrats accuse President Donald Trump of rushing a deal for political advantage instead of thinking through potentially dire national security implications. The letter Friday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., is another sign that the sale might be slowing down. The duo questioned whether such a deal with Abu Dhabi, which has security ties to Russia and China, would compromise the F-35, an advanced and sophisticated stealth warplane, and whether such a sale would set off a Middle Eastern arms race in which Iran seeks advanced warplanes from Russia and China. At the end of September, a State Department Official had raised questions over the F-35 sale to the UAE. Asked about reports of the deal, the undersecretary of State for political affairs David Hale told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee there are talks ongoing about the UAE’s “security needs,” adding he was not aware if UAE had submitted a letter of request, a move needed to formally kick off the arms sale process in Washington.
October 12/20: Finland The US State Department approved a $12.5 billion purchase on Friday by Finland for 64 F-35 fighter planes and associated munitions and equipment. The approval, a statutory notification to Congress, follows an April request by the Finnish Defense Ministry to buy the planes through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the US Defense Department agency responsible for foreign military sales. Although Finland is aligned with western military powers and not with its neighbor, Russia, it is not a NATO member.
October 9/20 Qatari Request Qatar has submitted a formal request to the United States to buy stealthy F-35 fighter jets, three people familiar with the deal said, in a deal that if pursued could strain US ties with Saudi Arabia and Israel, Reuters reports. The request for the Lockheed Martin Co jets was submitted by the Persian Gulf state in recent weeks, the people said. A US State Department spokesman said, “As a matter of policy, the United States does not confirm or comment on proposed defense sales or transfers until they are formally notified to Congress.” Keen to counter Iran in the region, the US helps to arm allies including Qatar, host to the largest US military facility in the Middle East, and home to 8,000 US service members and Department of Defense civilian employees.
October 8/20: Result of May Crash The crash of an F-35A at Florida’s Eglin Air Force base in May was caused by the pilot trying to land at an excessive speed, and a flight control logic glitch that left its tail unresponsive, according to a new report. According to the report the pilot was also fatigued, causing “cognitive degradation” and was distracted at a critical point in the flight and lacked key understanding of the flight-control logic. The pilot was safely ejected from the aircraft as it landed on the base and did not sustain serious injuries.
October 2/20: Switzerland The US State Department has preemptively cleared Switzerland to purchase the F-35A joint strike fighter and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, just days after a public vote narrowly ok’d the Swiss government to move forward with a planned procurement of new fighter aircraft. The F-35 deal comes with an estimated price tag of $6.58 billion, while the F/A-18 package with a price tag of $7.452 billion. The potential FMSs are not a sign that Switzerland has decided the Lockheed Martin F-35 or Boeing produced F/A-18 are their fighter of the future.
September 29/20: L12 Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Lockheed Martin won a $63.9 million order, which provides for the L12 Diminishing Manufacturing Sources redesign effort in support of the F-35 aircraft for Air Force, Navy and non-Department of Defense (DoD) customers. Specifically, this order provides non-recurring engineering in support of redesigned end products for the Tactical Navigation System Inertial Electronics Unit/Inertial Measurements Unit, Electronic Warfare/Counter Measures Aperture Electronics Module (EW/CM AEM), Aircraft Exterior Lighting, EW/CM Electronic Warfare Controllers and EW/CM Counter Measure Controller. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be in January 2027.
September 24/20: Elbit Lockheed Martin has awarded Israeli defense company Elbit Systems – Cyclone a contract to supply additional complex composite structural assemblies for forward equipment bay assemblies on all F-35 variants. The deal is in an amount that is not material to Elbit Systems and will be performed over a period of four-years. The contract calls for Elbit Systems to supply assemblies for the F-35’s Forward Equipment Bay – made from composite materials and the associated structures – for all F-35 aircraft variants. Elbit Systems will deliver more than 1,400 components to Lockheed Martin during the contract period.
September 21/20: Multi-Function Aircraft Data Link Band 5 Lockheed Martin won a $70.8 million contract modification, which provides requirements decomposition through system functional review for the F-35 Super Multi-Function Aircraft Data Link Band 5 receiver warning capability in support of the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and non-Department of Defense participants. Multifunction Advanced Data Link is a fast switching narrow directional communications data link between stealth aircraft. Work will take place in New Hampshire, California, Texas and Maryland. Expected completion will be in June 2023.
September 17/20: UAE? US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he personally would have “no problem” selling the advanced F-35 fighter jet to the United Arab Emirates, despite objections from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I would have no problem in selling them the F-35, I would have absolutely no problem,” Trump told Fox News in an interview ahead of a signing ceremony at the White House for agreements normalizing relations between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain. Trump also said he would be willing to sell other Middle Eastern countries the same weapons systems sold to Israel. He noted the region’s wealth and said it would be good for the United States and American jobs.
September 15/20: Italy Lockheed Martin won a $9 million contract modification, which provides labor, engineering change order planning, installation and site support activities to operate the Cameri Regional Modification, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade facility for F-35 aircraft for the government of Italy. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the UK Royal Navy. The JSF is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force; a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. Work will take place in Italy and Texas. Estimated completion will be by December 2020.
September 10/20: Lot 14 Raytheon Technologies’ Pratt & Whitney won a $174.2 million contract modification, which exercises an option for the production and delivery of 14 F135-PW-100 low rate initial production Lot 14 propulsion systems for the Air Force in support of the F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft. Pratt & Whitney was awarded a $762.5 million lot F-35 engine production contract in November 2019, when it was sill operating under United Technologies Corp. USAF will use fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement funds to cover the full obligated amount. Work will take place in Connecticut, Maine, Arizona and Puerto Rico. Expected completion will be in June 2022.
August 28/20: Intel Diminishing Manufacturing Sources The Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $7.5 million modification, which exercises options to procure Intel Diminishing Manufacturing Sources parts that have reached end of life in support of the F-35 program future aircraft production and deliveries for the Air Force and Navy. The largest procurement program in the Department of Defense, the F-35 Lightning II is a strike fighter aircraft being procured in different versions for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. Work will take place in Fort Worth. Expected completion will be in December 2020.
August 27/20: South Korea FIghter Program South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to rectify a plan to buy 20 F-35As and 20 F-35Bs under phase 2 of its FX III fighter program in October’s meeting. The purchase is expected to cost $6.7 billion and the priority is to acquire the B-model first in order for the short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL) to operate on the light aircraft carrier that Seoul intends to build.
August 24/20: Lots 12-14 Lockheed Martin won a $8 million cost-share order, which is to consolidate Lots 12-14 known issues, funding and requirements on a single contract vehicle to ensure the most fiscally responsible business deals for customers. This supports concurrency related modification and retrofit activities for delivered air systems for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. The F-35 is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter. It is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force; a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. A 70%-90% commonality is required for all variants. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Expected completion date is in December 2025.
August 10/20: Flight Test Instrumentation Lockheed Martin won a $77.4 million contract modification, which provides for the development and installation of flight test instrumentation on one F-35B Lot 14 aircraft and one F-35C Lot 14 aircraft for government testing in support of the F-35 program. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the UK Royal Navy. The stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter was designated the F-35 Lightning II in July 2006. The JSF is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force; a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. Work will take place in Texas, California, Denmark and the Netherlands. Estimated completion will be in June 2023.
August 6/20: Joint Exercise F-35As from the US Air Force have participated in the second joint exercise with Israeli F-35s on August 2. The training between the 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and Israel’s 140th Squadron took place over southern Israel. The fighters were supported by a KC-10 from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron and a G550 from Israeli Air Force 122 Squadron.
August 3/20: Training and Simulator Facility Walsh Federal LLC won a $37.3 million deal for the construction of an F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft training and simulator facility, Marine Corps Air Station, New River, North Carolina. According to the DoD, the work to be performed will provide a one story simulator facility that will support six mission rehearsal trainers and full mission simulators, six deployable mission rehearsal trainers and support spaces which will include administrative, classroom and conference space. The facility will also include space for a Marine aviation training systems site and a night imaging and threat evaluation lab. The facility will be a reinforced concrete masonry unit building with seismic upgrades. It will be located on a pile of supported and reinforced concrete slabs on grade foundation with structural steel framing and a pre-finished insulated roof system with renewable energy features. Structural elements will allow for the expansion of the facility in the future if required. The facility will be constructed and certified for secure handling and storage of classified material and components to meet top secret/special access program facility classifications. Work will take place in New River, North Carolina. Estimated completion is in April 2022.
July 22/20: Repositioned Lockheed Martin won an $861.7 million modification, which exercises options to procure eight Lot 14 F-35A Lightning II repositioned aircraft as a result of the Republic of Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program, and six Lot 14 F-35A aircraft for the Air Force.  Additionally, this modification establishes undefinitized line items that provides recurring engineering in support of the modification of the eight Lot 14 F-35A Lightning II repositioned aircraft to a full operationally capable F-35A Air Force configuration. Lockheed Martin has marketed the F-35 successfully to 14 countries over nearly 20 years. Subtracting Turkey’s canceled program for 100 jets, Lockheed still boasts commitments from 13 countries to buy nearly 3,220 F-35s, with deliveries projected out to 2046. Work will take place in Texas, California, United Kingdom, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, California and various locations within the continental US. Expected completion date will be by May 2026.
July 21/20: Support Equipment Lockheed Martin won a $935.5 million deal, which procures support equipment, autonomic logistics information system hardware, training systems, site activations and integrated contractor support for the F-35 Lightning II. Additionally, the contract supports tasking that will result in improvements to the reliability, availability, maintainability and total ownership cost of the F-35 Lightning II for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the UK Royal Navy. It is a stealthy supersonic multirole fighter. The JSF is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force; a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. Work will take place in Florida, Texas, California, New York and the UK. Estimates completion will be in March 2026.
July 13/20: ODIN Lockheed Martin won an $87.5 million deal, which provides non-recurring engineering for the development and maturation of the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) in support of data migration and transition to the newly developed F-35 Operational Integrated Data Network (ODIN). ALIS and ODIN provide maintenance capabilities to support worldwide F-35 operations. Additionally, this contract provides software and hardware engineering in support of F-35 ODIN development, delivery and associated data management activities for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and non-Department of Defense participants. ODIN is intended to reduce operator and administrator workload, increase F-35 mission readiness rates, and allow software designers to rapidly develop and deploy updates in response to operator needs. Work will take place in Orlando, Florida and Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion will be by June 2022.
July 6/20: Linked An advance in aircraft simulators, allowing F-35 pilots to link with pilots of other aircraft, was announced on Wednesday by Lockheed Martin. For the first time, Lockheed, the F-35 Joint Program Office and the US Air Force successfully connected F-35, F-22, F-16 and E3 airborne warning planes in a simulated environment. Additional platforms, like the F-15, can also connect to the shared virtual environment. The success came during a Distributed Mission Training final acceptance test at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., the company said.
July 2/20: Big Lizzie Dogfight F-35 jets launched from HMS Queen Elizabeth practiced air combat, dogfighting against Typhoons and other F-35s. HMS Queen Elizabeth and her aircraft were recently joined by frigate HMS Kent and a nuclear submarine while on Exercise Crimson Ocean. Exercise Crimson Ocean is geared towards putting the carrier and her F-35s through their paces. The exercise is part of a journey to enable the carrier, her aircraft and her escorts to deploy operationally next year. Next year, HMS Queen Elizabeth will deploy with two frigates, two destroyers, a nuclear submarine and support vessels.
July 1/20: F-35A Lockheed Martin won a $67.7 million contract modification, which procures long lead materials, parts, components and support necessary to maintain on-time production and delivery of nine lot 16 F-35A Lightning II aircraft for the government of The Netherlands, as well as seven F-35A semiconductors and two F-35B Lightning II aircraft for the government of Italy. Work will take place in Italy, Texas, California, UK, Maryland and New Hampshire. Estimated completion date is in May 2025.
June 19/20: Manage Dimishing Manufacturing Sources Lockheed Martin won a $16 million contract modification, which procures support to manage diminishing manufacturing sources in support of the F-35 Program for the Air Force, Navy and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. In a recent statement from Lockheed, the defense and aerospace company announced plans to whittle back the number of jets produced this year, as well as a temporary restructuring of their workforce. The company said that it will likely miss its production targets this year due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Originally, Lockheed Martin had planned to produce 141 of the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter across the year. Work under the current modification will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion will be by June 2021.
June 15/20: Korea Lockheed Martin won a $183.8 million contract modification, which incorporates additional operation, security and technical services in support of the F-35 Lightning II program for the Republic of Korea. Seoul inked a $6.4 billion deal for 40 F-35A jets in 2014, of which it has received eight until now. According to reports, the country is planning to add 20 more F-35 jets to its fleet of fighter planes. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Expected completion will be by January 2021.
June 11/20: Flight Trials on Big Lizzie The United Kingdom deployed operational Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning Strike Fighters aboard the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier for the first time. Four aircraft from the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron, known as ‘the Dambusters’, arrived on HMS Queen Elizabeth on June 9 following the earlier embarkation of support personnel from the unit. As noted by Commander Air on board Queen Elizabeth, Commander Ed Phillips, the arrival of the first operational jets marks a major milestone in the standing-up of the UK’s carrier strike capability ahead of the ship’s first operational deployment in 2021. According to the RN, Queen Elizabeth will now enter an intense period of flying having just successfully completed four weeks of basic sea training. The aim is to demonstrate that the F-35Bs can successfully defend the aircraft carrier by delivering combat air patrols and being ready to launch at short notice.
June 9/20: Joint Training For the first time American B-1B Bombers conducted a joint training with Norwegian and Swedish fighter jets in Swedish airspace. Norway said that the exercise is “one of the largest of its kind, and several allied and partners trained along with the US B-1B”. The Norwegian military says such joint flight missions are of high priority. “Today we have conducted complex flight operations with advanced systems, both on the ground and in the air,” says Lieutenant Colonel Ståle Nymoen. He is the commander of the 332 squadron which operates the F-35s from Ørland airbase. Norway, as one of NATO’s founding members, points to the United States as the most important ally for defending Norway in case of a crisis or conflict.
June 5/20: Norway Italy Lockheed Martin won an $18.7 million contract for the procurement of maintenance and sustainment operations support for the Norway Italy Reprogramming Laboratory systems and consumables in support of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the governments of Norway and Italy. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF), is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the UK Royal Navy. The stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter was designated the F-35 Lightning II in July 2006. The JSF is being built in three variants: a conventional take-off and landing aircraft (CTOL) for the US Air Force; a carrier variant (CV) for the US Navy; and a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. Work will take place at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Expected completion will be by December 2022.
June 3/20: Lot 14 Lockheed Martin won a $26.8 million contract modification that supports non-recurring engineering efforts to develop and certify a retrofit solution to support the structural requirements for full-up destruction and suppression of enemy air defenses capabilities for Lot 14 and Lot 15 F-35A Lightning II combat aircraft for the Air Force and non-Department of Defense participants. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. The F-35 Lightning II is a strike fighter aircraft being procured in different versions for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. Current DOD plans call for acquiring a total of 2,456 F-35s. Allies are expected to purchase hundreds of additional F-35s, and eight nations are cost-sharing partners in the program with the United States. Work will take place in Texas and California. Expected completion by August 2022.
May 28/20: Diminishing Manufacturing Sources Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $16 million deal, which procures support to manage diminishing manufacturing sources in support of the F-35 program for the Air Force, Navy and non-Department of Defense participants. The F-35 program has been supported by an international team of leading aerospace majors. Notably, Northrop Grumman NOC rendered its expertise in carrier aircraft and low-observable stealth technology to this program.BAE Systems’ BAESY short takeoff and vertical landing experience, and air systems sustainment supported the jet’s combat capabilities. These features have enabled F-35 jet to dominate the combat aircraft market buoyed by solid demand as evident from the program’s frequent contract wins, both from Pentagon and other US allies. For instance, this January, Lockheed clinched a reimbursable contract worth $1.93 billion for providing a consortium of services involving the F-35 program. Work under the new cost-plus-fixed-fee order will take place in Fort Worth, Texas. Estimated completion will be by June 2020.
May 18/20: Tools IDSC Holdings won an $11.1 million contract. which procures up to 2,064 toolboxes containing 1.423 different types of commercial tools in support of initial outfitting associated with F-35 low rate initial production and maintenance. Meanwhile, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II’s modernization is two years behind schedule and its cost has risen by $1.5 billion. The Block 4 upgrade, a modernization of the relatively new stealth fighter’s software and hardware, was initially to be delivered by 2024, but now will not be handed over until 2026, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). IDSC Holdings will perform work in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Expected completion will be by September 2021.
 
May 14/20: Lot 11 United Technologies won a $10.6 million modification, which procures one low rate initial production Lot 11 afloat spares package kit for the Marine Corps in support of the F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft program. In the meantime a congressional watchdog group is concerned that as Lockheed Martin ramps up F-35 production, its suppliers are falling behind. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the number of F-35 parts delivered late skyrocketed from less than 2,000 in August 2017 to upward of 10,000 in July 2019. The number of parts shortages per month also climbed from 875 in July 2018 to more than 8,000 in July 2019. More than 60 percent of that sum was concentrated among 20 suppliers, it said. Work under the current modification will take place in Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, the UK and Israel. Estimated completion date is in September 2021.
May 4/20: Norway Lockheed Martin won a $129.2 million contract modification, which procures the kits required for modification and retrofit activities of delivered Air Force and government of Norway F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. In November 2008, the Norwegian government selected the F-35 as the replacement for the F-16 fleet. And in September 2015, the first F-35A was unveiled before Norwegian and US government officials and Lockheed Martin leadership at a formal ceremony at the Lockheed Martin production facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Work will take place in Nashua, New Hampshire; Fort Worth, Texas; and Baltimore, Maryland. Work is expected to be complete by April 2025.
April 23/20: Alaska The 354th Fighter Wing has taken delivery of its first two F-35A fighters at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska on April 21. The jets flew non-stop from Forth Worth, Texas with mid-air refueling from two KC-135s from the 168th Wing. “This first aircraft is a milestone,” said Col. Benjamin Bishop, the 354th Fighter Wing commander. “Making the first aircraft arrival possible has been a long path, but it’s also just the first step in a journey that will continue at Eielson Air Force Base for decades to come.” By the end of 2021, 54 F-35s will make up two squadrons at Eielson, which is near Fairbanks.
April 13/20: South Korea The US State Department approved a Foreign Military Sale covering support and services for the South Korea’s planned procurement of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, comes with an estimated price tag of $675 million. The Republic of Korea had requested follow-on support and services for its F-35 aircraft, engines, and weapons; publications and technical documentation; support equipment; spare and repair parts; repair and return; test equipment; software delivery and support; pilot flight equipment; personnel training equipment; US Government and contractor technical and logistics support services; and other related elements of program support.
April 2/20: $4.7B For Procurement Lockheed Martin won a $4.7 billion contract modification for the procurement of 78 F-35 combat aircraft (48 F-35A combat aircraft for the Air Force, 14 F-35B combat aircraft for the Marine Corps, 16 F-35C fighter aircraft for the Navy) and associated aircraft red gear. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD. The majority of the work related to the deal will be carried out in Fort Worth, TX. The F-35 is a fifth-generation single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole jet fighter-bomber designed to perform ground attack, aerial reconnaissance, and air defense missions. It is one of the most advanced combat jets in the world. The order involves 48 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) jet aircraft for the US Air Force for operation from conventional long runways; 14 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) jet aircraft for the US Marine Corps for operation from small ships and unimproved runways; and 16 F-35C reinforced aircraft with folding wings for the US Navy for aircraft carrier operations. Work will take place in Texas, California, the UK, Florida, New Hampshire and Maryland. Estimated completion will be by March 2023.
March 30/20: Will Japan’s F-2 Successor Carry More Missiles Than F-35? Japan’s defense minister Taro Kono told reporters on March 27 that his ministry will decide on the development of the successor to the F-2 fighter by end of this year. Kono said Tokyo is still undecided between selecting US or UK as joint development partners. He said the new fighter needs to have strong network capabilities and carry more missiles than the F-35.
March 11/20: Lot 15 Lockheed Martin won a $173.2 million modification, which procures long lead materials, parts, components and support necessary to maintain on-time production and delivery of Lot 15 F-35 aircraft for the Navy, Marine Corps and the government of Italy. The F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth multirole combat aircraft. The Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team also includes Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Pratt and Whitney and Rolls-Royce. Work will take place in Texas, California, UK, Florida, New Hampshire, Italy and Maryland. Estimated completion will by by December 2023.
March 6/20: Coronavirus Pauses Final Assembly in Japan The coronavirus now hit the F-35 production. Japan has paused work for one week at its Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) final assembly and checkout facility in Nagoya, Japan over concerns of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) that is spreading the globe. Lieutenant General Eric Fick, F-35 program executive officer, said on March 4 that he anticipates resumption of work at the facility after the week’s pause. Lt Gen Fick added that he does not anticipate any other disruption to the supply chain and that the Joint Program Office (JPO) is not taking any deliberate steps to actively curtail any ripple effects due to the coronavirus that may further go through the F-35 supply chain.
March 4/20: Spares Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $9.6 million delivery order, which procures program management support to execute the planning, procurement and delivery of initial aircraft spares in support of the F-35 Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customers operational aircraft. The F-35 is considered a significant driver of the Pentagon’s budget: an August DoD report said the F-35 program grew by $25 billion in 2018 and was the primary reason the Pentagon’s budget grew by four percent that year. Work will take place in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be finished in December 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
March 3/20: Organic Level Repair Capabilities Lockheed Martin won a $141.7 million contract modification, which provides for the stand-up of organic level repair capabilities for the combat aircraft F-35 communications, navigation and information system. The F-35 is considered the most advanced fighter aircraft in the sky. This week Hill AFB, Utah, celebrated the recognition of its 388th and 419th Fighter Wings of F-35 fighter planes reaching Full Warfighting Capability. The Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2021 budget proposal requests $11.4 billion for 79 Joint Strike Fighters, whose cost Lockheed said it has brought down to less than $80 million per plane.
February 26/20: Air Policing Mission In Iceland Four Norwegian Air Force F-35 fighter aircraft have arrived at Keflavik Air Base, Iceland. The aircraft are now preparing to for the NATO mission providing intercept capabilities for the country. According to NATO, this is the first NATO mission abroad for Norway’s modern fighter aircraft after reaching initial operational capability in November 2019. The Air Policing mission in Iceland is similar to the one carried out by the Norwegian F-16 Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) interceptors from Bodø in northern Norway. Since the beginning of the NATO mission ten Allies (Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States) have manned the regular peacetime deployment.
February 18/20: From Weapons To Wall The Trump administration plans to shift $3.8 billion away from the military services’ weapons accounts to pay for wall construction along the nation’s southern border despite the Pentagon’s assertion that it needs to focus on a high-end military competition with China and Russia. In a reprogramming notice signed by acting Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker on February 13, the department details plans to move dollars out of an array of weapons coffers – including from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and America Class Amphibious Assault Ship – over to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
February 11/20: Support Lockheed Martin won a $347.7 million contract modification, which procures long lead materials, parts, components and support necessary to maintain on-time production and delivery of 43 lot 15 F-35 aircraft for non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. The F-35 is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth multirole aircraft. Just last week Poland signed a deal worth $4.6 billion to procure 32 to procure 32 F-35 combat aircraft. The F-35 program has had its ups and downs in the las couple of years. The Pentagons test office’s annual report on DoD programs for example found that the aircraft has 873 unresolved deficiencies from ongoing issues with the aircraft’s gun on the US Air Force variant, to a number of outstanding software problems. However, a recent poll conducted by Air Force Technology, shows that the majority of its readers are still in favor of the F-35. Work under the contract modification will take place in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, the UK and Japan.
February 6/20: Singapore Airshow Pacific Air Force has announced that the US Marine Corps will be making flight demonstrations of the F-35B during the Singapore Airshow. An E-2D from VAW-125 will be at the show as well. The show is focused on building strong relations between the Singapore, US and the international community. The Singapore Airshow will be held between February 11 and February 16 at the Changhi Exhibition Center. It is a biennial event that started in 2008. It hosts high-level government and military delegations, as well as senior corporate executives around the world, while serving as a global event for leading aerospace companies and budding players
February 4/20: Poland Polish Defense Minister Mariusz B?aszczak signed a $4.6 billion contract for 32 F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft on January 31. The defense minister inked the deal at 4th Training Aviation Wing Headquarters in D?blin. This is the second-most expensive acquisition of high-technology military equipment by the Polish Armed Forces after the $4.7 billion deal for the MIM-104F Patriot surface-to-air missile system signed in March 2018. Accompanied by President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, and US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, B?aszczak said Poland is joining a growing club of F-35 operators. “Today the Polish Air Force is reaching the next stage of development,” he added.
January 29/20: Denmark Lockheed Martin started building the first F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for Denmark. Production began at its Fort Worth production facility in Texas. According to the company, the forward fuselage of aircraft L-001, the first of 27 F-35As destined for the Royal Danish Air Force entered production the week prior. Completion of this aircraft is scheduled for late 2020. Having selected the F-35A to replace its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons in 2016, Denmark decided in 2018 to hedge payments of $3.7 billion so that the country’s department of defense could acquire the aircraft at a fixed price in its local currency, the Krone.
January 27/20: HMS Queen Elizabeth Training HMS Queen Elizabeth has sailed from her home port of Portsmouth to conduct training with UK F-35 Lightning jets in home waters, local media reports. The ship is sailing to conduct Carrier Qualifications as well as Landing Signal Officer qualifications with 207 Squadron, the UK’s F-35 Lightning training squadron. HMS Queen Elizabeth’s Commanding Officer, Captain Angus Essenhigh, said in a news release: “It is a real honor for me to be taking HMS Queen Elizabeth to sea for the first time as her new Commanding Officer. This period at sea will build on the successes of the Westlant 19 deployment, providing a fantastic opportunity for the ship to further its generation towards carrier strike, and will train and qualify UK F-35 pilots in UK waters for the very first time.”
January 22/20: Missile Defense Battle Command System Lockheed Martin announced in a press release that two US Air Force F-35s were integrated with the US Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, providing an airborne sensor capability to successfully detect, track and intercept near simultaneous air-breathing threats in a test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. In December 2019, the F-35s were used as sensors during an IBCS live fire test against multiple airborne targets for the first time. Linking F-35s to IBCS via the Multifunction Advanced Data Link provided enhanced situational awareness and weapons-quality track data to engage airborne targets. The proof of concept demonstration reportedly used experimental equipment developed by Lockheed Martin, including the Harvest Lightning Ground Station and IBCS adaptation kit. The F-35 is a stealthy, supersonic multi-role fighter.
January 14/20 Singapore The US State Department has approved a potential $2.75 billion Foreign Military Sale of Lockheed Martin F-35B short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) as well as associated spare parts, logistics, and training support to Singapore. DSCA also revealed that the proposed package includes up to 13 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines including one initial spare, unspecified electronic warfare, communications, and navigation systems, the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) maintenance and logistics planning suite, software development and integration, and training equipment. Singapore would be the fourth country in the Asia Pacific region to operate the F-35, after Australia, Japan, and South Korea – should the sale proceed. It would also represent a brand new STOVL capability for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), which has never operated such aircraft.
January 2/20: Logistics Services The Navy awarded Lockheed Martin with a $1.9 billion deal, which procures recurring logistics services for delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Air Systems. The contract is in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy as well as non-DoD participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. Services to be provided include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, automatic logistics information system operations and maintenance, reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support, supply chain management and activities to provide and support pilot and maintainer initial training. On December 30, Lockheed Martin reached its 2019 target to deliver 131 F-35 fighter jets to the United States and its allies, as the defense contractor built 47% more jets this year. The world’s largest defense contractor delivered a total of 134 of the stealthy jets this year and aims to deliver 141 F-35s in 2020. Work under the $1.9 billion contract will take place in Texas, Florida, South Carolina, California as well as the UK. Estimated completion date is in December 2020.
December 23/19: Early Identification United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, won a $58.4 million task order, which provides non-recurring engineering for early identification, development and qualification of corrections to potential and actual operational issues, including safety, reliability and maintainability problems identified through fleet usage, accelerated mission testing, continues engine maturation and evaluates component life limits based on operational experience in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Aircraft for the Navy, Air Force; non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. The F-35 combines 5th Generation fighter aircraft characteristics, advanced stealth, integrated avionics, sensor fusion and superior logistics support with the most powerful and comprehensive integrated sensor package of any fighter aircraft in history. The F-35’s advanced stealth allows pilots to penetrate areas without being detected by radars that legacy fighters cannot evade. Work will take place in Connecticut, and Indiana. Estimated completion is in December 2024.
December 12/19: IOC For Korean F-35As This Month South Korea is expected to declare initial operating capability (IOC) for its F-35A on December 17. Media reports say the ceremony will be held at 17th Fighter Wing base. So far, 12 aircraft have been delivered. South Korea has so far brought in 10 F-35As, beginning with two in late March, under a plan to deploy a total of 40 fifth-generation jets through 2021. Last month, the Air Force showcased the next-generation fighters to the public for the first time during the Armed Forces Day event. The fighters can fly at a top speed of Mach 1.8 and carry top-of-the-line weapons systems, such as joint direct attack munitions.
December 10/19: Special Tooling Lockheed Martin won a $153.4 million contract modification, which procures special tooling and special test equipment required to meet current and future F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production as well as full-rate production rates. The modification uses aircraft funds from fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 and combines purchasing funds of $55.8 million from the Air Force, $51.9 million from the Navy and $22.2 million from the Marine Corps, as well as $17.6 million from non-US Department of Defense partners and $5.8 million from Foreign Military Sales funds. The F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter. It has three main models: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A (CTOL), the short takeoff and vertical-landing F-35B (STOVL), and the catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery, carrier-based F-35C (CATOBAR). Work on the contract will take place at a variety of locations inside and outside the United States, with the bulk of the work taking place in Rome, Italy, and Redondo Beach, California. Estimated completion will be in December 2023.
November 27/19: US Asks DK To Buy More The US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark is asking the country to buy more F-35s and that Denmark should fulfill three-year-old promises to strengthen defense and surveillance in the Arctic. Denmark currently has ordered 27 F-35As and at least five will remain in the US for training purposes. Ambassador Carla Sands is concerned that NATO’s aircraft power and surveillance capacities are not enough in the Arctic and that Denmark should fulfill three-year-old promises to strengthen defense and surveillance there. Sands referred to a report from the Ministry of Defense on the tasks in the Arctic from 2016, which show concern about the presence of Russian soldiers in the Arctic. Sands also believes the report shows that the lack of satellites means that Denmark does not monitor Greenland’s skies or waters well enough.
November 21/19: Norway IOC Norway declared initial operational readiness for its F-35 readiness, local media reports. In a ceremony at Rygge Air Defense Base last week, Major General Skinnarland underlined that this declaration represents a milestone in the process of integrating the fifth generation aircraft into the Norwegian Air Force. The Norwegian Defense Minister, Frank Bakke-Jensen, congratulated the country’s Air Force on achieving this important operational capability. In November 2017, the first Norwegian F-35 aircraft landed in Norway. Today the Norwegian Air Force has 15 fighter aircraft in the country and another seven in the United States. All aircraft are undergoing thorough tests, flights and evaluations to ensure they are mission-ready.
November 8/19: Depot Level Repair Lockheed Martin won a $184.6 million modification to establish organic depot level repair capabilities for F-35 systems under the low-rate initial production Lot 11 non-annualized sustainment contract in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-Department of Defense participants. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft. It is designed for ground attack and air superiority missions. Systems included under the contract modification are common components, conventional controls, surfaces and edges, electrical/mechanical activation, firewall shutoff valve, radar, wing flap actuator system, hydraulic power generation system, arresting gear, standby flight display, fuel system, exterior lighting, gun system control unit, filter modules, thermal management system fan, alternating current contactor module and rudder pedals. Estimated completion will be in March 2023.
November 1/19: Simulator Database Lockheed Martin won a $10.6 million modification, which provides for the development and delivery of an enhanced simulator database and project management support for the F-35 aircraft of Japan. The F-35 Lightning II is designed and built to counter the most advanced airborne and ground-based threats. Japan’s program of record is 147 aircraft. In December 2018, the Japan Ministry of Defense announced its decision to increase its procurement of F-35s from 42 to 147. They stated the aircraft will be a mix of 105 F-35As and 42 STOVLS. The F-35 possesses 5th Generation capabilities that are not found on legacy 4th Generation fighters: very low observable stealth coupled with full fighter performance, advanced sensors and sensor fusion, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Work under the contract modification will take place in Florida and Texas and estimated completion will be in July 2021.
October 30/19: 114 Additional Aircraft Lockheed Martin won a $7 billion modification, which provides for the procurement of additional 114 F-35 aircraft. The deal, which updates an earlier procurement contract, covers aircraft and other considerations for the Defense Department as well as F-35 partner nations and other foreign customers. Of the 114 aircraft in the agreement, 48 are F-35As for the Air Force; 20 are Marine Corps F-35Bs; and nine are Navy F-35Cs. The US will receive 77 total aircraft, while 15 F-35As will go to Australia, 12 F-35As will go to Norway, and eight F-35As and two F-35Bs will go to Italy. The contract also covers funds to supply parts that have become harder to find, as well as software data, safety items, engineering services, and more. Lockheed will partner with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems on the bulk of the work. Estimated completion will be in March 2023.
October 28/19: F-35B Certification Lockheed Martin won a $148.4 million order, which procures durability testing support for the certification of the F-35B aircraft variant to a minimum of 8,000 flight hours/30 year service life in support of the Marine Corps and non-Department of Defense participants. The effort includes the test article configuration, the test article build, the test plan, the testing itself, and teardown and analysis. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft, designed for ground attack and air-superiority missions. The F-35B is the short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, California and Samlesbury in the UK. Estimated completion is in July 2032.
October 14/19: Norway’s Drag Chute Issue Royal Norwegian Air Force chief Brig. Gen. Tonje Skinnarland said in an exclusive interview with Defense News that his F-35 fleet has an issue with its unique drag chute. Peculiar to RNoAF F-35A, the drag chute is mounted on a pod on top of the aircraft to help slow down the jet on icy runways. It was supposed to fail one per 10,000 uses. Nevertheless, the service is encountering a lower figure for the failure rate. F-35 JPO and Lockheed Martin say the first compliant parachute will be delivered to Norway next year.
October 10/19: Netherlands The Netherlands want to buy nine more F-35s. The Dutch government announced plans to purchase nine more of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jets, a move that would bring the country’s inventory to 46. The acquisition will be worth approximately $1.1 billion. It will lay the foundation for a third F-35 squadron in the Dutch Air Force, a plan that government officials first had in late 2018. The additional aircraft are expected to contribute to the Air Force’s objective of having four jets available for NATO missions while also performing homeland defense operations and accounting for training requirements and maintenance downtime.
September 18/19: South Korea Displays F-35As South Korea is planning to showcase F-35A stealth fighters to the public for the first time during the Armed Forces Day ceremony next month to officially mark their introduction into the country, local media reports. So far, the country has brought in eight F-35As, beginning with two in late March, under a plan to deploy a total of 40 fifth-generation jets through 2021. Officials said that the Armed Forces Day ceremony, to be held on October 1, will take place at the Air Force’s 11th Fighter Wing base in the southeastern city of Daegu, and F-35s could be mobilized for the ceremony that would include ceremonial flyby and the display of key military assets. The F-35A is the conventional take-off and landing model of the F-35 Lightning II.
September 13/19: FMS To Poland The DoS approved a possible FMS to Poland F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft with support. The deal ist worth $6.5 billion. Poland had requested to buy 32 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) Aircraft and 33 Pratt & Whitney F-135 Engines. While Congress can still act to block the sale, it’s expected to run smoothly through Capitol Hill. Poland formally sent its request for the F-35 in May with the goal of replacing its legacy MiG-29 and Su-22 fleets. Procuring the F-35 is part of a broader defense modernization effort from Warsaw, which will see the country spend $47 billion by 2026 on new equipment. Poland is one of only a handful of NATO members that spends the NATO recommended 2% of GDP on defense. It also meets the other NATO target of spending more than 20% of its defense budget on equipment.
September 10/19: Special Tooling And Special Test Equipment Lockheed Martin won a $266.2 million contract for special tooling and special test equipment in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The deal benefits the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps as well as non-US DoD participants. The Department of Defense is developing and fielding a family of fifth-generation strike fighter aircraft integrating stealth technologies with advanced sensors and computer networking capabilities for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, eight international partners, and four Foreign Military Sales customers. The family is comprised of three aircraft variants: The F35A, F35B and F35C. Work under the new contract will take place in various places within the US as well as the UK, Norway, Canada and Australia. Estimated completion will be by July 2022.
September 3/19: Big Lizzie To Conduct Warfare Trials With F-35 Jets The UK Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed from Portsmouth on August 30 to undertake operational trials off the east coast of the United States. Dubbed the ‘Westlant 19,’ the deployment will see the carrier conduct operational testing with UK F-35B Lightning aircraft. ‘Westlant 19’ will also operationalize the UK Carrier Strike Group construct ahead of a first deployment planned for 2021. According to the UK Defence Journal, the deployment ‘Westlant 19’, will see HMS Queen Elizabeth and her crew conduct vital deck and warfare trials with British F-35 jets. The 617 Squadron will reportedly embark on HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time for this deployment.
August 27/19: Initial Spares Lockheed Martin won a $2.4 billion contract modification for F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter initial spares. The deal supports the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, non-US Department of Defense participants, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Spares include global spares packages, base spares packages, deployment spares packages, afloat spares packages and associated consumables. The F-35 Lightning is a supersonic, multi-role fighter jet that represents a quantum leap in air-dominance capability, offering enhanced lethality and survivability in hostile, anti-access airspace environments. The aircraft family is comprised of three aircraft variants. The Air Force’s F-35A variant will complement its F-22A fleet and is expected to replace the air-to-ground attack capabilities of the F-16 and A-10. The Marine Corps’ F-35B variant will replace its F/A-18 and AV-8B aircraft. The Navy’s F-35C variant will complement its F/A-18E/F aircraft. Lockheed will perform work within the US, the UK and the Netherlands.
August 21/19: Retrofit The Naval Air Systems Command tapped Lockheed with a $32.1 million modification for modification and retrofit of delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force. The deal procures modification kits and special tooling. The contract will cater to the US Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. The F-35 Lightning is a supersonic, multi-role fighter jet that represents a quantum leap in air-dominance capability, offering enhanced lethality and survivability in hostile, anti-access airspace environments. Currently, it is being used by the defense forces of the United States and 11 other nations. The F-35 is Lockheed Martin’s largest program that generates more than 25% of its total sales. Lockheed will perform work in Fort Worth, Texas and estimated completion date is in June 2025.
August 20/19: Japan Japan’s Ministry of Defense approved the purchase of 42 F-35B fighters. According to Asahi Shimbun, each aircraft is expected to cost $132 million. Funding will be made available for the purchase of 18 jets. The government indicated late last year that it intended to acquire the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft, but no formal decision had been made until now. The F-35B aircraft is manufactured by Lockheed Martin. On May 27, US President Donald Trump said at a press conference following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan plans to buy 105 F-35 fighters. The F-35B is a single-engine fifth-generation fighter aircraft. It is the first aircraft to combine stealth technology with STOVL capabilities and supersonic speeds.
August 16/19: USAF in Europe Prepares For F-35 During a telephone briefing on August 13, General Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of the US Air Force in Europe, Air Forces Africa, and NATO’s Allied Air Command told Journalists that the deployment of a squadron of US Air Force F-35s to Europe “allowed us to integrate this fifth generation platform into various exercises and training sorties with our allies and partners“. The US Air Force in Europe has been preparing to base F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in the UK through a series of activities with NATO countries. In July the USAF together with the UK Ministry of Defense’s Infrastructure Organisation broke ground during a ceremony on a new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II infrastructure at RAF Lakenheath.
August 6/19: Turkey Uses Missiles Intended For F-35 According to local reports, Turkey plans to use air-to-surface missiles initially developed for the F-35 on locally developed national combat aircraft and drones. Turkey’s industry and technology minister, Mustafa Varank said on Saturday that the SOM-J cruise missile jointly developed by the US and Turkey, will be deployed on local air assets following Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 program. The SOM-J is a next-generation, medium-range, all-weather, air-to-surface standoff cruise missile. Stealthy and precise, the SOM-J is designed for use against heavily defended, high-value anti-surface warfare and land targets. These include surface-to-air missile sites, exposed aircraft, strategic assets, command and control centers and naval vessels. The SOM-J can be integrated into the Ak?nc? UAVs produced by leading unmanned air system manufacturer Baykar Makina. The Ak?nc? system can reach an altitude of 40,000 feet and has the capability of flying for 24 hours straight. It has the capacity for a useful load of up to 350 kilograms.
July 18/19: No F-35s for Turkey President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the USA won’t sell F-35 jets to Turkey after the country purchased a Russian Missile Defense System. Turkey had decided to take delivery of nine S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile defense systems from Russia last week. The US is concerned that deploying the S-400 with the F-35 would allow Russia to gain too much inside information of the stealth system. The S-400 system is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range ones. In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the president officially said that the US won’t sell any F-35s to Ankara. The United States had also threatened to impose sanctions against Turkey in reaction to the deal. However, Trump didn’t comment on potential sanctions during the Tuesday Cabinet meeting.
July 10/19: Tech Refresh-3 Lockheed Martin won a $41.3 million contract modification for the design, procurement and integration of flight test instrumentation and data processing solutions for F-35 Lightning II development test aircraft to support the Tech Refresh-3 and the Follow on Modernization Block 4 mission systems configuration. The Naval Air Systems Command awarded the contract. The deal, with expected completion date of February 2021, will cater to the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and non-US Department of Defense partners. The F-35 Lightning is a supersonic, multi-role fighter jet that represents a quantum leap in air-dominance capability, offering enhanced lethality and survivability in hostile, anti-access airspace environments. The jet is being utilized by the defense forces of the United States and 11 other nations, chiefly owing to its advanced stealth, integrated avionics, sensor fusion, superior logistics support and powerful integrated sensors capabilities.
July 4/19: Special Tooling and Test Equipment Lockheed Martin won a $348.2 million contract modification for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Under the modification, Lockheed will produce non-recurring, special tooling and special test equipment for the F-35 jets. The F-35 Lightning is a supersonic, multi-role fighter jet that represents a quantum leap in air-dominance capability, offering enhanced lethality and survivability in hostile, anti-access airspace environments. It is being used by the defense forces of the United States and 11 other nations, chiefly owing to its advanced stealth, integrated avionics, sensor fusion, superior logistics support and powerful integrated sensors capabilities. Last month, the Pentagon completed a $34 billion “handshake agreement” with Lockheed for Lot 12 of the F-35, with options for Lots 13 and 14. Defense Department acquisition chief Ellen Lord at the time said the deal attained about a 15% average reduction across the F-35’s variants from Lot 11 to Lot 14. The new contract modification is for the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense partners, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work is expected to be completed August 2022.
June 27/19: Joint Forces Israeli, US and UK F-35 stealth fighter jets participated in a joint exercise over the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, Israel Defense reports. The exercise called „Tri-Lightning“ was a one-day defensive counter air exercise involving friendly and adversary aircraft from the three participating countries and consisted of active and passive air defense operations. The Israeli Defense Forces emphasized that the exercise was pre-scheduled as part of the annual training graph and constitutes a unique opportunity for the joint training of the fifth-generation combat aircraft. Additionally, the exercise enabled the cooperation between the Air Forces and the development of joint capabilities.
June 13/19: F-35 Problems According to Defense News, the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter continues to face a number of serious deficiencies that could negatively impact pilots and missions. Valerie Insinna writes that documents show, the F-35 struggles with things like cabin pressure spikes that cause ear and sinus pains and loss of aircraft control with certain maneuvers. She also mentions issues with the helmet-mounted display and night vision camera that contribute to the difficulty of landing the F-35C on an aircraft carrier. The documents describe some of these problems as category 1 deficiencies, which is a designation only given to major flaws that impact safety or mission effectiveness. Most of the issues described have not been publicly communicated. However, Defense Department leaders want to decide by the end of the year if they should move forward with full-rate production.
June 11/19: Crash caused by Vertigo? After the sudden crash of a Japanese F-35 into the Pacific Ocean in April, reports now saw this was caused by „spatial disorientation“ of its pilot. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force jet disappeared from radar while on a training mission with three other F-35s off northern Japan on April 9. There was no indication from the jet’s pilot, Maj. Akinori Hosomi, of any problems with the aircraft before contact was lost. The Ministry of Defense said Monday that Hosomi, a 41-year-old with 3,200 hours of flight experience, essentially flew the stealth fighter straight into the ocean during the night training mission. About 15 seconds lapsed between the pilot’s last communication and loss of contact with the plane. “We believe it highly likely the pilot was suffering from vertigo or spatial disorientation and wasn’t aware of his condition”, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said in a briefing.
May 28/19: Japan wants more Japan wants to buy 105 US-made stealth warplanes, Donald Trump said while in Tokyo on a state visit. This purchase would make Japan the ally with the largest F-35 fleet. The US is developing and fielding a family of fifth-generation strike fighter aircraft integrating stealth technologies with advanced sensors and computer networking capabilities for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, eight international partners, and four Foreign Military Sales customers. The Japanese government first placed an order for 42 F-35As in December 2011. By December 2018, the existing order was updated. At the time it was reported that Tokyo would be adding 63 F-35As and 42 F-35B variants to its order, in addition to the already placed request for 42 F-35As.
May 21/19: Erdogan expects F-35 Delivery despite S-400 Purchase According to reports, Turkish President Erdogan said that Russia will produce the S-500 together with Turkey. The S-500 is a long-range anti-ballistic missile system with a planned range of 500-600 kilometers. This comes after Turkey’s controversial purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system. This purchase has taken a toll on relations between Turkey and the US since Turkey is also part of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program. The US has even gone as far as opposing shipment of the F-35 jets if Turkey goes through with the S-400 purchase. However, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan has recently shown confidence that the F-35 will be delivered.
May 16/19: Redesign Lockheed won an $18.5 million modification that authorizes the procurement of Diminishing Manufacturing Sources redesign activities in support of the F-35 aircraft. The F-35 is a 5th-generation multi-role stealth fighter that is is being acquired by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps to replace and supplement much of their air fleets. Partner nations such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and others are participating in the program. The program has been troubled by a long list of delays, software and hardware problems and cost overruns. It is anticipated to serve as the primary US stealth fighter platform, alongside the F-22 Raptor, for decades to come. In August Lockheed received a $171.7 million modification to support redesign of the air system on Lot 11 of the F-35 Lightning II. Work under the current modification will take place in Fort Worth, Texas and is scheduled to be finished in January 2024.
May 14/19: Bird Strike According to reports, a Japan-based American F-35B had to abort take-off due to a bird strike. The aircraft with Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing likely suffered $2 million in damages. The incident, classified as a Class A Mishap, is currently under investigation and a complete damage assessment is underway. The bird strike happened near Iwakuni, Japan.
May 3/19: First Combat Employment! The US Air Force conducted an airstrike targeting terrorist organization Islamic State’s assets at Wadi Ashai, Iraq using the F-35A Lightning II aircraft for the first time. The conventional take-off and landing fighter jets, performing the strike in support of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, used a Joint Direct Attack Munition to conduct the air strike to take out an entrenched Daesh tunnel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains. The strike marked the first combat employment of the F-35A. The F-35A aircraft were recently deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, US, to Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE and joined the Combined Forces Air Component team in the CENTCOM area of operations (AOR) last month.
May 1/19: Maintenance The Navy tapped Lockheed Martin with a $1.1 billion contract in support of the F-35 Lightning II. The deal is a cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, cost share contract that includes ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, Automatic Logistics Information System operation and maintenance, reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support, supply chain management, and activities to provide and support pilot and maintainer initial training. The contract is in support of the F-35 Lightning II for the Air Force, Navy, non-US DoD participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. FMS partners are Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Work will take place within the US and the UK and is expected to be finished in December 2022.
April 25/19: Air Vehicle Initial Spares The Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $117.1 million contract modification for air vehicle initial spares to include a deployment spares package, afloat spares package, and associated consumables to support air vehicle delivery schedules for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. This contract comes after it was reported that the estimated total price for research and procurement in the F-35 program has increased by $22 billion in current dollars adjusted for inflation. The increase reflects for the first time the current cost estimates for a major set of upgrades planned in coming “Block 4” modifications. Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord and Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan have been pushing the program office and Lockheed to reduce projected operations and support costs. Work for the initial spares contract will take place within the US, the UK and the Netherland and is expected to be finished in August 2023.
April 19/19: 7 Emergency Landings and 1 Crash Japan’s first F-35A stealth fighter reportedly made seven emergency landings in the months prior to crashing in the Pacific Ocean last week. The Japanese Air Force started using its fleet of 13 F35As in January. On April 9, the first plane of Mitsubishi assembly crashed. Of the 13 planes provided by the United States to Japan, five have been forced to make emergency landings in seven incidents. The plane that crashed made two of the emergency landings. Final assembly of four of the error reporting planes, including the fighter that went missing, was carried out in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The other aircraft was built and assembled in the US. The crashed fighter reportedly had issues with its cooling and navigation systems twice. Japan grounded its fleet of 13 F-35As in the wake of the crash.
April 17/19: Lot 14 Propulsion Systems Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., won a $201.9 million modification from the US Navy to obtain long lead parts and materials needed to produce lot 14 propulsion systems for the F-35 aircraft. Pratt & Whitney’s F135 propulsion system powers all three variants of the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft. It is an afterburning turbofan. The system was developed with efforts to create a stealthy STOVL strike fighter for the US Marine Corps. The modification is in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-US DOD participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. Pratt & Whitney will perform work in the US and the UK and is expecting completion in April 2022.
April 9/19: Deployed! Britain will send its F35B aircraft on their very first overseas deployment this year. According to the British government, the aircraft will make their way from Royal Air Force home station Marham in Norfolk to Cyprus. This marks an important milestone for the F35B’s journey to become fully operational. The deployment will see personnel from the Royal Air Force as well as the Navy gain vital experience in maintaining and flying the aircraft in an unfamiliar environment. Britain currently owns 17 F-35B aircraft, and plans to procure 138 over the life of the program. The country plans for the jets to hit targets in Syria as soon as this summer, the Times reported last December.
April 5/19: Training continues According to Reuters, Turkish pilots are still training in the US in the midst of the dispute between the two countries over F-35 delivery. Just a few days ago, it was reported, the US had halted its deliver of F-35s to Turkey due to Turkey’s plans to buy the Russian S-400 air defense systems. Vice President, Mike Pence even warned, that Turkey could risk its NATO-membership if it went ahead with the procurement. The S-400 is designed to detect and shoot down stealth fighters like the F-35. Planting the air-defense system on Turkish soil could, by means of its powerful radar, help Moscow discover the the vulnerabilities of the F-35s that Turkey intends to acquire.
April 3/19: No more parts for Turkey! The US has halted shipments of F-35 parts to Turkey due to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence to buy the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system. The S-400 Triumf is an anti-aircraft weapon system designed to threaten the world’s most advanced fighters, including the F-35. Turkey is a partner in the Joint Strike Fighter Program. The decision comes after months of warnings by the US. It’s one more step toward ending the actual aircraft sale. According to Reuters, the next shipment of training equipment, and all subsequent shipments of F-35 related material, had been canceled. Turkey plans to acquire up to 100 of the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A to replace its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons.
March 21/19: South Korea The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin a $264.7 million modification for additional operation and technical services in support of the government of Korea’s F-35 Lightning II program. The stealth F-35A is supposed to provide the Republic of Korea (ROK) with enhanced capability to protect safety and security. The ROK signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance between the US and Korea for 40 F-35A Conventional Take Off and Landing variant jets with initial deliveries beginning in 2018. The first Korean F-35A made its debut in March 2018. It is expected that the aircraft will start to deliver to Chongju Air Base in spring 2019. Work under the modification will take place in Fort Worth, Texas and is scheduled to be completed in June 2020. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $264,655,025 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
March 20/19: OLED Helmet Display The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin a $14.6 million contract modification in support of the F-35 Program. The deal provides for 62 low-rate initial production Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) Helmet Display Units and spares for the F-35 Joint Strike Aircraft. The contract caters to the US Marine Corps and Navy. The F-35 Lightning is a supersonic, multi-role fighter jet used by the defense forces of the United States and 11 other nations. The F-35 is Lockheed Martin’s largest program that generates more than 25 percent of its total sales. OLED panels are made from organic materials that emit light when electricity is applied through them. Since OLEDs do not require a backlight and filters, they are more efficient, simpler to make, and much thinner and in fact can be made flexible and even rollable. Work related to the deal is scheduled to be over by February 2020 and will be carried out in Fort Worth, Texas.
March 15/19: Support from Pratt & Whitney The Navy awarded Pratt & Whitney a $71.4 million task order in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customers. The United Technologies subsidiary will mature the F-35 propulsion system ahead of service operational use of the fighter aircraft. The company will provide non-recurring services to help address safety and durability challenges, maintain technical performance and advance the engine technology of F-35 jets. The F-35 is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and their allies. Work under the order will take place in Connecticut and Indiana and is scheduled to be finished by December 2023.
March 11/19: Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile The US Navy contracted Northrop Grumman $322.5 million to develop new rocket motors for the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER). The deal provides for engineering and manufacturing development of the AGM-88G variant of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile. The AARGM is a supersonic, medium-range, air-launched tactical missile featuring an advanced, digital, anti-radiation homing sensor, millimeter wave radar terminal seeker, precise Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System guidance, net-centric connectivity, and Weapon Impact Assessment transmit. Work under the contract includes the design, integration and test of a new solid rocket motor for the AARGM-ER for use on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler and F-35A/C aircraft platforms. Work will take place in California and is scheduled to be finished by December 2023.
March 8/19: Center Fuselage Northrop Grumman finished the 500th center fuselage for the F-35 Lightning II. Designated AU-18, the 500th F-35 center fuselage is for a conventional takeoff and landing variant for the Royal Australian Air Force. The center fuselage is a core structure of the F-35 and is designed and produced on Northrop Grumman’s integrated assembly line. While Lockheed Martin is the industry lead for the F-35 program, Northrop Grumman plays a key role in the development, modernization and sustainment of the F-35. Besides producing the center fuselage and wing skins for the aircraft, the company develops, produces and maintains several sensor systems, avionics, mission systems and mission-planning software, pilot and maintainer training systems, electronic warfare simulation test capability, and low-observable technologies. Northrop Grumman began production on the AU-18 center fuselage in June 2018 and completed work on February 21st.
March 4/19: Singapore Singapore plans to buy an initial four F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. The country is looking to replace its F-16 fleet. Its fleet of around 60 F-16 jets, which first entered service in 1998, will be retired soon after 2030. Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Friday, the Ministry will issue a Letter of Request (LOR) to the US regarding the purchase. The LOR will request an initial acquisition of four F-35s, with the option of a subsequent eight. With Southeast Asia’s largest defense budget, the wealthy city-state is a key prize for global arms companies as it looks to invest in new technology and upgrade its equipment.
March 1/19: Australia The Australian Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin signed an agreement for Australian F-35 Sovereign Sustainment Contracts. This will facilitate Australian industry’s expanded involvement in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program and ensures the long-term sustainment of the country’s F-35A Lighting-II Joint Strike Fighter fleet. The agreement includes details about intellectual property, technical data and software arrangements with Lockheed Martin entities for direct sovereign sustainment contracts. A settled framework will help address the complexities associated with intellectual property, technical data and software under the global F-35 Program. According to the CEO of Lockheed Martin Australia, the new agreement provides a big opportunity for industrial and economic growth.
February 15/19: Repair Materials The Navy awarded Lockheed Martin with a 14.5 million contract modification to provide for initial lay-in of repair materials for seven F-35 Lightning II systems at various depots in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, non-US DOD participants, and Foreign Military Sales customers. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine stealth multirole fighters. The global F-35 program is the largest and most advanced military aircraft program in the world. More than 3,000 F-35 aircraft will be produced by 2030 for a number of countries. Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the UK, and the US are the original partner countries in the F-35 program. Work under the modification will take place in Orlando, Florida; Fort Worth, Texas; Jackson, Mississippi; Windsor Locks, Connecticut; St. Louis, Missouri; and East Aurora, New York, and is scheduled to be completed in July 2024.
February 13/19: Affordability Campaign The Navy contracted the management consulting firm McKinsey with a $15.7 million modification in support of the F-35 Lightning II affordability campaign for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The F-35 Lightning II was designed to be an affordable 5th Generation fighter. The program received considerable criticism for cost overruns during development and for the total projected cost of the program over the lifetime of the jets. By 2017, the program was expected over its lifetime (until 2070) to cost $406.5 billion for acquisition of the jets and $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance. The modification provides for maturation of the current effort through expansion and refinement of existing scope, including strategic sourcing, senior leadership team offsite, and major contract actions. Work will take place in Arlington, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by June this year.
February 7/19: Cost Reduction The Navy tapped Lockheed Martin with a $90.4 million contract modification to reduce the cost of the F-35 Lightning II Air System. The modification provides for the identification and execution of cost reduction initiatives. The F-35 single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters are the most expensive airplanes of all time. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said at the end of January that the program had a lot of opportunity for performance improvements. In late 2018 a Defense Department assessment obtained by Bloomberg news prior to its official release revealed that the F-35B is not projected to meet the expected service life of 8,000 fleet hours but could be as low as 2,100 hours. Lockheed Martin will aim to complete the cost reduction efforts by June 2022.
February 1/19: Netherlands Lockheed Martin rolled out the first operational F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for the Netherlands. The aircraft will be temporarily based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, where it will join the USAF’s 308 Fighter Squadron for international training before being transferred to Leeuwarden in the Netherlands this year. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is procuring the F-35A to replace its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons. With the first of 37 aircraft set to enter operational service at Leeuwarden later in 2019, the type’s second operating station at Volkel is expected to open in 2021. Until now, more than 360 F-35s have been delivered internationally and are now operating from 16 bases worldwide. Ten nations are flying the F-35, seven countries have F-35s operating from a base on their home soil, five services have declared Initial Operating Capability, and two services have announced their F-35s were utilized in combat operations. According to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the F-35 program already generated more than $1 billion in contracts for Netherland’s industry.
January 30/19: Australia The US Naval Air Systems Command contracted Lockheed Martin with a $31.3 million modification for sustainment services for F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production Lot X aircraft for the Australian government. The F-35A featuring conventional takeoff and landing, is one of three variants of the single-seat, single-engine fighters. Australia is investing more than $17 billion to acquire at least 72 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters. Ten new jets have been delivered to Australia, with the first eight temporarily flying with the US Air Force’s 61st Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, as part of the international F-35 training school. Work for the modification will take place in Williamtown, Australia and is expected to be completed by early 2021.
January 29/19: Flight Trials The program office for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter awards BAE Systems a sole-source contract to conduct flight trials of the F-35’s future electronic warfare (EW) and countermeasures suite, Jane’s reports. The British defense company will conduct tests of a modified version of the AN/ASQ-239A suite aboard the CATBird surrogate test aircraft. The AN/ASQ-239 system is BAE System’s advanced electronic warfare suite, providing the F-35 with end-to-end capabilities. The demonstration of elements of the EW/countermeasures suite on the modified Boeing 737 airliner known as the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATBird) is known as the Project Heisenberg.
January 24/19: Lockheed Martin to deliver AME The US Navy awarded Lockheed Martin Aeronautics a $542.2 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to support the F-35 Program. Under this deal, Lockheed Martin is to deliver ancillary mission equipment (AME) and associated spares for F-35 Lightning II jets. The F-35 Lightning jet is a supersonic, multirole fighter jet. It is being used by the defense forces of the US and other nations around the world due to its advanced stealth, integrated avionics, sensor fusion, superior logistics support and powerful integrated sensors capabilities. Back in August 2018, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics received a $302 million order against a previous contract for ancillary mission equipment to support the F-35. Work for the current contract will be performed in Texas, and is scheduled to be completed by May 2023.
January 21/19: Singapore Singapore wants to acquire Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) as a replacement for the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) F-16C/D multirole combat aircraft. This is the outcome of a a technical evaluation by the RSAF and the Defense Science and Technology Agency which lasted more than five years. The RSAF is believed to operate about 20 F-16C and 40 F-16D Block 52/52+ aircraft, which were acquired in the 1990s and believed to be optimized with Israeli-built electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems. The Ministry of Defense is now going to discuss further details for the replacement with relevant parties in the US before confirming the decision to purchase the F-35 JSFs.
January 17/19: Lockheed Martin tapped for MD programming Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. won a $68.9 million contract to conduct the Mission Data (MD) programming and reprogramming mission for the F-35 Digital Channelized Receiver/Technique Generator and Tuner Insertion Program (DTIP), and other non-DTIP configurations. Under this deal, Lockheed will design, develop, document, integrate and test upgrades to the US Reprogramming Laboratory in order to execute the mission. Efforts benefit the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps operational aircraft as well as all training aircraft wishing the continental US with MD products. The Reprogramming Laboratory was established at Eglin Air Force Base to to compile information in order for the F-35 to be able to operate in combat. This information is known as the Mission Data Files. Work is expected to be completed in May 2021.
January 16/19: China certain, J-20 will gain superiority of F-35 With South Korea becoming the latest country to buy US F-35 stealth fighter jets, Chinese military observers are certain that an upgraded Chinese J-20 fighter will gain superiority over the F-35 the future. With its advanced weapon system and capability to stealth and supersonic cruising, the F-35 is regarded as one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world. With Japan and South Korea ordering F-35 fighter jets under the US’ Joint Strike Fighter program, the countries may conduct more joint exercises near China, making it easy for coordination. China’s fifth generation fighter jet J-20, which has been in service under the People’s Liberation Army Air Force since early 2018, is endowed with state-of-the-art aviation and electronic technologies. The Chengdu J-20 is a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather stealth fighter.
January 15/19: US threatens Turkey with expulsion Turkey developed stand-alone software to control imported missile systems without threatening its sovereign rights, Jane’s reports. Turkey will go ahead with purchasing a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile battery under a $2.5 billion contract, which also includes an option for a second one. The US is trying to prevent Turkey’s government from buying the S-400 defense missile system and is threatening to impose sanctions on the Turkish authorities in case they do not cancel the arms deal with Russia. They are warning, that Turkey risks expulsion from the US-led F-35 program if the country goes through with the S-400 delivery. The US is concerned, the S-400 would harm the flight safety of the fifth generation F-35 aircraft. The S-400 is an anti-aircraft weapon system, which integrates a multifunction radar, autonomous detection and targeting systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, launchers, and command as well as control center. It is able to fire three types of missiles to create a layered defense. Turkey will start to deploy S-400s in October this year.
January 14/19: South Korea South Korea will receive the first F-35A stealth fighters in March. The jets have been tested at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The first two jets are scheduled to be combat-deployed in April or May and 10 other jets are supposed to be ready for deployment by the end of this year. South Korea approved a deal in September 2014 to acquire 40 F-35As for about $6.8 billion. The F-35A has radar-evading capabilities and can perform ground-attack and air-superiority missions with several precision weapons.
January 10/19: Admiral questions UK commitment Former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West questions the UK government’s commitment to buying F-35B Lightning stealth jets. In September 2018 F-35B aircraft have landed on deck of the HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time. Lord West finds it necessary to purchase enough of the necessary variant for both Queen Elizabeth class-carriers and to have an operational unit for training and repair. Having fewer than 90 F-35B jets. The United Kingdom is currently holding 16 F-35B jets at RAF Marham in Norfolk and in the United States. In November 2018 the British Defense Secretary announced, the UK would order 17 more aircraft.
January 8/19: T&D and regional wearhousing assigned The pentagon assigned the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) global transportation and distribution and North American regional warehousing to The Defense Logistics Agency and US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). The assignment is based upon data submitted by the F-35 partner nations, Foreign Military Sales customers, and Pentagon Providers and is part of a series of assignments that designated airframe, propulsion, and component repair maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upkeep provides across F-35 Global Solution’s three-region construct. The global F-35 fleet has nine partner nations (US, UK, Turkey, Australia, Italy, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark) and three foreign military sales customers (Israel, Japan, South Korea).
January 1/19: Lockheed tapped for TR3 Work Lockheed Martin has been awarded a valued $712.5 million order by the US Navy to work on the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter. The Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed to perform ground-attack and air-superiority missions. Under the agreement Lockheed Martin will develop the aircraft’s Technology Refresh 3 (TR3) System, which will update the computer systems on board the F-35 Lightning II. The TR3 will be designed with full flightworthy certification, production readiness review and fleet release to support low-rate initial production of the 15th Lot of F-35 jets. Work will be carried out in Fort Worth, Texas and is scheduled to be over by March 2023. The F-35 is Lockheed Martin’s largest program, generating 27% of its total sales in the third quarter of 2018.

December 12/18: F-35As Down-Under The Royal Australian Air Force is welcoming its ninth and tenth F-35A fighter jet. These will be the first JSFs to be stationed permanently in the country with the first eight used for pilot training with the US Air Force’s 61st Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. “Today marks a very important day for the Australian Defence Force and particularly the Royal Australian Air Force,” RAAF Air Marshal Leo Davies told media representatives during the jet’s welcoming ceremony. “Welcome to the latest chapter of the F-35 story, the most significant Royal Australian Air Force acquisition in our 97-year history,” he continued. “The two aircraft that landed here today mark the latest step in an exciting journey for Air Force, which has been over 16 years in the making.” Australia is a Tier 3 partner in the JSF program and expects to buy an initial 73 F-35As with an option to buy a further 28 aircraft in the next decade.

December 3/18: Research The US Navy is allocating more funding towards studying and improving the F-35’s operational capability. Lockheed Martin is receiving a $18.5 million modification to a previously awarded IDIQ contract. The extra money covers program-related and logistical work and analysis of the F-35’s ability to accomplish its mission requirements set by the US military and other partnering nations and foreign buyers. Included in the analysis is a study looking into cost and weight reductions and simulations of the aircraft’s performance with modelling and simulation activities. Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in December 2019.

November 29/18: Japan Japanese media suggest that Tokyo is preparing to order another 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The country’s MoD says that it needs more F-35s as replacement for its ageing F-15s, and government plans to approve the acquisition in its upcoming National Defense Program Guidelines. Japan currently has 42 F-35s on order which will succeed its fleet of 91 upgraded F-4 “Phantom Kai” fighters. by 2024.The additional 100 planes will replace half of Japan’s 213 F-15J Eagle air superiority fighters, this order will likely be mix of the A and B variants. To accommodate the F-35 B STOVL variant, Tokyo plans to overhaul and revamp one of its JS Izumo helicopter carrier to host the fighters. The total contract value is estimated to be around $9 billion.

November 27/18: GCAS testing The US Air Force’s 461st Flight Test Squadron is currently testing an Auto GCAS system on F-35 JSFs. Stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System fitted aircraft will undergo several rounds of testing. Auto GCAS is designed to prevent CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) mishaps by executing an automatic recovery maneuver when terrain impact is imminent. The system relies on a set of sensors that continently measure the fighter jets trajectory, speed, terrain data and pilot input. If GCAS senses an incoming crash, the system calculates the best way to recover to a safe trajectory, automatically overrides the flight controls and flies the aircraft away from danger. The GCAS system is being developed by Lockheed Martin and will be “the stepping stone to increased combat capability via a fully capable combat autopilot that will be able to execute tactical manoeuvres to defeat inbound kinetic and non-kinetic threats, and maximise lethality through precise weapon employment,” says Lt Col Raven LeClair, a F-35 test pilot with the 461st Flight Test Squadron.

November 21/18: Essential tech Lockheed Martin is being contracted to mitigate the upcoming obsolescence of F-35 JSF essential semiconductors. Awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, the $41.5 million firm-fixed-price delivery order provides for procurement of new Xilinx and Intel-Altera field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). An FPGA is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturing. They are configurable computer processors with large amounts of logic gates and RAM blocks to implement complex digital computations. The devices can carry out any logical function similar to an application-specific integrated circuit. The F-35s communication, navigation, and identification friend or foe (IFF) avionics rely on FPGAs, as do other critical electronic subsystems aboard the advanced fighter aircraft. The contract combines purchases for the US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, as well as to FMS customers. Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in February 2019.

November 20/18: New manoeuvre The Royal Navy achieves another milestone aboard Britain’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. RAF test pilot Squadron Leader Andy Edgell recently completed a special landing manoeuvre with a F-35B. Edgell reportedly flew the STOVL aircraft facing the stern, not bow, before bringing the jet to a hover, slipping it over the huge flight deck and gently setting it down. This ‘back-to-front’ manoeuvre is intended to give naval aviators and the flight deck are more options to safely land the 5th generation fighter jet in an emergency. The wrong-way landing was a slightly surreal experience, said Squadron Leader Edgell. “It was briefly bizarre to bear down on the ship and see the waves parting on the bow as you fly an approach aft facing.”

November 16/18: LRIP 12 The US Department of Defense is ordering a new batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from Lockheed Martin. The company is being awarded with a $23 billion contract modification that covers the procurement of 255 aircraft. About 106 planes will be delivered to US services, including 64 F-35As for the Air Force, 26 F-35Bs for the Marine Corps and 16 F-35Cs for the Navy. Another 89 JSFs will be delivered to non-DoD participants of which 71 are A variant and 18 are B variants. A number of Foreign Military Sales customers will receive the remaining 60 F-35s in their A version. This modification includes low rate initial production lot 12 for US services and LRIP 12, 13 and 14 for international partner countries and FMS customers. Lots 12 and 13 jets are set to be delivered in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The definitization of the final LRIP 14 contract is expected to take place in 2020, with deliveries expected for 2022. Work will be performed at multiple locations worldwide. They include, but are not limited to, Fort Worth, Texas; San Diego, California; Nagoya, Japan and Warton United Kingdom. Performance of the contract is expected to be completed in March 2023.

November 15/18: Milestone The multi-billion F-35 JSF program will soon mark another major milestone. The US DoD expects to order a 12th batch of F-35s from Lockheed Martin by next spring. “Negotiations on the US contract are moving quickly on what is expected be the largest order to date for the F-35”, the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer Ellen Lord told Reuters. Some sources claim that the impending deal will cover the delivery of over 250 F-35 fighter jets to US services an international partners. The JSF program has been widely criticised for its overruns and schedule delays, however in September Lockheed managed to lower the price for the F-35A by 5,4% to $89.2 million, and expects to cut the price to $80 million by 2020.

November 12/18: Italy reduces intake The Italian government will slow-down its F-35 acquisitions in accordance with its recently published defense spending review. The Tier 2 partner will be buying six or seven JSFs in the next five years instead of the previously planned 10 aircraft. The decision on the slowdown keeps with Italian policy on the F-35 set out by Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta after she took office in June. Italy will maintain spending on the program, with $874 million to be spend in 2019 and another $887 million earmarked for 2020. Italy has made significant investments in JSF development, and the country hosts a European Final Assembly and Check-Out (FACO) production line in Cameri, near Milan. The country is currently due to purchase 60 F-35 As and 30 F-35Bs.

November 6/18: Block 4 Lockheed Martin is being awarded with a contract modification in support of the F-35 Block 4 pre-modernization Phase II effort. Priced at $130.4 million the modification provides for requirements decomposition and design work that sees for the maturation of the aircraft’s weapon capabilities. Block 4 is part of the F-35 JPO’s Continuous Capability Development and Delivery or C2D2 effort that seeks to keep the fighter jet relevant against emerging, dynamic threats by quickly fielding incremental updates to the jet’s software, much like regularly updating one’s smartphone. The Block 4 update program will allow the aircraft to finally meet its full contractual specifications. The whole Block 4 update program is expected to cost $10.8 billion through FY2024. The contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($17.4 million), the Navy ($14.2 million), Marine Corps ($14.2 million) and for relevant international partners ($84.3 million). Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed in March 2020.

November 5/18: F-35B SSDS test Raytheon is marking another milestone in its Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) program. During a recently held test one of the USMC’s F-35Bs made a successful digital air connection with the USS Wasp. SSDS uses software and commercial off-the-shelf electronics to turn incoming data from several systems into a single picture of prioritized threats. The system then recommends an engagement sequence for the ship’s crew, or (in automatic mode) fire some combination of jamming transmissions, chaff or decoys, and/or weapons against the oncoming threat. “Information is key for any Commander – and shared information from multiple sources and vantage points extends our battlespace and our advantage over enemy threats,” said U.S. Navy Captain Danny Busch, Program Executive Office – SSDS. “Now with the ability to link our sensors and weapons, from sea and air, SSDS is providing a level of interoperability and defensive capability never before available to the Expeditionary fleet.”

November 2/18: Simulator The US Marine Corps is buying an additional training system for its pilots. Lockheed Martin will procure one F-35 training device under the awarded $64.3 million contract modification. The F-35 Full Mission Simulator is fitted with a 360° visual display system, which accurately replicates all sensors and weapons employment and uses the same software as the aircraft. Each simulator carries the most recent software load, or operational flight program (OFP), so it can most accurately replicate the capabilities and handling qualities of the aircraft as it is concurrently developed, tested and fielded through various block upgrades. F-35 pilots complete 45% to 55% of their initial qualification flights in the simulator. Work will be performed at multiple locations including Orlando, Florida; Reston, Virginia and London, United Kingdom. The contract is expected to be completed in July 2021.

October 24/18: Belgium Belgian news agency, Belga reports that the country has chosen Lockheed Martin’s F-35 JSF over the Eurofighter Typhoon to replace its old fleet of F-16s. Despite the final deadline being set for October 29, government sources are confident that the US-made fighter jet will make the cut. Lockheed spokeswoman Carolyn Nelson told Reuters that “the F-35 offers transformational capability for the Belgian Air Force and, if selected, will align them with a global coalition operating the world’s most advanced aircraft.” The potential deal could also strengthen Lockheed’s position in forthcoming tenders in Switzerland, Finland and Germany. The order for jets due for delivery from 2023 is estimated to be worth $4.14 billion. European countries that currently fly the F-35 include Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Norway.

October 15/18: Grounded! Parts of the global F-35 fleet are currently grounded in the wake of one of the aircraft crashing in South Carolina two weeks ago. The initial investigation that followed the incident, concluded that the crash was caused by a faulty fuel tube. The DoD’s Joint Program Office says in a statement that “the US Services and international partners have temporarily suspended F-35 flight operations while the enterprise conducts a fleet-wide inspection of a fuel tube within the engine on all F-35 aircraft.” So far, the F-35 has run into its share of problems, including faulty ejection seats, software issues and maintenance problems. The US military currently has 245 JSF’s in its service while there are 75 F-35s in the international fleet. However, whereas the Israeli Air Force halted all F-35i flights, the UK decided not to ground its jets but paused some F-35 flying as a “precautionary measure.”

October 9/18: HIMARS experiment The Marine Corps is experimenting with an innovative slew of ways to make its HIMARS more capable. During a recently held test, one of the USMC’s F-35Bs was able to connect with a HIMARS shot for the first time. According to Lt,. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, the F-35 used sensors to create a data link, and then pushed data about the location of the target to a HIMARS system. HIMARS is a highly-mobile artillery rocket system with the purpose to engage and defeat artillery, air defense concentrations, trucks, light armor and personel carriers. The Marine Corps is currently working on improving and extending its ability to rapidly move the HIMARS by air and destroy a target once landed. A tactic that could prove to be an advantage in the Pacific theatre where Marines will likely be fighting as a distributed force across ships, islands and barges.

October 2/18: Price drop Lockheed Martin announces a significant price drop of the F-35 JSF. The company recently received an $11.5 billion order for 141 F-35s from the Pentagon. This is the biggest batch ordered yet, and includes the purchase of 91 aircraft for US services, 28 for international development partners and 22 for FMS customers. The F-35A version sees a drop of 5.4%, now costing $89.2 million per unit. The F-35B, which is considered to be the most expensive variant of the JSF drops by 5.7% to a price of $115.5 million and the F-35C, designed for carrier operations, drops 11.1% to 107.7 million. The F-35 JSF fighter program is considered to be the most expensive procurement program in history and is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over its projected 55-year lifetime. Production of the aircraft started this year and deliveries will begin in 2019.

September 21/18: JPALS for the Air Force Flight Global reports that Raytheon is currently pitching a modified version of its Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) to the US Air Force. The modified JPALS would provide USAF F-35As with an auto-landing capability on expeditionary airfields. JPALS was initially designed to help naval aviators to safely land their jets on aircraft carriers in poor visibility. The Air Force version of JPALS would be integrated onto a Humvee and then airlifted in a C-130J to expeditionary air bases. According to Raytheon, the system would be able to manage 50 different aircraft making different approaches within a radius of 20nm.

September 11/18: AETP The Air Force is increasing the budget for its Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). United Technologies is receiving a cost-plus-incentive-fee modification priced at $436.6 million for the design, fabrication, integration and testing of its flight-weight adaptive engines. Adaptive engines represent a revolutionary advance in turbine engine technology. The adaptive engine optimizes performance and fuel efficiency across the flight envelope by utilizing a third stream of air to optimize the engine at different flight conditions. The three-stream engine technology is considered critical in developing the Air Force’s sixth-generation fighters and will be included in the F135 engine that powers the F-35 JSF. The modification increases the total value of the contract to $1.4 billion. Work will be performed at the company’s location in East Hartford, Connecticut and is expected to be completed by end of February 2022.

September 7/18: Engine damage The Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125 currently embarked on the USS Abraham Lincoln now has to fly with one fighter less. One of the Squadron’s F-35C fighter jets was damaged during an aerial refueling exercise with an F/A-18F Super Hornet. During the exercise a piece of the refueling basket loosened and was ingested into the F-35C’s engine intake, resulting in the damage. The Navy treats this incident as a Class A mishap, which is considered to be the most serious type of incident. Replacement of the F135 engine will cost about $14 million.

September 3/18: Lot 11 Lockheed Martin is being awarded with a multi-million contract in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The modification has a value of $250 million and defintizes the pricing for the JSF Lot 11 production. The Lot 11 production contract sees for the delivery of 141 F-35s. Flight Global estimates that the current cost per unit of the F-35A Lot 11 is about $89 million. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($86.3 million), Marine Corps ($44.8 million), Navy ($36.8 million) and international FMS partners ($41.2 million). Work will be performed a multiple locations inside and outside the continental US. Locations include Lockheed’s facilities in Fort Worth, Texas and El Segundo, California, as well as locations in Norway and United Kingdom.

August 30/18: OT-1 The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently hosting several F-35Cs from the Strike Fighter Squadron 125. The pilots and aircraft are currently conducting their Operational Test-1 (OT-1) phase, which evaluates if the JSF is ready to operate within a carrier air wing. The C-variant of the JSF is the most expensive one and features 30% more wing area, larger tails and control areas and wingtip ailerons. Its structure is strengthened so that it can withstand hundreds of launch and recovery rounds. The F-35C is expected to be the US Navy’s high-end fighter, as well as its high-end strike aircraft. OT-1 helps give the Navy an assessment of how the aircraft would perform on deployment. Rear Adm. Dale Horan, director, Joint Strike Fighter Fleet Integration Office is asking, “Can we maintain it? Can we get the parts? Can we get it airborne? Can we repair it if it has a problem? ” Those are the kinds of things the Navy will have to figure out in the coming days and weeks.

August 29/18: No sale to Turkey? It seems that Turkey will be banned from purchasing the F-35s for the foreseeable future. The latest bill was put forward by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen and prohibits the transfer of the fighter jets to Turkey as long as it cannot be guaranteed that the country will not be purchasing the S-400 air-defense system from Russia. As Jane’s notes, US defense officials are concerned that Turkey operating the S-400 in the vicinity of the F-35 would compromise the aircraft’s security, including its stealth capabilities, and represent a strategic threat to the United States. Turkey is a Tier 3 partner in the JSF program and initially planned to order about 100 F-35As as replacement for its 240-plane F-16 fleet. The overall program is expected to cost around $16 billion. Currently it is uncertain if the Van Hollen’s amendment will become law.

August 22/18: F35 vs. F22 Norway is currently testing its newly acquired F-35 JSFs. Two of Norway’s F-35s recently competed against two US F-22 stealth fighters in a number of simulated dogfights. The F-22s are among 13 jets currently deployed in Europe. Norway is a Tier 3 partner in the JSF program, has ordered a total 52 aircraft and is developing a stealthy Joint Strike Missile with the F-35 as its explicit target. The JSM/NSM is produced by Kongsberg, it can strike land or sea targets and and can be carried inside the F-35A/C weapons bay. The Raptor is considered to be the first 5th generation fighter, even though the aircraft is out of production, the program itself will continue to attract spending on maintenance, spares, and upgrades. The F-22’s deployment is part of US efforts to reassure European allies after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

August 21/18: ALIS development Lockheed Martin is being tapped to support the US military with further engineering activities associated with the F-35’s logistics system. The order is valued at $26.1 million and provides for the design, development, integration and testing of the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) Security Architecture and the ALIS Sovereign Data Management (SDM) system. ALIS gives F-35 Lightning II operators the ability to plan ahead, to maintain, to plan and sustain its systems over the life of the air vehicle. The system has been criticised in the past due to reliability and security concerns. Last year the USMC had to halt operations of a F-35 squadron due to unspecified ‘anomalies’ in the ALIS software. In addition, some experts have claimed that ALIS could offer an incredibly attractive Achilles heel for enemy hackers to sink their teeth into. This order combines purchases for the Air Force ($10.7 million), Marine Corps ($7.8 million), Navy ($1.9 million), and international partners ($5.4 million). Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facilities in Forth Worth, Texas and Orlando, Florida. The order is expected to be completed in June 2020.

August 20/18: Countermeasures BAE Systems is being tapped to provide the US military with additional countermeasure systems for its F-35s as part of the PMA272 Air Expendable Countermeasures Program. The firm-fixed-price delivery order provides for the manufacture of T-1687/ALE-70(V) countermeasures at a cost of $70.4 million. PMA272 Air Expendable Countermeasures are designed to protect aircraft from radio-frequency and infrared targeted weapon systems. The ALE-70 towed radio frequency countermeasure consists of the reel and launcher assembly, tow line, T-1687 countermeasure transmitter, and electronic and mechanical subassemblies. It also has canisters, and explosive cartridges to deploy the decoys. When deployed from the aircraft, the ALE-70’s countermeasure transmitter responds to commands from the countermeasure controller located in the jet and emits waveforms to confuse or decoy adversary radars or radar-guided weapons. The system may be towed or free-flying. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is scheduled for completion by March 2021.

August 14/18: Lot 12 AME Lockheed Martin is being tapped for work on the F-35 Lot 12. The company is being awarded with a cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order that provides for the procurement of ancillary mission equipment at a cost of $301.9 million. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform ground attack and air superiority missions. In May 2017 the DoD awarded Lockheed with a $1.3 billion contract for the low-rate initial production of 130 Lot 12 F-35s, including the provision of parts, maintenance, and other services for the program. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($109.7 million), USMC ($50.1 million), Navy ($8.9 million), non-DoD participants ($102.3 million) and FMS customers ($30.8 million). Work will be performed at Lockheed’s facility in Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed by January 2021.

August 13/18: Upcoming updates Lockheed Martin is receiving a contract modification for the development of F-35 Lighting II upgrades. The modification is valued at $104.9 million and enables Lockheed to mature the design and development of the fighter jet’s Block 4 common capabilities. The upgrades are part of the F-35 Phase 2.2(A)(1) pre-modernization of common capabilities program which will support the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and international partners. The F-35 is only as capable as its code. The Lightning II comes with 8 million lines of code, more than four times the amount of the F-22, the world’s first 5th generation fighter. Now known as Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2), Block 4 will enable the F-35 to employ its full panoply of sensors and munitions. With the wider Block 4 capability to be rolled out in four increments (Block 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4). It will will eventually enable the F-35 to fire cutting edge weapons systems such as the Small Diameter Bomb II and GBU-54 – both air-dropped bombs able to destroy targets on-the-move. The whole Block 4 update program is expected to cost $10.8 billion through FY2024. The contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($83.9 million) and for relevant international partners ($21.0 million). Work will be conducted at the Lockheed Martin’s facility on Fort Worth, Texas, and is scheduled for completion by July 2019.

August 10/18: Components needed The Naval Air Systems Command is procuring system components for its F-35 Lightning fighter jets. Lockheed Martin will provide the service with essential Aircraft Management System (AMS) and Panoramic Cockpit Display (PCD) components at a cost of $19.3 million. The company will also be responsible for mitigating hardware risks as part of the program’s technical Refresh Phase 3 development. The F-35 is an advanced 5th generation fighter jet that that comes with a broad range of integrated missions systems and sensor fusion. The Aircraft Management System is the brain of the aircraft and integrates with the Automated Information Logistics System, or ALIS, a centralized fleet management system developed to reduce the F-35’s sustainment cost. The Panoramic Cockpit Display was designed by pilots for pilots. The 20 inch by 8 inch PCD incorporates an integral touchscreen that dominates the cockpit. The fly by wire system is controlled via an active side-stick on the right and an active throttle on the left. Active means these inceptors are under complete computer control and can be programmed on the fly. Work will be performed at the company’s location in Forth Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed by September 2019.

July 26/18: Engine Lot 9 Pratt & Whitney Military Engines is set to continue its engine work in support of the F-35 platform. The company is being awarded a modification which is valued at $24.6 million and which provides for the procurement of F135 Low-Rate Initial Production 9. The contract also includes needed support equipment and associated labor for depot activities outside the continental US and fleet modernization efforts for the Navy, USMC, Air Force, foreign military sales customers and non-DoD participants. The LRIP 9 production contract include 53 conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) and 13 short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) propulsion systems for the United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as five countries – Italy, Norway, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom. The F135 engine maintains a 96 percent full mission capability requirement, and new production engine reliability is exceeding 90 percent, well ahead of key 2020 requirements. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut and Indianapolis, Indiana. It is expected to be completed in May 2021.

July 9/18: End of Italian order Italy may drop out of its F-35 deal with Lockheed Martin. Italy’s defense minister Elisabetta Trenta has said that the government will not buy more fighter jets and is considering whether to stick to the order to which it is already committed. Trenta comes from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement which has always been critical of the multi-billion purchase, saying that the money would be better spent to strengthen welfare and invest in European defense projects. However, she also acknowledged the fact that cancelling the placed order may result in strong financial penalties. Italy is a Tier 2 partner in the F-35 JSF program and has made significant investments in its development. The country intends to host a European Final Assembly and Check-Out (FACO) production line in Cameri, near Milan.

July 3/18: Engine development General Electric is set to provide further work on the Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) program. The contract is valued $437 million and provides for designing, fabricating, integrating, testing and completing the flight-weight adaptive engines. The F-35 JSF will be required to not only fly farther than today’s aircraft but will also need more speed and power when engaging the enemy. But from a propulsion perspective, up until now these objectives have been mutually exclusive. Longer range and subsonic loiter require lower fuel burn and good cruise efficiency, while higher thrust for supersonic dash demands larger cores and much higher operating temperatures, neither of which is good for fuel burn or stealth. The Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) is aiming to solve this conundrum and is the successor to the Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program. The contract modification is for the execution of next generation adaptive propulsion risk reduction for air superiority applications. Work will be performed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by March 30, 2022. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,4 billion.

June 26/18: Repairs Lockheed Martin is being tapped for the provision of F-35 component repair capabilities. The awarded contract modification is valued at $175,3 million and provides for the development, testing, and activation of 13 different repair capabilities in support of the F-35 Lightning depot implementation plan for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy. At present, F-35 production is led by Lockheed Martin, with BAE and Northrop-Grumman playing major supporting roles, and many subcontractors below that. So far, the program has been plagued by a lack of spares and repair logistics. The Government Accountability Office found that the time to repair a part has averaged 172 days which is twice the program’s objective. Upkeep of the F-35 fleet will become more challenging as the Pentagon prepares for what the manager of the program has called a “tsunami” of new production toward an eventual planned US fleet of 2,456 planes plus more than 700 additional planes to be sold to allies. This modification combines purchases for the Air Force ($82,2 million), Navy ($41,1 million), the Marine Corps ($41,1 million) and non-DoD Participants ($10,8 million). Work will be performed at multiple locations in the continental US and is expected to be completed in November 2021. Locations include Nashua, New Hampshire; Torrance, California; and Redondo Beach, California, among others.

June 19/18: Spares needed The Navy is procuring spares for its F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Under the $503 million contract modification Lockheed Martin will provide air vehicle initial spares, to include F-35 deployment spares packages, afloat spares packages, and associated consumables required to support the air vehicle delivery schedules for the Air Force, Marine Corps and non-DoD participants. The F-35 program has had a variety of issues with spare part availability. The logistics system designed to keep the F-35 fleet flying often doesn’t, with more than a fifth of grounded planes sitting idle waiting for spare parts. According to a report by Aviation Week & Space Technology, twenty two percent of the F-35s grounded globally are unable to fly because they are waiting on parts. This contract modification combines purchases for the Air Force ($106,5 million); Marine Corps ($91,6 million); Navy ($68,1 million); and non-DoD participants ($236,8 million). Work will be performed at various locations inside and outside the continental US. They include Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, California and Cheltenham, United Kingdom. Work is expected to be completed in December 2023.

June 18/18: Made in Italy The assembly of a F-35 Joint Strike Fighters is currently underway at Leonardo’s facility in Cameri, Italy. The fighter aircraft are destined for the Netherlands Air Force. The Netherlands is planning to assemble most of its F-35s at the line at Cameri in northern Italy, where Italian Air Force and Navy F-35s are already being assembled. Italy and the Netherlands are both Tier 2 partners in the multi-billion JSF program. The Italian Navy’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier is expected to need at least 22 F-35Bs to replace its AV-8 Harrier fighters. The aircraft currently assembled in Cameri is the ninth of the Netherlands’ order of 37 F-35As. Italy is currently due to purchase 60 F-35 As and 30 F-35Bs.

June 15/18: Change of suppliers Lockheed Martin has changed suppliers for the Distribute Aperture System (DAS) integrated into the F-35 Lightning II. Lockheed is contracting Raytheon in place of the incumbent Northrop Grumman. The Lightning II shares a “sensor fusion” design advance with the F-22, based on sensors of various types embedded all around the airframe. These sensors are connected to a lot of computing power, in order to create single-picture view that lets the pilot see everything on one big 20? LCD screen and just fly the plane. As part of that sensor fusion, the F-35 is the first plane in several decades to fly without a heads-up display. Instead the pilots use a special helmet designed by Visions Systems International. The F-35’s DAS uses six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft to project augmented reality images into the helmet. By projecting the DAS video stream onto the helmet’s display, the F-35 pilot can see through the aircraft structure to view the surrounding environment. The system also automatically identifies and tracks threats, such as incoming missiles, in the headset display. According to Lockheed Martin, the decision to switch DAS supplier will result in more than $3 billion in life-cycle cost savings. The Raytheon-built DAS will be integrated into the F-35 starting with Lot 15 aircraft, expected to be delivered in 2023.

June 12/18: Order – Order The Navy is contracting Lockheed Martin for further work in support of the F-35 Lightning II program. The $735 million modification provides for the procurement of long-lead time materials, parts, components, and effort in support of the joint strike fighter. This modification combines purchases for the US Air Force ($359 million); US Navy ($193 million); and the US Marine Corps ($182 million). The Air Force flies the CTOL version of the F-35, it is considered the least expensive version of the aircraft with an estimated flyaway cost of $108,3 million. The Navy flies the C version of the plane, designed for carrier-based operations. It features 30% more wing area than other designs, with larger tails and control surfaces, plus wingtip ailerons. These changes provide the precise slow-speed handling required for carrier approaches and extend the plane’s range a bit. The average flyaway cost of the F-35C is about $125 million. The Marine Corps has the F-35B STOVL variant in its inventory, which is the most expensive Lightning II fighter variant with an average flyway cost of $135 million each. Work will be performed at various locations, including Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, California and Nagoya, Japan. Production is scheduled to be completed by December 2019.

June 4/18: Engines – Go! The Navy is awarding a contract modification in support of the F-35 Lightning II program. Pratt & Whitney Military Engines will produce more propulsion systems for the fighter jet under this $2 billion contract. This includes the production of 10 engines for the Navy, 51 for the Air Force and 25 for the Marine Corps. In addition, 50 engines will be procured for non-US DoD participants and foreign military sales customers. The F-35 was set to offer interchangeable engine options. That has been an important feature for global F-16 and F-15 customers, improving both costs and performance, and providing added readiness insurance for dual-engine fleets. Pratt & Whitney’s lobbying eventually forced GE & Rolls-Royce’s F136 out of the F-35 program and made their F135-PW-100 engine the only choice for global F-35 fleets. A special F-135-PW-600 version with Rolls Royce’s LiftFan add-on, and a nozzle that can rotate to point down, will power the vertical-landing F-35B. The F135 engine’s size and power are unprecedented in a fighter, but that has a corollary. Environmental impact studies in Florida showed that the F-35A is approximately twice as noisy as the larger, twin-engine F-15 fighter, and over 3.5 times as noisy as the F-16s they’re scheduled to replace. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut; Indianapolis, Indiana and Bristol, United Kingdom.

June 1/18: Test – Test – Test Lockheed Martin is being awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order. Valued at $46.6 million the delivery order provides for non-recurring engineering, the development of design documentation, and the creation of modification instructions. These efforts will support service life extension and enable the developmental test F-35 aircraft to maintain currency with delivered technology. The F-35 Joint Strike fighter can be considered as the largest single global defense program in history. Testing and re-testing is an incremental part of this project. Due to the jets high procurement cost, Lockheed Martin is trying to develop systems that extend the F-35s life while keeping the associated costs to a minimum. This delivery order combines purchases for the Navy $12.37 million; Marine Corps $12,37 million; and non-US DoD participants $7,89 million. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed in June 2019.

May 28/18: F-35 support The Navy is contracting Lockheed Martin for a number of support activities as part of the F-35 Lightning II program. The company is being awarded a $558 million contract that provides for sustainment support, equipment, training devices, training facilities, Autonomic Logistics Information System hardware and software, and facilities in support of low-rate initial production of Lot 11 F-35 Lightning II aircraft. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force, the Marine Corps and Foreign Military Sales customers. The F-35 II fighter program is considered the most expensive of its kind. The jet comes in different variants making it a versatile piece of equipment. The F-35A or Conventional Take-Off and Landing version is being flown by the Air Force, whereas the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing version that is part of the Marine Corps aircraft fleet. Work will be performed at multiple locations, including Orlando, Florida and Redondo Beach California, and is scheduled for completion by February 2023.

May 24/18: BAE warfare support Lockheed Martin is contracting BAE Systems to support the maintenance and replacement of electronic warfare systems on the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft. The $100 million deal is essential for critical aircraft readiness. The five-year contract from Lockheed Martin enables BAE Systems to manage the supply chain and establish infrastructure to ensure critical electronic warfare technology is available for readiness on the next generation fighter aircraft. BAE Systems manufacturers the electronic warfare suite for the Lockheed Martin F-35, called the AN/ASQ-239 Barracuda system. The system’s avionics and sensors provide a 360-degree view of the aircraft’s surroundings, detecting and geo-locating electronic emitters to give pilots the option to evade, engage, counter or jam threats.

May 17/18: Software update incoming! The Naval Air Systems Command is awarding a contract modification to Lockheed Martin. The modification provides for the delivery of the F-35 In-A-Box (FIAB) software model, software license fees, and continued FIAB software model development, integration, and support. It is valued at $24,1 million. The F-35’s core software is written in C++ and runs on commercial off-the-shelf PowerPC architecture processors. The operating system is Green Hill Software’s Integrity DO-178B real-time OS, as used in a number of (mostly American) aircraft, both civil and military. The F-35’s processors are bundled into an “electronic brain” called the Integrated Core Processor (ICP). So far, the F-35 program has been plagued by various software problems seriously delaying the aircrafts declaration of Initial Operating Capability. Work will be performed partially in Fort Worth, Texas and in Marietta, Georgia, it is scheduled for completion by September 2018.

May 08/18: Turkey may lose F-35 order Turkish-US relations continue to face strenuous conditions as the Turkish Prime Minister (PM) Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that the country would retaliate if a bill being pushed by House Republicans becomes law. The bill in question is the US National Defense Authorizations Act valued at $717 billion. It includes a provision to temporarily halt weapons sales to Turkey, until a report on the relationship between the US and Turkey is completed by the Pentagon. The implied target of the bill would be the 116 F-35 Lightning II fighters that Washington has promised to sell Ankara, of which 100 are almost ready to be delivered. During an interview PM Cavusoglu criticized the measure, saying it was wrong to impose such a restriction on a military ally, alluding to the fact that Turkey has graciously allowed the US to use its Incirlik air base to launch its air strikes against ISIS. The bill, which still is many steps away from becoming law, is in many ways a response to Turkey’s recent purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia. The move to buy S-400s, which are incompatible with the NATO systems, has unnerved NATO member countries, which are already wary of Moscow’s military presence in the Middle East, prompting NATO officials to warn Turkey of unspecified consequences. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told PM Cavusoglu last month that the US was “seriously concerned” about Turkey’s buying of the S-400s. Last year, both countries temporarily curtailed embassy processing of visas after Turkey arrested an employee of the Turkish consulate in Istanbul as tensions flared.

May 01/18: Saving costs with software The Pentagon seeks to drastically decrease the sustainment costs of it F-35 Lightning II program. The $382 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program is considered to be the largest single global defense programs in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that comes in 3 variants. Considering that the cost of a single plane ranges between $94.6 and $121.8 million, this advanced fighter jet comes with a hefty price tag. Additionally the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that the F-35 sustainment for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy is expected to cost about $1.12 trillion over the next 60 years. Dr. Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition is planning to decrease the F-35 sustainment costs by introducing software for predictive maintenance. Knowing when maintenance should be done on the jet could significantly drive down sustainment costs. In the long-term the Pentagon may be able to make artificial intelligence and 3D printing cornerstones of its preventative maintenance toolkit.

April 27/18: Contracts-long-lead parts/software Two US Navy contracts awarded to Lockheed Martin this week, covers addition software sustainment and additional long-lead parts for the F-35. The first, a contract modification announced by the Pentagon Tuesday, provides additional funding resources worth $10.8 million to enable Lockheed Martin to support sustainment efforts on flight test software tailored for the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter, and covers aircraft being procured by the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants. Work will take place across several sites in the US, as well as in the UK, with a completion date set for April 2018. The second contract, which awarded $38.4 million on Wednesday, covers additional low-rate initial production of long lead materials, parts, components, and effort for economic order quantity increases for the Navy (Lot) 12; and the government of Italy (Lots 13 and 14). Work will take place in the US, UK, and Japan, wrapping up in December 2019.

April 17/18: Tracking ballistic missiles from 2025? Breaking Defense reports that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could be capable of detecting and tracking ballistic missiles by 2025. The projection was made by Head of the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, when speaking to the Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense on April 11. He added that the stealth fighter could take down a ballistic missile by having a new “fast missile that’s hung on the bottom of” the fighter. “I’d say six to seven years to essentially work out the Concept of Operations (and) develop the capabilities — (whether) it’s sensor-based or a new fast missile that’s hung on the bottom of an F-35 for the BMDS (Ballistic Missile Defense) mission — integrate those capabilities, test them, and deliver them into a theater of operations,” Greaves said. While the military has tested out this concept in the past—in 2014, an F-35 infrared sensor installed on a surrogate aircraft successfully tracked a launch and transmitted tracking data over the military’s standard Link-16 network, while in in 2016, an actual Marine Corps F-35B detected and tracked a missile, then passed the data over the Navy’s NIFC-CA network to the Aegis missile defense system, which shot the threat down—this is the first time a senior official has given a timeline on incorporating a F-35 into missile defense.

April 16/18: SDD phase complete After 11 years, Lockheed Martin said that the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase of the F-35 program is winding down after the completion of its final developmental test flight on Wednesday, April 11. The program so far has seen 9,200 sorties and 17,000 flight hours for three major variants. According to a company press statement released on Thursday, Lockheed said that the final flight saw a F-35C CF-2 complete a mission from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, to collect loads data while carrying external 2,000-pound GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and AIM-9X missiles. Developmental flight testing is a key component of the F-35 program’s SDD phase, which will formally be completed following an Operational Test and Evaluation and a Department of Defense decision to go into full-rate aircraft production.

April 13/18: You Pay! No, You Pay! A contractual row between the US Department of Defense (DoD) and Lockheed Martin has resulted in the Pentagon ceasing to accept deliveries of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. While it is not clear when exactly the suspension of deliveries began, it follows a previous halting for 30 days in 2017 after corrosion where panels were fastened to the airframe were discovered on 200 aircraft. Sources close to the issue speaking to Reuters claim the recent halting was due to arguments over who would foot the bill to cover the sending of Lockheed technicians to travel around the world to remedy last year’s issue on jets based overseas. Two unnamed foreign military sales customers have also stopped accepting aircraft.

April 10/18: F-35B combat deployment Lockheed Martin’s F-35B Joint Strike Fighter will begin its first combat deployment later this year onboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex. Ahead of its deployment onboard Essex, aircraft VMFA-211 touched down at US Central Command (USCENTCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida on April 4 for a two-day visit that will inform CENTCOM leadership of the jet’s capabilities before it enters the CENTCOM area of responsibility. CENTCOM’s theatre of responsibility includes Egypt, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia that includes Iraq, Afghanistan, and former-Soviet republics.

April 04/18: Pre-Modernization Contract Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a contract for Block 4.1 common capabilities pre-modernization efforts in support of the F-35 Lightning II. This support includes a preliminary design review in support of the US Air Force and other international partners. It is valued at $211 million. The $382 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter in 3 variants. The F-35 is designed as an “affordable stealthy” counterpart to the F-22 Raptor. The Block 4 modernisation, also known as Continuous Capability Development and Delivery, consists of 4 individual increments. Blocks 4.1 and 4.2 focus primarily on software updates, while Blocks 4.3 and 4.4 will consist of more significant hardware changes. The program is expected to cost $10.8 billion through FY2024. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in July 2019.

March 28/18: Contracts-propulsion systems United Technologies has won a contract for services in support of the F135 propulsion system on F-35 Lightning II fighter jets. The deal was awarded by the US Navy and is valued at more than $239.6 million. Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, a subsidiary of United Technologies will support F-35 programs within the US Air Force Navy, Marine Corps, non-U.S. Department of Defense participants and foreign military sales customers. The F135 propulsion system is the engine manufactured exclusively for the F-35 Lightning II. The work is expected to be complete in January 2021. Most recently the F-35 program hit a major milestone as two squadrons accomplished day and night qualifications with 140 “traps”, each denoting a successful landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft-carrier deck. The milestone clears the F-35C to begin operational testing on the carrier later this year, which will determine if the US Navy can obtain their initial operational capability target for the aircraft in fiscal year 2019.

March 22/18: Training Lockheed Martin has received a $8.5 million US Navy contract modification for services related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Under the agreement, Lockheed will provide the Navy, Marine Corps and the government of the United Kingdom with additional mission training capabilities for their F-35 program. Work will occur in multiple locations across the United States and England. The contract is expected to be complete in May 2021.

March 19/18: Made (dearer) in Japan Making F-35A fighter aircraft at home is costing the Japanese taxpayer an extra $33 million per airframe than those imported from Lockheed Martin’s Forth Worth facility. A report by Jane’s quoted a spokesperson from the Japanese Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) as saying the unit price of the F-35s “depends greatly on the foreign exchange rate of each fiscal year [and] the difference in procurement methods between importing completed F-35s from the US and assembling F-35s in the Japanese FACO facility”. The ministry added that in fiscal year 2012 when Japan first ordered the F-35 through the import of completed aircraft the exchange rate was JPY81 per USD1, and that this resulted in the unit cost of imported F-35s reaching JPY9.6 billion (or USD90.1 million at constant 2018). Japan has initially ordered 42 F-35As, with the first four delivered from the US while the remaining 38 are being assembled at a Mitsubishi-run final assembly and check out (FACO) facility in Nagoya. The government is also considering additional F-35A purchases as well as possibly acquiring a number of F-35Bs capable of operating from Japanese helicopter carriers and short runways at its southern airbases.

March 15/18: Contract Modification-Materials Lockheed Martin received Tuesday, March 13, a $1.46 billion US Navy contract modification for the advance purchase of materials for low rate initial production of F-35 Lightning II air systems. The contract includes parts for Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants, and foreign military sales (FMS) customers with 145 Lot 13 aircraft for the Services, non-U.S. DoD participants and FMS customers; and 69 Lot 14 aircraft for the non-U.S. DoD participants and FMS customers. Work will take place at several locations across the US as well as at Warton, UK, and Nagoya, Japan, with contract completion expected for December this year.

March 7/18: VP counters stealth issues As Lockheed Martin ramps up production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the company’s vice president in charge of the program has moved to counter concerns made over the time being took to rectify errors with the aircraft. Speaking to news outlets at a company media day, Jeff Babione acknowledged that low observability (LO), or stealth, capabilities in particular were posing a challenge to the company which has been made more tricky by an increase in production that was never seen with other stealth aircraft like the F-22 Raptor. “It’s not a human problem; that’s just the result of our ability. We’re approaching the limits of our ability to build some of these things from precise-enough technology,” Babione said. As part of efforts to cut down on deficiencies, Babione said the firm is first looking to make sure that the highest quality standards are applied to even the smallest supplier in the supply chain, but more importantly, Lockheed is also taking steps to make it easier for workers to build the aircraft, whether through increased training or improved practices, he said without elaborating.

March 5/18: Contracts-Logistics The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin two US Navy contracts Wednesday, February 28, for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Under the terms of the first agreement—a $148.7 million contract modification—Lockheed will provide additional logistics services for delivered F-35s operated by he Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense (DoD) and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. Services to be provided include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, Automatic Logistics Information System operations and maintenance, reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support, supply chain management, and activities. Work will take place across the US, with some work to take place in the UK, running until April 2018. A second, smaller deal valued at $7.4 million provides funding for sustainment services in support of the F-35 aircraft at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan and Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. Work will take place in both California and Japan and like the first contract, work is scheduled to wrap up in April 2018.

March 1/18: Engineering Support The US Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $158.2 million contract to a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The agreement will see Lockheed undertake program management, nonrecurring engineering, recurring engineering, site support and touch labor in support of modification and retrofit activities for delivered air systems for F-35s for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense (DoD) participant, and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. Work will take place at the firm’s Forth Worth facility, with the contract running until February 2019.

February 19/18: Cold Weather Testing All three variants of the F-35 have been cold weather tested by the Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team (JOTT) at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The testing comes ahead of the aircraft’s stationing at Eielson from 2020, which poses some of the harshest environments that the fighter will operate in, and was part of the pre-Initial Operational Testing and Evaluation test event for the fighter. Speaking on the event, Robert Behler, Director, Operational Test & Evaluation Office of the Secretary of Defense, said: “Being here and showing the aircraft’s ability to operate in this environment will tell a lot of people we have a credible weapon system.”

February 9/18: Contract Modification-F-35A Spares & Support A US Department of Defense (DoD) statement awarded on Monday, February 5, a $119.7 million modification to an existing contract for the delivery of air vehicle deployment spares in support of the USAF’s F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. The agreement tasks Lockheed Martin with providing initial air vehicle deployment spares packages in support of Air Force F-35 air vehicle delivery schedules, with deliveries scheduled to be completed by July 2022. Work will take place across the United States, as well as in the Netherland and United Kingdom.

February 7/18: Italy-F-35B The first Italian Navy F-35B assembled in Italy has arrived at NAS Patuxent River after a transatlantic flight on January 31. Having rolled off the Cameri F-35 final assembly line in Italy on January 25, the aircraft will now spend three months at Patuxent River undergoing electromagnetic environmental effects certification at the Integrated Battlespace Simulation and Test Facility. Outside of Lockheed Martin’s Forth Worth, Texas, facility, and the Leonardo-operated Cameri facility, F-35 models are being assembled at Nagoya, Japan.

February 6/18: CGAS The installation of automatic ground collision avoidance software (GCAS) on the F-35 will take place sooner than expected, Inside Defense reports. News of the planned change was announced on January 31, by F-35 Program Executive Officer Vice Adm. Mat Winter, who said the program plans to field the new technology by 2019, five years ahead of the original schedule. The program had expected to incorporate Auto GCAS during its Block 4 Follow-on Modernization phase. However, as part of its new Continuous Capability Development and Delivery effort, the program is looking to incorporate new capabilities, like Auto GCAS, as well as fixes to already fielded software.

February 2/18: Deliveries to JSDAF Japan has welcomed its first F-35A into operation with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, during a ceremony on Friday, January 26, after the fighter touched down at Misawa in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture. Nine more examples are expected tobe delivered over the course of the fiscal year, with a total of 42 F-35As on order—38 of which will be assembled at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility in Nagoya, Japan. The first F-35A rolled out of the FACO facility in June 2017, and has also been selected to be the facility for the F-35’s North Asia-Pacific regional heavy airframe maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade. Japan’s industry is also involved in the manufacture of parts for the JASDF’s F-35s, however, issues with the Japanese-made parts has resulted in them not being used thus far. Examples include IHI Corporation being unable to get quality approval for an engine parts prototype due to delayed supplies of materials from a US-based supplier, while Mitsubishi Electric has experienced other issues with its subcontractors.

January 29/18: Milestone-F-35B assembled in Italy Flight Global reports that the first F-35B to be assembled outside of Lockheed Martin’s Forth Worth, Texas plant has rolled out of Leonardo’s final assembly and check out (FACO) facility in Cameri, Italy. The aircraft is the tenth Joint Strike Fighter to be assembled at the Leonardo-ran operation, following the nine conventional A-model F-35s already delivered, and as the F-35B features a short take-off and vertical landing propulsion system, the delivery is particularly significant, says Doug Wilhelm, Lockheed’s vice-president for F-35 programme management. In additional to Italy’s F-35 orders, 29 F-35As will be produced for the Royal Dutch Air Force at the Cameri plant.

January 29/18: Contracts-Construction Harper Construction received last Wednesday, a $127.9 million US Navy contract to build a F-35 aircraft maintenance hangar and flight lines at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California. Under the terms of the contract agreement, Harper will construct an aircraft maintenance hangar, an aircraft parking apron, and aircraft parking apron expansion for the first wave of incoming F-35 aircrafts, along with additional buildings that are designed to maintain classified information and other construction services. Eight additional work options included could bring the total value to $131.5 million. Work will take place in San Diego, California, with a scheduled completion date of 2020. Meanwhile, Watterson Construction will build a F-35A aircraft weather shelter at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. The US Air Force contract, awarded Thursday, is valued at just over $58 million and will be completed at the air base by November 2019.

January 23/18: Sustainment Costs-Deep Dive Will Roper, the current nominee to head the Air Force Acquisition Office, has warned of serious cost overruns if F-35 sustainment costs are not properly tackled. Roper, an Obama administration appointment who has headed the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) since its foundation in 2012, told lawmakers of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing last Thursday, that he intends to embark on a F-35 deep dive that will focus on how emerging technologies can help decrease sustainment costs over the life of the program. “I am deeply concerned about the sustainment issues of the F-35. If I get confirmed, one of the first things I want to look at is the sustainment plan to make sure that there are not optimistic assumptions for this confluence of events that all happen together to get the price down,” Roper told the committee while acknowledging that sustainment and maintenance are not the “sexiest thing to talk about in the world of technology,” and are the “ugly sister” compared to technologies meant to greatly enhance the performance of a platform, like stealth or supersonic speed.

January 22/18: FMS Approval Belgium has been cleared by the US State Department for the potential foreign military sale (FMS) of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Valued at $.5.53 billion, the package includes 34 units of the conventional takeoff F-35A, as well as 38 Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines and other associated equipment for the radar-evading high-tech fighter. The clearance comes as Brussels is in the midst of selecting a new aircraft to replace its 59 F-16A/B fighters—with the F-35 facing up against the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon—and if the F-35 is selected (as many think is likely), Belgium will become the fourth FMS customer for the F-35 (outside of the original development partners) following South Korea in 2014. Other governments who have been expressed an interested in the F-35 include Finland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

January 22/18: FMS Support A Lockheed Martin F-35 support center for customer nations the UK, Australia, and Canada will be established in Florida, following the award of a $7.47 million US Navy contract last Wednesday. The move will see the F-35 Australia, Canada, United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory (ACURL), which handles packing, shipping, installation, integration and testing of the fifth-generation aircraft for the three nations, moved from Forth Worth, Texas, to the Partner Support Complex at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Move completion will be finished by March 2019 and the contract also provides for initial spare parts for the nations at Eglin Air Force Base and in Fort Worth.

January 18/18: Onboard Deployment The first on-ship deployment of the F-35B is drawing ever closer, as the amphibious assault ship, USS Wasp, arrived at its new home port at the 7th Fleet base at Sasebo, Japan on January 14. The Wasp left Norfolk, Virginia in August, and included a two month stint of providing humanitarian relief efforts following two hurricanes in the Caribbean, before replacing the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard as the flagship of Task Force 76 in the East. Preparations are now underway for the Wasp’s first scheduled patrol later in the year with the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the F-35Bs of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, which relocated to Iwakuni, Japan, in early 2017. The squadron is the first operational Marine Corps F-35B unit and currently has 16 aircraft at Iwakuni.

December 27/17: Potential FMS Amid fresh UN-imposed sanctions on North Korea, and further bellicose threats made by Pyongyang, Japanese and South Korean media have reported that their respective governments are considering additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighter orders. South Korea’s Joongang Ilbo newspaper, citing several government sources, reported that Seoul’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has established a process for procuring 20 additional F-35A fighters, adding to the 40 already ordered in 2014. Meanwhile, Tokyo may order the Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STVL) variant of the next-generation fighters—the F-35B—which would allow the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to operate the aircraft from shorter runways as well as on board its Izumo-class helicopter destroyers, which could be retrofitted with ski-jumps and upgraded aviation fuel storage facilities to allow the aircraft operate off its deck. However, such a plan by Tokyo is likely to face controversy due to the offensive capabilities the platforms would add to Japan’s arsenal, prevented under its pacifist constitution.

December 21/17: Milestone- WDA testing Testers from the US Air Force’s (USAF) 461st Flight Test Squadron and F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF) have concluded Weapons Delivery Accuracy (WDA) flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base, marking a major milestone in getting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s Block 3F software ready for combat. All three variants of the next-generation fighter were used during the tests—which began in 2013—with the ITF delivering 55 weapons during the testing, and included air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-120s, the AIM-9X and the UK’s Advanced Short Range AAM, as well as the Paveway IV laser-guided bomb, GBU-39 small diameter bomb, GBU-12, GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition and the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon. Each weapon test required multiple missions including software development, “dry runs” and then the actual weapon release. The F-35 Integrated Test Force, operating at both Edwards AFB and at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, continues to conduct developmental flight test for the DoD’s F-35 Joint Program Office. Ongoing testing at Edwards AFB includes mission effectiveness testing, suppression of enemy air defenses, maritime interdiction, and offensive and defensive air-to-air combat testing.

December 19/17: Milestone-Deliveries 2017 Lockheed Martin announced Monday that is has met the US government’s target for the year of delivering 66 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to the US military and allied partners. The deliveries account for a 40 percent increase on ones made in 2016, and the firm is ready to ramp up production volume year-over-year to hit full rate of approximately 160 aircraft in 2023—Lockheed has already began preparing for this, having hired more than 1,300 employees at its facility at Fort Worth, Texas, since January of this year, with approximately 500 more positions expected to be filled. Lockheed hopes the production increase will bring down the cost of the F-35A to $80 million by 2020.

December 4/17: Contracts-Sustainment The DoD announced Friday the $353.2 million award to United Technologies Corp (UTC) subsidiary, Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, for performance based logistics and sustainment support of the F-135 propulsion system for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. US Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense (DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers are covered in the deal. Under the terms of the deal, P&W will provide maintenance of support equipment, common program activities, unique and common base recurring sustainment, repair of repairable, field service representatives, common replenishment spares, conventional take-off and landing/carrier variant F-135 unique maintenance services, and short take-off and landing F-135 unique services. Work will primarily take place at East Hartford, Connecticut (73 percent); but also Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (18 percent); Camari, Italy (3 percent); Eglin Air Force Base, Florida (2 percent); Edwards Air Force Base, California (1 percent); Hill Air Force Base, Utah (1 percent); Luke Air Force Base, Arizona (1 percent); and Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station, South Carolina (1 percent). Work will be completed by November 2018.

November 30/17: Contracts-Software Lockheed Martin has landed a $37.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract worth $10.7 billion, to exercise an option for software conversions for structure and systems datasets in support of Lot 10 production for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Work will take place at Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas, facility and at Samlebury, England, where program partner BAE Systems operate a 180 acre facility at the disused Samlebury Aerodrome. Contract completion is scheduled for June 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

November 13/17: Testing BAE Systems announced the successful conclusion of durability testing of its F-35A airframe. The completion is the culmination of the F-35A’s third life testing at BAE Systems’ testing facility in East Yorkshire in England, which is equivalent to 24,000 hours of “flying,” and easily exceeds the F-35 programme requirement of a service life of 8,000 flight hours. The F-35B and F-35C durability test airframes already have completed 16,000 hour second life testing, with additional tests being conducted to maximize the life of the aircraft. Known officially as AJ-1, the F-35A airframe is designed to operate from conventional runways and is the only F-35 variant to carry an internal cannon.

November 13/17: Contracts The US Navy released Thursday a $34.6 million award to Lockheed Martin for integration work with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and small-diameter bomb (SDB) II. Under the terms of the deal, Lockheed will carry out weapons capabilities technology maturation and risk reduction pre-engineering, manufacturing and development activities for dual-capability F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft and small-diameter bomb 2 (SDB-II) in support of the Marine Corps and Air Force. Work will take place at Fort Worth, Texas, with a scheduled completion time of July 2018.

November 10/17: Potential Sale Lockheed Martin is confident that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be selected as Germany’s Tornado fighter replacement, after Berlin confirmed that the next-generation fighter is the Air Force’s “preferred” choice. Germany is looking to replace its 85 Tornado jets between 2025 and 2030, and requests have been sent for information about the F-35, as well as three other jets: Boeing’s F-15 and F/A-18E/F fighters, as well as the Eurofighter consortium’s Typhoon. The F-35 has already been selected by several of Germany’s regional allies, including Norway, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Turkey and Denmark, and some have already started to receive deliveries. Belgium is expected to make a decision next year.

November 06/17: US Naval Air Systems Command has awarded United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, a $19 million contract in support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter parts production. The award is a modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee and fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract signed in April 2015 for an estimated $2.24 billion for a over a four year period, and calls for the procurement of extra-long-lead items in support of the low-rate initial production Lot XII F-35 JSF aircraft. Items to be produced include hardware and aids for both the conventional takeoff and landing systems for USAF, Navy, as well as non-DoD partners and foreign military customers. It also covers short takeoff and vertical landing propulsion systems for the US Marine Corps version of the aircraft. Work will take place mainly at East Hartford, Ct., where United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Military Engines is located, as well as other locations across the country and overseas. Contract completion is scheduled for November 2019.

October 31/17: A spare parts shortage has stricken the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and is severely limiting operational capabilities. A US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Thursday found that “from January through August 7, 2017, F-35 aircraft were unable to fly about 22 percent of the time due to parts shortages,” and the shortage is likely to plague the program for several years to come. Reasons for the delay include “incomplete plans and funding that did not account for the long lead time parts,” while other instances blamed delays in the establishment of repair capabilities. Lead contractor Lockheed Martin said that it is now looking into finding disciplined ways it can reduce the overall operations and sustainment costs of the F-35 and is working with program partners to build a more cost effective supply chain. The Pentagon currently sustains 250 F-35s, and plans to triple its fleet by the end of 2021 and field 3,200 aircraft globally over the programme’s lifecycle.

June 30/17: The US Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $257.8 million contract modification in support of low-rate production and acquisition of equipment for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Procurement includes 129 alternate mission equipment sets, 468 sets of pilot flight equipment, and 94 sets of red gear engine inlet plugs for the Air Force, Navy, USMC, and allied foreign participants in support of F-35 production. Work will be conducted in Inglewood, Calif., White Plains, NY, and other locations across the United States and has an estimated completion date of June 2020.

June 27/17: An investigation into the why F-35A flights from Luke AFB were suspended last month now believes that pilots were suffering due to a metering problem in the aircraft’s oxygen system that occurs above 25,000 feet. Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein disclosed that the five individuals were flying above 25,000 feet during when the incidents occurred, resulting in flights being suspended from the base for 11 days. USMC-operated F-35B aircraft based at Air Station Yuma in Arizona, were also suspended for a day last week because of “anomalies” in the autonomic logistics information system (ALIS) software upgrade.

June 22/17: The USAF awarded Lockheed Martin a $104 million contract to develop, produce and field a threat simulator to train combat aircrews to recognize and deal with rapidly evolving threats, such as surface-to-air missiles. The deal will see the firm undertake the development and test of a single Advanced Radar Threat System Variant 2 (ARTS-V2) production representative system, with follow on options for a further 20 systems. Lockheed added that future sales could come from countries that plan to operate the stealthy F-35 fighter jet in coming years.

June 21/17: F-35A flights out of Luke AFB will commence on Wednesday, 11 days after they had been originally canceled due to five incidents in which pilots experienced symptoms similar to hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation. While the root cause of the incidents has yet to be identified, several possible causes of concern have been ruled out. Pilots will also adhere to a temporary application of five criteria during their flights while data is gathered on the ground. They are: Avoid the altitudes in which all five physiological events occurred; Modify ground procedures to mitigate physiological risks to pilots; Expand physiological training to increase understanding between pilot and medical communities; Increase minimum levels for backup oxygen systems for each flight; and offer pilots the option of wearing sensors during flight to collect airborne human performance data.

June 19/17: Ahead of its debut at this week’s Paris air show, Lockheed Martin are close to finishing the latest round of negotiations for the manufacture of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. As many as 440 jets are being negotiated under the deal and are being spread out over three tranches in a multi-year deal estimated to reach at least $37 billion. As many as 11 customer nations will receive fighters as part of the deal, including Australia, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, South Korea, Britain and the United States. The price of the F-35’s A variant is then expected to drop to $80 million by the end of 2020.

June 12/17: Flights of F-35As out of Luke AFB have been suspended after pilots reported a series of physiological incidents while flying. Five such incidents have been reported at the Arizona base since May 1 and are currently being investigated by USAF authorities. Each time the aircraft’s backup oxygen system operated as designed and the pilots were able to land safely. While operations at five other US bases with F-35 jets will continue as normal, the 56th Fighter Wing will spend time educating local and foreign pilots on hypoxia symptoms. Each incident and its remedial actions taken will be shared with the air crews.

June 8/17: Elbit Systems of America has been sub-contracted by Lockheed Martin to develop a cockpit display replacement unit for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter under a program, called Technology Refresh 3, Panoramic Cockpit Display Unit. While the cost of the contract was not given, a company statement said that the value of the award was not in a material amount. Details on contract length were also omitted. Elbit already provides power amplifiers, structures and sustainment work for the F-35 and, together with Rockwell Collins, it also provides the F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System, through their joint venture Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems.

May 24/17: Lockheed Martin has won a $137.8 million contract modification for cost-reduction programs for the initial low-rate production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Fiscal 2016 aircraft procurement funds from the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps of $137.8 million will be allocated to the program, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. Eighty percent of the modification will go to the Air Force, with the rest split between the Navy and Marine Corps. Scheduled to be completed by December 2020, work will take place at Waco, Texas, El Segundo, Calif. and Warton, England, with other work being completed across the United States.

May 19/17: The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter has successfully completed airborne gunfire testing by the US Marine Corps Air Test and Evaluation Squadrons ‘Integrated Test Force’. The GAU-22/A is a four-barrel gun designed for the F-35 and has a rate of fire of 3,300 rounds per minute and an improved accuracy of 1.4 milliradians as compared to the GAU-12. On CTOL version of the aircraft, the gun is carried internally, while on STOVL and CV variants, it comes as an external podded gun.

May 18/17: The USAF has lifted its two-year ban external link on lightweight pilots flying the F-35, after concerns that an ejection could cause a severe neck injury. The approval means the Martin-Baker Mk16 ejection seat meets the original service specification for the F-35A, which requires the manufacturer to accommodate all pilots weighing over 46.7kg. To solve the problem, changes were made to the helmet, the ejection seat and the ejection sequence. The Vision Systems International helmet saw a weight reduction, while the ejector seat had a head support installed onto the rear risers of the seat as a cushion as well as a switch that modifies the ejection sequence in the event the pilot needs to exit the cockpit in flight. The modifications will now be retrofitted on 100 F-35As already delivered to the USAF and enter Lockheed’s production system.

May 10/17: USAF F-35As, sent to Europe to participate in a series of training exercises, have completed their deployment external link. While based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, UK, eight aircraft from the 34th Fighter Squadron flew 76 sorties and tallied more than 154 flying hours alongside F-15s from the 48th Fighter Wing. The fighters also experienced forward deployment to Estonia and Bulgaria in order to maximize training opportunities, build partnerships with allied air forces and familiarize Airmen with Europe’s broad and diverse operating conditions. It has also been reported that the F-35A will take part external link in the Paris Air Show after it was earlier said to have not been invited.

May 8/17: The first F-35 to be produced outside of the US has rolled off the assembly line external link at a Final Assembly and Checkout (FACO) facility in Cameri, Italy. Owned by the Italian Defense Ministry and operated by the Italian defense giant Leonardo in conjunction with the fighter’s lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, the FACO will churn out 30 F-25B and 90 F-35A type fighters for the Italian armed forces, as well as 29 F-35As for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The facility will also produce 835 full wing sets that will be distributed across all participants in the program, along with other parts and maintenance equipment.

May 2/17: The US DoD has awarded external link Lockheed Martin a $1.377 billion contract for the low-rate initial production of 130 Lot 12 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, including the provision of parts, maintenance, and other services for the program. In addition the Lot 12 F-35 production for the USAF, Navy, USMC and other non-Department of Defense and foreign customers, the contract provides for initial production of 110 Lot 13 and Lot 14 F-35 Lighting II fighter planes for non-U.S. Department of Defense participants and foreign sales customers. The proportion of funding to the various branches is: $315.5 million for the USAF; $128 million for the USMC; and $43.5 million for the Navy. The final quarter of the contract, approximately $364.6 million, will be directed toward military sales customers. Contracted work is expected to be completed by December 2018.

April 26/17: Two US F-35As have landed in Estonia for the first time, in what is being described as a show of NATO solidarity and reinforcement of US commitments to protecting NATO members along Russia’s borders. The visit of the Joint Strike Fighters, which flew from UK and spent several hours in Estonia, is part of broader US jet pilot training program across Europe as the NATO alliance seeks to deter Moscow from any possible incursion in the Baltics. Training with the fifth-generation fighters is expected to last several weeks and the F-35 pilots will undergo exercises with other NATO aircraft as well as showcase the fighter’s capabilities to allies that are also acquiring F-35 fleets.

April 19/17: Norway has begun testing the brake parachute it will deploy on their fleet of F-35As. The testing will assess how the fighter handles with the parachute fitted, as well as braking on both dry and wet runways. Follow up testing will continue in Alaska in 2018, where testing will look to evaluate the parachute’s performance on icy runways. Sharing the cost with fellow F-35 program partner the Netherlands, modifications to the Norwegian F-35 fleet include strengthening the fuselage and adapting the aircraft to house the parachute between the two tailfins. The modifications have been included to make the fighter more prepared for the more adverse weather conditions found in Scandinavia such as low temperatures, strong winds, poor visibility and slippery runways. Oslo is scheduled to receive its first F-35s this November.

April 16/17: This weekend has seen a number of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters make their way to Europe to participate in a training deployment that will last several weeks. The jets and airmen will conduct training with other US and NATO aircraft based in Europe as part of the European Reassurance Initiative—started in 2014 by the Pentagon to increase US presence in Europe for security purposes. Officials say the deployment marks an important milestone for the F-35 program as it allows both the USAF to further demonstrate the capabilities of the fighter, as well as assisting in refining the requirements for basing the F-35A in Europe, scheduled to commence in the early 2020s.

April 12/17: Lockheed Martin has won a $372 million contract modification in order to address several issues with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The US Navy contract did not specify any particular work that needed to be undertaken under the agreement, however it facilitates deficiency corrections for US operators as well as the country’s foreign military customers. Work will be carried out in Texas, California, New Hampshire, Japan and Britain, and is expected to be complete by March 2020.

April 11/17: Negotiations on the next batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters could see savings of at least 5% as the unit cost per fighter looks to dip below $80 million. Current talks between the Pentagon and lead contractor Lockheed Martin are said to be for a batch of about 130 planes, 100 of which are likely to be the A-model configuration. It is on these 100 aircraft that between 5-7 percent, or $660 million, could be shaved off the total price in potential savings. This follows comments made by the program’s head Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan last month who said that the government hoped that by 2020 the F-35 would cost less than $80 million, a 16 percent drop from its current price.

April 5/17: Testing of the F-35’s Martin-Baker US16E (MKk16) ejection seat has been completed. The last test involved electromagnetic environmental effects (EEE) testing which saw the seat’s electronic controls were hit with electricity to test their functionality. The data from the EEE, helmet and dummy testing on the ejection seat will help the USAF decide whether to remove restrictions on pilots weighing less than 62kg (136lb). Lt Gen Chris Bogdan, head of the F-35 program, said that the “weight restriction could be removed anywhere from April and beyond,” and that the USAF will “start modifying airplanes in April to the new seat configurations with the new helmets, so as soon as the USAF gives it the OK, that’s up to them.”

March 29/17: Navy Rear. Adm. Mat Winter is to take charge of the F-35 program office upon the retirement of program head Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan this summer. Winter, who is currently the F-35 deputy program executive officer, will assume the rank of vice admiral prior to assuming the role. Prior to joining the F-35 program in 2016, Winter acted as chief of Naval Research, working as program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, and oversaw the development of the X-47, a stealthy unmanned aircraft that could autonomously launch from a carrier. He was also responsible for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program before it was cancelled and transferred into a requirement for an unmanned tanking capability.

March 13/17: Lockheed Martin has won a $64 million contract to perform work on the integrated core processor used by the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The DoD order includes services for the USAF, US Navy, USMC and international partners and the work aims to alleviate diminishing manufacturing source constraints projected under F-35 production Lot 15 by March 2019. Developed during the early stages of the F-35’s development, the integrated core processor is referred to as the “brain” of the next-gen fighter.

March 7/17: Rheinmetall has been contracted by the USAF to supply several ten thousand round lots of their new 25mm x 137 Frangible Armour Piercing (FAP) round for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Valued at $6.5 million, the contract will see the company manufacture the rounds in four lots at Rheinmetall Switzerland and delivery will commence in December, 2017. Rheinmetall is marketing the ammunition as only not just for air-to-air superiority fights, but capable of destroying Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) at extreme slant ranges as well.

March 2/17: Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $1 billion contract from the Pentagon to provide various support services for the F-35 aircraft. The deal covers ground maintenance, action request resolution, depot activation, supply chain management and other activities for F-35s operated by the USAF, Navy, USMC, and other foreign military sales (FMS) customers. Work will be carried out at the company’s plants in Forth Worth, Texas; Orlando, Florida; and other various locations, with a completion date set for December 2017. Lockheed also won a $427 million contract to continue production of the Hellfire II missile for the US Army. Work on the contract will continue until September 2020.

February 20/17: The US Navy is to test a potential fix for an issue regarding the F-35C’s nose wheel in order to see if the jet still suffers from excessive vertical oscillations during a catapult launch. Testing will begin tomorrow, Tuesday February 21, at the service’s land-base test facility at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. However, if the early fixes don’t work, the Navy will be required to do more extensive fixes to the nose gear and the helmet display, or even redesign the entire nose gear for the F-35C (which could take years and further delay the program).

February 15/17: An Israeli Defense Ministry report has revealed that Israeli manufacturers have earned about $1.03 billion since 2010 from projects related to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Last year saw a total of $258 million in contracts, mostly for fighter helmets, representing a 33% increase in procurement over previous years. Big winners in 2016 were Elbit Systems and its US partner Rockwell Collins, which are jointly manufacturing the state-of-the-art helmet for the F-35.

February 14/17: South Korean military officials have said the latest missile tested by North Korea was a new type of solid-fuel intermediate-range missile, the Pukguksong-2, using submarine-launched ballistic missile technology, not the older Musudan-class earlier reported. Pyongyang utilized a “cold eject” launch system, where the missile is initially propelled by compressed gas before its rocket engine ignites. In response, The US, Japan and South Korea requested urgent UN Security Council consultations on the test, with potential for further sanctions to be discussed. China said that they opposed North Korean missile tests that run contrary to UN resolutions, however they rejected suggestions from Washington and others that they could be doing more to rein in its neighbor.

February 6/17: The US Navy has successfully tested the Spike missile launcher, destroying a UAV target. Not to be confused with the Rafael version, the project aims at providing the sailing branch with an increased capability to defeat the growing threat of UAVs. The Spike launcher is first queued to the target via radar so that the operator can acquire the UAV and engage it. Another modification to the system involves the addition of a proximity fuze to the body, provided by the Army.

February 3/17: Negotiations between the Japanese government, Pentagon, and Lockheed Martin have secured a $100 million reduction in Tokyo’s bill for its participation in the F-35 JSF program. While the news comes shortly after Lockheed Martin slashed $600 million from the next round of F-35 production, defense analysts have downplayed the news of those cuts, saying the discount hailed by Trump was in line with what had been flagged by Lockheed for months and would apply to other countries committed to the program. According to Reuters, four sources confirmed that Japan had further trimmed the price for its latest order, largely on ground support costs such as parts, logistics and technical assistance.

February 1/17: While no contract details have been announced, US President Donald Trump has claimed that the Lot 10 production for 90 F-35s will be $600 million cheaper, thanks to his pressure. The comments come after weeks of hand wrangling with lead contractor Lockheed Martin over pricing. Trump had criticized the fifth-gen fighter during his election campaign, but during his recent comments called the F-35 a “great plane” that’s “now in good shape.” Despite the detente, Trump added that Boeing will still be asked to compete for orders against the F-35 saying “they [Boeing] will be competing during the process for the rest of the planes because there are thousands of more airplanes coming.”

January 26/17: Lockheed Martin has announced that it is close to signing a deal with the F-35 Joint Program Office on the next batch of the Joint Strike Fighter. The announcement was made by CEO Marilyn Hewson to investors on Tuesday, where the company also disclosed that it beat revenue estimates for fourth-quarter 2016/17. Hewson added that the defense giant plans to “drive affordability” in 2017, a reference to ongoing discussions between President Trump and the defense industry to get a “better deal” on government contracts.

January 20/17: Speaking of costs, the price of the F-35 looks set to take a tumble, as the US DoD and Lockheed Martin come close to an agreement on a new contract for the Joint Strike Fighter. While talks on the warplane’s tenth batch are still ongoing, sources close to discussions say the fighter will drop below its current $100 million per-plane price tag for the first time. Believed to be in the range of $9 billion, an official announcement on the 90-plane deal is expected to come at the end of the month.

January 19/17: A 62-page report by the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester has released sort of good news in relation to the F-35: that there has been progress toward fixing a safety issue with the aircraft’s ejection seat. The Martin-Baker manufactured US16E seat and escape system was found to pose a significant risk of neck damage or death during ejection of pilots in the lowest weight range, resulting in pilots weighing under 136 lb being barred from flying the aircraft. But a three-part solution posed by the company to protect a lightweight pilot’s head and neck during ejection is currently being tested with light-weight pilots. This includes a lighter helmet to ease strain on the neck during the first phase of an ejection, a lightweight switch on the seat to delay deployment of the main parachute, and a fabric panel sewn between the parachute risers that will protect the pilot’s head from moving backward during the parachute opening, called a “head support panel” or HSP.

January 17/17: Costs associated with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program could drop, according to Lockheed Martin’s CEO Marillyn Hewson. Hewson met with US President-elect Donald Trump for a second meeting last week, later telling reporters that her company is “close to a deal” to bring down the cost of the F-35 program. In addition to the fighter’s costs, Hewson committed the firm to increasing jobs at their Fort Worth, Texas, facility by 1,800.

January 9/17: Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has dismissed an idea posed by the upcoming Trump administration to supplant the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with greater procurements of the F/A-18 Super Hornet. President-elect Donald Trump called the two fighters “comparable” in a tweet following a pow wow with Lockheed Martin and Boeing in December as part of an early effort to get a better deal for government defense spending. However James called the jets not interchangeable and that both fighters had been developed to fulfil different requirements. She added that any attempt by the Trump team to implement such a plan would be met with resistance from the Air Force.

January 3/17: Lockheed Martin has been contracted $450 million to perform additional Lot 10 F-35 Lightning II Air System integration work for South Korea. The deal will include non-recurring engineering work. Seoul plans to procure 40 of the next-generation aircraft, and expects deliveries to begin in 2018 and conclude in 2021.

December 21/16: The Pentagon’s man in charge of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has responded to recent criticisms from Donald Trump. Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan stated on Monday that if he had an opportunity to speak with the Trump transition team, he would tell them that the program is now under control after years of delays. Bogdan also added that he understood the incoming administration’s desire to get better value for money saying “I applaud the new administration for that, because that is what we should all be striving for.”

December 15/16: Communication data links on all three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have been tested by the USAF. The pilots focused on the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL), a direct communications link that allows operators to transmit secure tactical information, and is beneficial for interoperability between the F-35 and the 4th generation planes it is meant to replace, such as F-16s and F/A-18s. MADL also allows for F-35s to share information on air and ground threats in order to more effectively target and engage them.

December 14/16: Israel has received their first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, making them the only Middle Eastern country to own a fifth-generation fighter. Greeting the arrival were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the President of Israel Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin, the Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, currently on his last world tour as part of the Obama Administration. The USAF provided a KC-135 tanker to refuel the new planes.

December 13/16: Lockheed Martin is the latest defense firm to receive criticism from Donald Trump, after the US President-elect lashed out at the costs of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Taking to his usual medium to the masses, Twitter, Trump stated “the F-35 program and cost is out of control,” and “Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.” Shares at Lockheed dropped 4 percent after Trump’s tweet, while shares of several other defense contractors also weakened. Trump also suggested that he was considering imposing a lifetime ban on US military procurement officials going to work for defense contractors, a move that could dramatically reshape the defense industry.

December 7/16: The Pentagon’s chief arms buyer, Frank Kendell, is hopeful that a three-year block buy of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will go ahead. Covering some 400 F-35 units for both the US military branches and partner nations, the agreement is expected to generate large savings through bigger economies of scale between the fiscal years 2018 through 2020. Negotiations with lead contractor Lockheed Martin, however, have been slow as seen in the year-long negotiations of the fighter’s ninth batch, while the government’s chief weapons tester, Michael Gilmore, has long argued about the need to test the planes before buying and building larger quantities.

November 29/16: 17 more F-35As will be making their way to Israel, bringing the total ordered by the government to 50. Speaking on the new order, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the decision by the cabinet on November 27 was unanimous. The additional fighter order comes just two weeks before the first two F-35As destined for Israel fly from the US.

November 23/16: The F-35B has reached another program milestone following the completion of weapons load testing during trials on board the USS America assault ship. During the trials, pilots intentionally conducted flight tests under unfavorable conditions to gauge the fighter’s limitations; international partners also participated. The tests were part of F-35 program lead contractor Lockheed Martin’s third developmental test phase for the fighter, which aimed to assess the aircraft’s combat capabilities in a maritime environment. In comparison to its A counterpart, the F-35B is designed to include a short takeoff and vertical landing capability to allow for operation on naval vessels.

Repairs on the last of 13 F-35A fighters affected by faulty insulation issues have been completed. In September, 57 aircraft suffered the coolant line glitch, 15 of which were already fielded, while the others were still in production. Both the company and the USAF maintain that the faulty parts were the result of a supply chain issue rather than a design flaw.

November 18/16: The Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik stated that the first two of a batch of 24 more Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft will be delivered in 2018. 24 of the Joint Strike Fighter will be ordered over the next three years, of which six, including the two expected in 2018, had already been ordered. Ankara has committed to procuring a total of 115 F-35s.

November 17/16: F/A-18 Hornet fighters operated by the Spanish Air Force will be replaced by a “system of systems” by 2030 external link. Known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the prgram will see about 50 legacy Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 Eurofighter Typhoons upgraded to network with a fifth-generation aircraft; a new fifth-generation aircraft (type and numbers to be decided); and an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (type and numbers to be decided). While the fifth-generation aircraft will likely be the F-35, Spanish Navy plans to retire their AV-8B Harrier II will result in a joint procurement between the two branches.

November 14/16: Talks are being carried out between Lockheed Martin and President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team over a number of programs including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Trump had made disparaging comments about the F-35 last year on a conservative talk show, calling into question the fighter’s cost-benefit when compared to the capabilities of existing aircraft. Speaking on the talks, LM’s executive vice president for aeronautics Orlando Carvalho said, “We believe that in working with his transition team all the right information will get communicated and they’ll make the right decisions.”

November 10/16: A fire that erupted in the weapons bay of a USMC F-35B in late October is being investigated. The Naval Safety Center revealed that two systems were at fault, the Honeywell-made integrated power package (IPP) and a hydraulics system. Sensors onboard the aircraft detected the fire and failures of the IPP and a hydraulics system while the aircraft was flying in the airport’s landing pattern. While the fire is being classed as a Class A mishap, an IPP fire in 2011 on board an F-35A grounded the F-35 test fleet.

November 9/16: Britain has been selected as a global repair hub providing maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for F-35 fighter avionic and aircraft components. The move is expected to generate hundreds of millions of pounds for the UK defense industry with the potential to unlock more than 2 billion pounds of future F-35 support revenue over the lifetime of the program. Centered in Wales, the work will be conducted by a partnership enterprise between Defence Electronics & Components Agency (DECA), BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman, supported by key F-35 Original Equipment Manufacturers.

November 4/16: After much wrangling, Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon have concluded negotiations on the ninth lot of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program with a unilateral agreement that will see 57 jets produced for $6.1 billion. At $107 million per plane, this is the lowest price per plane thus far. The deal will give profit margin certainty to Lockheed and its partners who have been producing the jet under a placeholder agreement known as an “undefinitized contract action,” something the company would have preferred to not have to deal with. Lockheed said that the latest lot is “not a mutually agreed upon contract, it was a unilateral contract action, which obligates us to perform under standard terms and conditions, and previously agreed-to items.” Lot ten negotiations, for 94 aircraft, are still underway.

November 3/16: A number of F-35Bs will conduct developmental and operational testing aboard the USS America amphibious assault ship. Two of the Short Takeoff & Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant will be used in third phase development testing, evaluating the jet’s short take-off vertical landing operations in a high-sea state, shipboard landings, and night operations. Another five will undergo operational testing which involves the simulation of extensive maintenance on a ship. The USS America is the first ship of its class that incorporates design elements specifically to accommodate the new Joint Strike Fighter.

November 2/16: After rumors they would do so, Turkey has officially requested a second batch of F-35s under the Joint Strike Fighter program. A meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSIK), Turkey’s procurement authority, brought top political and military officials together on Friday to make the decision. Officials are also hoping to build a new-generation, dual-fighter jet fleet by their country’s centennial, 2023, comprised of the F-35 and an indigenous aircraft, known as TFX, that Ankara has been designing.

October 31/16: US officials close to Turkey’s F-35 fighter procurement claim Ankara is considering a second batch of fighters, possibly as many as 24 aircraft. Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defense Industries said they expected the new orders to be delivered in 2021 and 2022 and aims to eventually purchase a total of 100. A Lockheed representative said the company is “honored” by Turkey’s continued commitment to the F-35 program which was further demonstrated by the decision by the DIEC on Friday.

October 28/16: Negotiations over low-rate initial production (LRIP) lots 9 and 10 of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter look close to conclusion following the completion of supplier discussions between Northrop Grumman and lead contractor Lockheed Martin. The talks indicate that Lockheed may soon wrap-up its 15-month talks with the Joint Program Office (JPO). But both the JPO and Lockheed have said that negotiations were still ongoing and gave no comment as to when they would come to an end.

October 27/16: Issues with insulation found inside F-35 fuel tanks has resulted in slower 3rd quarter deliveries of the next-generation fighter, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The comments were made during the release of the company’s third quarter profits, where the shortfall in deliveries was described as “light” this quarter. Fifteen F-35As belonging to the USAF and Norwegian Air Force were grounded in September due to the issue which also affected 42 models still on the production line. Grounded jets are due to return to the skies next month.

October 21/16: Norwegian F-35s grounded last month for repairs will be back in the air by November, sooner than expected. 15 F-35A Lightning II aircraft had been grounded in September due to peeling and crumbling insulation in avionics cooling lines inside the fuel tanks. The Norwegian Defense Ministry said the insulation is now being removed and extra filters installed to intercept any potential remains, although it has not yet been decided whether this fix should be regarded as temporary or permanent.

October 19/16: Contracts have been awarded to Lockheed Martin for the provision of the ninth batch F-35 Joint Strike Fighter totalling $743 million. The DoD allocation comes as negotiations for Lots 9 & 10 continue. One contract sets not-to-exceed prices for up to $385 million on a range of services for the US military’s F-35 customers, including redesign and development of components with diminishing manufacturing and material services while another $333 million is being allotted to set not-to-exceed prices for one F-35A and one F-35B on behalf of a non-US participant in the program. Another $25.4 million of the award comes from the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme to pay for “country unique requirements.”

October 17/16: A recommendation has been made by Australia’s Senate committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade that its defense department implement a “hedging strategy” against any delay with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program by 2019. While the committee stated that it had received evidence criticizing the F-35 and calls for participation to be scrapped, its members judged the F-35 as “the only aircraft able to meet Australia’s strategic needs for the foreseeable future.” The Australian Strategic Policy Institute told the committee the most sensible hedge would be procuring additional F/A-18F Super Hornets.

October 13/16: Twelve additional F-35A fighters have been requested by the Norwegian government. The proposal, if approved, would raise the total number of authorized F-35A purchases to 40 aircraft allowing Norway to participate in a proposed “block buy” for the F-35’s US and international partners. Unlike a multi-year procurement, a block buy does not lock the US or international partners into firm orders, but it gives Lockheed’s supply chain a long-term view of likely demand.

October 5/16: Singapore remains interested in purchasing the F-35, however it won’t be until a 2030s timeframe. While the country has long been linked to the F-35 program, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said his country’s crop of F-15s and F-16s will “last us well into the next one or two decades.” This is backed up by last December’s $914 million award to Lockheed Martin to upgrade Singapore’s 60 plane F-16 fleet, with work occurring through 2023.

September 28/16: The F-35 could be getting new engines by the mid-2020s, with the potential for either an upgraded version of the Pratt & Whitney F135 design currently in use or a new engine from a competitor. Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, head of the Joint Program Office, made the announcement at last week’s Air Force Association conference. The USAF is currently in the early stages of funding their Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) competition, with both P&W and General Electric Aviation securing contracts worth $1.01 billion to research if its possible to “demonstrate 25 percent improved fuel efficiency, 10 percent increased thrust, and significantly improved thermal management.”

September 23/16: A fix has been found for a recently discovered issue on a number of F-35 fighters involving tubing insulation crumbling between the wing tank and fuselage tank. The USAF revealed last week that an unnamed supplier used the wrong coating for the insulation which deteriorated when it met fuel. A total of 15 USAF and Norwegian warplanes along with 42 models on the production line were affected by the issue with manufacturer Lockheed Martin fixed to cover engineering and modifications for all affected aircraft.

September 19/16: 13 USAF and 2 Norwegian F-35As have been grounded due to “peeling and crumbling” insulation on cooling lines inside their fuel tanks. The discoveries were made during routine maintenance checks on the aircraft in order to have the fighter’s status upgraded to initial operational capability. While Lockheed Martin works with several suppliers that are responsible for manufacturing the coolant lines, the issue has been traced back to the insulated coolant tubes manufactured by one particular unnamed provider that have only been installed in the wing fuel tanks of the 15 aircraft in question.

September 16/16: A legal challenge has been launched by Boeing against the Danish Ministry of Defense for selecting the Lockheed Martin F-35A over the F/A-18E/F as the air force’s next generation fighter. Citing a “flawed” evaluation process, Boeing submitted a request for insight to the Ministry of Defence to obtain all materials related to the selection. Denmark’s parliament approved a recommendation by the MoD to buy 27 F-35As in June after the fighter beat out the F/A-18 in the military, strategic, economic and industrial judging categories.

September 14/16: Lockheed Martin has announced that the Aegis weapon system has been successfully live-fire tested on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. During the test, an unmodified Marine Corps F-35B acted as an elevated sensor and detected an over-the-horizon threat. The jet sent data through the aircraft’s Multi-Function Advanced Data Link to a ground station connected to Aegis on the USS Desert Ship, a land-based ship.

August 30/16: The words “weapons tester,” “memo,” and “F-35A” have seldom come with good news; and the latest memo on the F-35A from director of Operational Test and Evaluation is no different. Despite the USAF declaring initial operational capability on the fighter earlier this month, the memo highlights many significant limitations that remain on the aircraft, in particular with the aircraft’s new Block 3i software. However, the Joint Program Office remains confident that the capability gaps will be fixed on the aircraft in time and under the current budget parameters.

August 26/16: Issues with weapons integration on the F-35 have been found and could hinder an operational capabilities declaration, according to the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E) . Challenges include the possibility, when the jet fires its 25mm cannon, that the aircraft could yaw as the gun door opens, reducing accuracy. Testing last December also threw up issues with AIM-9X missiles on the F-35C. Here testers found excess stress on the carrier-variant’s wing structure during landings and certain maneuvers. This could have an impact on the wing structure and might warrant a redesign on that part of the wing.

$313 million is the price that Canada would have to pay if it is to exit from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The calculations were made by the Liberal government, and accounts for the difference of what Ottawa had contributed so far since 2006 and the $551 million it pledged to commit when it enrolled into the program. A Canxit from the program could occur with just 90 days written notice given to other partner nations.

August 25/16: After much waiting, trial and error, the F-35’s Block 3F software upgrade has speeded up testing of the new fighter’s weapons systems. Since it’s completion, Lockheed Martin has completed 30 weapons delivery accuracy tests in one month, compared to just three accomplished with the Block 2 software. These include Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and GPS-guided Small Diameter Bomb, and Raytheon’s AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder.

August 22/16: Chemical and biological contamination testing is one of the few remaining tasks left to be ticked off on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter before certification for full-rate production. In order to do this, a decontamination system and facility has been constructed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and an F-35A attached to the 461st Flight Test Squadron will be the lucky volunteer. The late August tests will see the fighter (modified to be able to collect test data) contaminated several times and towed into the decontamination facility to see if it can be cleaned of chemical or biological weapons exposure.

August 17/16: The Pentagon has turned on the F-35 tap again, with the DoD approving another $1 billion in funding to go toward reimbursing Lockheed Martin for costs incurred on the ninth batch of aircraft. Last week’s decision offers some relief to the aircraft’s chief contractor who has been paying out of pocket for the fighter’s low-rate initial production (LRIP) lots 9 and 10. Meanwhile, contract negotiations over batch nine of aircraft with the Joint Program Office (JPO) rattles on after initial predictions had it wrapped up earlier this year.

British F-35Bs will be equipped with advanced short range air-to-air missiles (ASRAAM) from MBDA after London orders $238 million worth of the munition. Already in use on RAF’s Panavia Tornado GR4s and Eurofighter Typhoons, integration onto the F-35B is to be awarded in a separate MoD deal. MBDA, a European missile system conglomerate, has also been commissioned to support a Capability Sustainment Programme (CSP) for the development of the new variant of the weapon for the RAF Typhoons in a deal worth $388 million. A Block 4 software upgrade will integrate the CSP ASRAAM on the F-35B.

August 8/16: A survey of 31 F-35A pilots has given their full confidence in the upcoming fifth generation fighter. According to the report, all asked would choose the F-35A over their former fighters if they were to engage in a beyond-visual-range fight. Furthermore, despite its cost, the F-35 was deemed notably more effective and in many cases cheaper than any other four-plus-generation multirole fighter in the world.

August 4/16: It’s been a long time coming, but the F-35A has been cleared for service by the US Air Force’s Air Combat Command (ACC). As a result, the 34th Fighter Squadron of the 388th Fighter Wing has the honor of being the first unit declared operational. This follows the F-35B squadron which was passed for combat back in July 2015.

August 3/16: An F-35A has shot down its first aerial target with AIM-9X missiles off the coast of California. The kill test saw the fighter take down a drone, and test data confirmed the F-35 identified and targeted the drone with its mission systems sensors, passed the target “track” information to the missile, enabled the pilot to verify targeting information using the high off-boresight capability of the helmet mounted display (HMD), and launched the AIM-9X from the aircraft to engage the target. F-35s carry two AIM-9X missiles on their wings.

August 2/16: While it doesn’t seem so at first, an emerging problem for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is that it is almost too stealthy. Pilots flying the aircraft have discovered that they are unable to participate in certain training exercises such as evading surface-to-air threats. The inability on the ground to track the fighters had to be rectified by crews flipping on their transponders in order to be followed.

July 28/16: Plans are in motion for Israel to examine the contracting out of its F-35 fleet maintenance to domestic firms. Despite Lockheed Martin establishing a European regional maintenance facility at Cameri airbase in Italy, Tel Aviv maintains its desire to conduct as much maintenance as possible in house. Likely beneficiaries to such a move is Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) due to its experience in maintaining and upgrading existing IAF fleets.

July 25/16: Never mind the coup, it’s the F-35! Despite the recent attempt at political overthrow by certain cadres of Turkey’s military, Lockheed Martin is forging ahead with its planned production of the first two F-35As for Turkey. Assembly of the aircraft is expected to commence within the next six to twelve months and delivery scheduled for 2018. But could further political instability in an already volatile region put the deal into doubt, only time will tell.

July 22/16: Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $241 million US Navy contract modification for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Under the deal, Lockheed will provide replacement electronic components for the aircraft with work to be completed by December 2018. The contract combines purchases for the USAF, USMC, Navy, foreign military sales customers and international partners.

July 11/16: Following the USAF’s desire to seek an alternative ejector seat for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin has said it has not been approached for discussion over alternatives. Company officials said that they would be willing to assess any alternatives such as the favored ACES 5 seat if the government deemed necessary, although potential costs or integration issues were not mentioned. Last year, the Air Force found that pilots weighing less than 136 pounds were at risk of severe neck injury when ejected from the chosen F-35 using the selected Martin-Baker seat.

July 7/16: Martin-Baker, the supplier of the ejector seat to be used in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has refuted the suggestion that their design will not be sufficient to ensure pilot safety. On June 24, it was reported that the USAF was looking to certify rival United Technologies’ ACES 5 design as an alternative. The F-35 Joint Program Office has stood behind Martin-Baker in sticking with its selection, however this is in part due to the potential cost overruns it could cause to an already notoriously expensive program.

June 30/16: BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and the Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA) are to team up to bid for a significant long-term deal to become the avionics sustainment hub for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in Europe. The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed the involvement of BAE and Northrop Grumman, but declined to say anything about whether DECA, the British state-owned components repair operation, would have a role; however, due to US government insistence, some avionics repairs on the jet here are only undertaken by UK government employees.

June 29/16: The USAF has released an infographic revealing that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter scored an 8:0 kill ratio against the F-15E during mock air combat. Using combat-coded F-35As from Hill Air Force Base, the simulations were part of the evaluation process needed in order to declare the jet to be initially operationally capable. The seven fighters used also demonstrated their ability to carry out basic close air support and limited SEAD/DEAD missions with crews attaining a 100% sortie generation rate with 88 of 88 planned sorties and a 94% hit rate with 15 of 16 GBU-12 bombs on target.

June 28/16: The USAF has sent a letter to the F-35 Joint Program Office inquiring on the cost and challenges of switching the default Martin-Baker ejection seat to the ACES 5. If such a move were to go ahead, the program could experience massive repercussions for the F-35 supply chain, impacting the workshare strategy that forms the backbone for the international fleet of the Lockheed Martin-designed fighter. Reasoning for inquiring about such a switch comes as the service looks to the ACES 5 as a potential risk mitigation step if additional things happen as we go through the testing of the Martin-Baker seat.

The US Navy is to conduct live-fire testing this September utlizing an F-35 to provide sensor data in order for an SM-6 anti-air missile to destroy its target. The demonstration comes as the service attempts to expand its Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) architecture with more sensors and weapons in order to tweak the system from a primarily anti-air sole to a secondary anti-surface capability.

June 21/16: Four Israeli pilots are to travel to the US next month to undergo F-35 training at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The training will be ground-based and the men will only fly the real aircraft back in Israel. It is expected that 12 pilots will have completed their training by the middle of 2017.

June 13/16: The ongoing debacle over Canada’s exit from the F-35 program may see Lockheed Martin shift contracts associated with the fighter away from Canadian contractors. Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election promise to not order the next generation fighter, and government plans to purchase F/A-18 Super Hornets as an interim solution, has resulted in Ottawa not placing any orders for the fighter despite being an original partner nation in the project. With the F-35 supply chain contracts tied to the number of aircraft purchased by partner nations, Canadian companies may see work shifted to other partner nations who have seemingly been pestering Lockheed to do so. To date, Canadian firms account for about $1 billion of the project’s development and production work.

June 10/16: Canada’s new fighter jet selection has started to cause a bit of a ruckus in parliament with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slamming the F-35 as a fighter “that doesn’t work.” In response to the Liberal government’s plan to purchase F/A-18 Super Hornets as an interim fighter, Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose accused Trudeau of selecting a fighter jet without the proper knowledge of what the Royal Canadian Air Force needs. By purchasing Super Hornets on an interim basis, Trudeau would keep his election promise of renewing the CF-18 replacement competition but also perhaps kicking the can on any new fighter competition well into the late 2020s.

Denmark has officially selected the F-35 as its replacement for its F-16 fleet. The official announcement follows early indications that Copenhagen would purchase the fighter following a government recommendation in May for 27 F-35A models at a cost of $3 billion. Earlier, competitors such as Boeing had hoped that they could offer their F/A-18 Super Hornets by calling into question the F-35’s questionable cost estimates, but these efforts did nothing to curry favor with the Danes.

May 26/16: It may have been coming for some time, but the Pentagon has finally admitted that the F-35 will not be cleared for full rate production until 2018. Frank Kendell, the program’s chief weapons tester, had been warning of delays for some time; however, it had been maintained by some that the jet’s initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) would occur as planned in August or September 2017. Now that reality has hit home, the extra six months will be spent retrofitting the 23 aircraft required for IOT&E with the full 3F software and hardware patches.

May 25/16: The first two Dutch F-35As have successfully landed in the Netherlands, marking the Joint Strike Fighter’s first eastbound transatlantic journey. Dubbed AN-01 and AN-02, the fighters were welcomed by a crowd of 2,000 including Minister of Defence Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. The aircraft will now spend the next few weeks conducting noise and environmental tests over the country, designed to determine the levels of noise disturbance the residents experience. The jets will perform flights over the North Sea range and then appear and fly at the Netherlands’ Open Days in June.

May 16/16: Testing of the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter‘s tailhook has commenced at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The JSF Integrated Test Force has been undertaking the tests, with stress tests being conducted on aircraft AF-04 at speeds up to 180 knots. On Air Force planes, tailhooks are only used to help the jet stop when landing distance is insufficient or if the jet has a brake malfunction or directional control issue. They are designed as a one-time use device, whereas Navy tailhooks like on the F-35C can deploy, retract and stow.

May 13/16: Denmark looks set to sign up for F-35 procurement with an order expected for at least 27 aircraft. The selection by the country’s minority Liberal government follows intense public debate about the cost of modernizing the country’s air force, but it can still be blocked by parliament, where opposition politicians are urging budget restraint. Alternatives offered to the government came from Boeing with their older F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

May 9/16: The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has announced that it has solved the next generation fighter’s glitch-prone combination of software and hardware called Block 3i. The patch may now clear the way for the USAF’s first Lightning II combat squadron to declare initial operational capability (IOC) between August and December of this year. Glitches in the Block 3i software have been causing problems since flight testing commenced in May 2014, with the most recent issue affecting the radar on F-35s with pilots having to turn the radar off and on again mid-flight.

May 4/16: Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $1.2 billion contract for the production of 13 F-35 Lightning II aircraft. Delivery of the fighters will see six F-35Bs sent to the USMC, three F-35As for the USAF and four F-35Cs for the US Navy. Work on the fighters is expected to be completed by December 2019.

April 28/16: Israel’s eagerness to customize its orders of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters has already seen its first app created for the next generation jet. Utilizing the open-architecture software design found in the Lockheed Martin designed fighter, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed its own command, control, communications, and computing (C4) system which will be equipped on the aircraft in December. The software is an upgrade of an existing C4 system the Israeli air force flies on its F-15 and F-16 fighters.

April 27/16: Recent software glitches found in the APG-81 radar for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have not caused any problems for F-35Bs operated by the USMC. The comments were made by Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Aviation Lt. Gen. Jon Davis as he appeared in front of the US Senate Armed Services seapower committee. Davis said that the glitches, which caused the fighter’s radars to reset mid-flight, only occurred on code found in the 3I software update which the Marine Corps never uploaded onto their jets, instead keeping with the older 2B version.

April 22/16: It doesn’t look likely that the F-35 will be sold to any Gulf nation within the next decade, allowing Israel regional exclusivity to the fifth-generation jet fighter. The widely held, but not often articulated belief by many Israeli officials, is that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members will not have access to the fighter until Israel has fully integrated the F-35 into its arsenal. This belief has been given further weight after US Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work indicated such a move was unlikely, saying that “right now, we do not have any expectation for selling the F-35 in the near term, beyond the countries that have already bought into the program.”

April 14/16: A deal has been reached between the Pentagon and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to provide the ninth low rate production of F135 engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The $1.4 billion deal covers 66 engines, as well as spares, extra parts, and support. Part of the order will include engines for five of the F-35 partners, including Italy, Norway, Israel, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

March 31/16: The Pentagon’s joint program office (JPO) is expecting a slimmed down Gen-3 helmet by November for rollout in 2017. The announcement makes the Rockwell Collins design’s introduction sooner than initially expected. Earlier versions of the helmet were revised due to a potential for causing neck injury. Problems with the F-35’s ejector system had resulted in potential injuries for lightweight pilots, however fixes have been made including a switch on the Martin Baker US16E (MK16) ejection seat that delays the parachute’s opening “by milliseconds” when occupied by a lightweight pilot, plus a head support panel sewn between the parachute risers. However, a weight reduction for the third-generation helmet from 2.3kg (5.1lb) to 2.1kg (4.6lb) has also been required.

March 29/16: Despite the delays, spiraling costs, and cynics, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has gone on a global publicity tour to win over hearts and minds for the fifth-generation stealth aircraft. Two planes due for the Netherlands are expected in June, so that they “can tell their story.” This is followed by American and UK planes performing at UK’s Royal International Air Tattoo and Farnborough Airshow in July. The program has been questioned by several nations, including Australia where their Senate is leading an inquiry into the planned acquisition of up to 72 conventional A-models. The inquiry will report its findings on 29 June.

March 28/16: F-35s are going to be in the sky longer than expected with their service life now extended to 2070. After military branches made tweaks to the number of flight hours their fleets should log before retirement, it was announced that the program may be extended for an additional six years. Between all military branches operating the aircraft, a total of 1.6 million flight hours have been added, which will boost the operating and support (O&S) costs by $45 billion over the 2015 estimate (hiding the 2-4% drop in real 0&S costs over the life of the program).

March 25/16: Software troubles on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program may cause a key milestone for initial operational capability (IOC) to be delayed by up to four months, although that is an improvement over the Joint Program Offices’s projection a year ago. The schedule delay is primarily due to software “stability” issues, seen in both Blocks 3i and 3F, with Block 3F capabilities estimated not be ready for IOT&E until 2018 at the earliest.

March 25/16: Despite potential delays to the F-35 IOC, the Pentagon has dropped the estimated price of its acquisition of 2,457 fighters by $12.1 billion. The drop marks a 3% decrease on the expected costs declared a year ago. This could potentially dissuade the program’s nay-sayers who have often derided the program’s soaring costs, potentially persuading Denmark and Canada who are currently on the fence, to perhaps continue with their participation in the Joint Strike Fighter Program.

March 22/16: Delaying investment into a 6th generation fighter has been recommended by Lockheed Martin, who is instead favoring a “robust” modernization program to keep fifth-generation F-22s and F-35s capable against new counter-air threats. The comments were made by the company’s Skunk Works chief Rob Weiss, who claims such a modernization will achieve the air dominance that America desires for the next 30 to 40 years. Lockheed currently holds dominance in the fifth generation market, and looks to push block upgrades of existing aircraft as the USAF and Navy assess their fighter requirements over the oncoming decades. Meanwhile, competitors Boeing and Northrop Grumman would like to break back into the high-end combat jet market after losing the winner takes all Joint Strike Fighter competition.

March 16/16: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will test the new Generation III Helmet-Mounted Display System this month, as it aims to counter problems with the jet’s ongoing ejection seat issues. Since August, a ban has been placed on lightweight pilots from flying the aircraft, as the current helmet may cause neck injury during low-speed ejections. The later version of the helmet is 8 ounces lighter than its predecessor, and is one of several options being worked on to counter potential injuries. The other options involve modifications to the ejector seat, and are scheduled to enter the production line this November.

March 9/16: Bugs in the F-35A 3i software are forcing pilots to restart the AESA radars while in flight. The glitch represents one of the greatest threats to the USAF’s initial operational capability (IOC), expected sometime between 1 August and 31 December. The root cause of the problem has been identified by lead contractor Lockheed Martin, now in the process of running the software solution through lab tests. The patch is expected to be delivered to the USAF by the end of March.

March 8/16: Canada’s participation in the F-35 program continues to be shrouded in confusion. The government plans to pay an installment of $32.9 million in May to continue its involvement in procuring the Joint Strike Fighter. This runs contrary to promises made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to abandon the project during the run-up to the federal election in October. Trudeau had pledged that a cheaper alternative could be found as a replacement to the country’s aging CF-18 fighters, however, the F-35 has been allowed to participate in the latest replacement competition. The payment will ensure Canada’s place in the program until September 30, 2016, when a more concrete decision on the CF-18 competition may have been made.

March 2/16: Combat-coded F-35sdropped their first live munitons in testing last week. Laser-guided bombs were used by the USAF’s 388th and 419th fighter wings at the Utah Test & Training Range. While Air Force F-35s have dropped weapons in test environments, this is the first time it’s been done on jets designed to deploy once the Air Force declares initial operational capability planned for between August and December.

Lockheed Martin received a $769.5 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm contract to provide recurring logistics sustainment services support for all delivered F-35 jets for the USAF, USMC, Navy, non-Department of Defense participants, and foreign military sales customers. Support provided includes ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, Automatic Logistics Information System operations and maintenance, reliability, maintainability and health management implementation support, supply chain management and activities to provide and support pilot and maintain initial training.

February 17/16: Israel’s tanker procurement plan, and whether it will acquire more F-35s, will depend on how much assistance it will get from the US Foreign Military Funding package over the next ten years. Sources commenting on ongoing negotiations say that the Pentagon is likely to increase funding by up to $1 billion, which will set funds at $4.1 billion annually. The increase would see Israel commit to selecting the Boeing KC-45A tanker which is currently undergoing advanced testing under its Milestone C demonstration. The increase in funding could also see further purchases of the F-35I, adding to the current order of 33, the first of which are due this year.

The executive vice-president of the aeronautics business at Lockheed Martin, Orlando Carvalho, has indicated the Asia Pacific market may see another 100 orders of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the coming years. With three regional allies; Japan, South Korea, and Australia so far ordering 154 of the aircraft across its three models, further additions could be added to these fleets, although no mention has been made about potential new customers. With Australia indicating that it may bring up its fleet from 74 to 100 and Japan potentially seeking to build more of their own under license, that number may be possible. Another potential purchase may be from Singapore, who is considering the F-35, although there has been no indication of the size of the order under consideration.

February 12/16: The head of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has played down reductions to the F-35A annual procurement quota to 48. Lt. Gen Christopher Bogden said that this would be upped to 60 units annually from fiscal 2018-2020. When adjusted for increased orders for the F-35B & F-35C procurement, the program will see 36 less F-35 aircraft procured overall between 2017-2021. Bogden has claimed however that the overall price per unit to the program will only increase fractionally by 1%. While warnings have been given that the forces aren’t modernizing quickly enough to counter Russia and China, the deferrals in production may come as a financial positive in the long run. With 20% of development testing yet to go in the program, reducing procurement at this stage will save on costly modernization of models produced in the next two years.

February 10/16: MBDA has started deliveries of a number of Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air missiles (ASRAAM) to the US for integration on the UK’s F-35B fighters. The ASRAAMs will be the first British built missiles to be used on the jet, and will be used during test flights and air launches later this year. The missile can be seen in use on the RAF’s Eurofighter Typhoons and Panavia Tornados. The British contribution to the manufacture of the F-35 program stands at about 15% of every fighter, with BAE Systems responsible for the production of the aircraft’s horizontal and vertical tails, aft fuselage, and wing tips. 138 F-35Bs will be bought for use by the RAF and Royal Navy.

February 9/16: The first Italian-made, flown and supported F-35A has become the first in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program to complete a transatlantic crossing. The AL-1 took off from Portugal’s Azores islands and reached Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Maryland seven hours later after flying 2,000nm. The fighter was flown by former Panavia Tornado pilot, Maj Gianmarco who has accumulated over 80 hours of flight time in the aircraft since graduating to fly the F-35A type in November. Refueling of the jet also took place supported by an Italian crew manning a KC-767 tanker with Gianmarco noting a 100% success rate on all occasions.

February 8/16: The US Department of Defense will acquire 404 F-35 fighters over the next five years. That number is a decrease of 5-7% on last year’s plan. The order will see $40 billion in revenue going to manufacturer Lockheed Martin and engine maker Pratt & Whitney. The deviation from last year’s plan comes as the Pentagon is shifting orders away from models ordered for the Air Force instead giving preference to the Navy & Marine Corps models. The coming years will see a total of 2,457 F-35s spread around all three military branches.

February 5/16: USAF orders of the F-35A jet will drop from forty-eight to forty-three in Fiscal Year 2017. However, the budget will include increased money to purchase ten additional F-35C models for the Navy and three F-35B models for the Marines over what had been planned. It’s unclear whether the total number of total aircraft to be procured under the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program will decrease overall. The move has not been too surprising as analysts and government officials have hinted that changes to JSF procurement could change. The cutting of the F-35As in 2017 is expected to free up millions in savings over the next several years.

February 3/16: A recent report from the Pentagon’s top weapons tester has raised serious questions over the F-35 program’s “unrealistic test schedule”. Michael Gilmore’s annual F-35 report released on Monday follows a recently leaked memo from December 2015 that highlighted issues over the jet’s software development. The report flags these testing issues as potentially delaying the operational evaluation by up to a year, with flight testing not likely to be completed until at least January 2018. It had been initially hoped that testing would be completed by August 2017, after program re-baselining in 2012. As a result of these delays, Gilmore also warned against current block buying of the fighter with 250 planned to be locked-in before the (Initial Operational Test and Evaluation) IOT&E. At present, 150 fully operational jets have been delivered by Lockheed and will all require extensive modification to the Block 3F standard once development concludes.

Ahead of the Pentagon’s February 9 official budget release, Defense Secretary Ash Carter mapped out his spending priorities on Tuesday. Among the plans include a $13 billion plan in funding for a new submarine to carry nuclear ballistic missiles over the next five years. This would be broken down into $4 billion towards research and development of new submarines, with $9 billion spent on procurement funding. The Navy may also see twelve more Super Hornet’s procured to make up for shortages caused by delays to Lockheed’s F-35 program, and longer-than-expected repair times for current Boeing F/A-18 jets. The budget also outlines a total 322 F-35s across its A, B and C models but following the recommendations in Michael Gilmore’s most recent report, this could be more wishful thinking than the eventual reality.

January 27/16: Despite recent successful testing of missiles on the F-35, a DoD weapons expert has expressed concerns over the fighter’s software development. A recently reported December memo from Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, expresses worry that plans to finish work on the F-35’s Block 3F software by July 2017 are unrealistic. Rushing the testing schedule for the software could result in a failure for the crucial IOC testing before the decison is made to put the jet into full production. The Joint Program Office, however, has dismissed the concerns, maintaining that the program is on track and that IOC dates for the Navy and Army will be met.

January 25/16: Falling oil prices and a weakening currency may effect Norway’s participation in the F-35 program. The increase in economic worries has seen Norway look to re-evaluate its defense spending commitments as the Krone falls against the US dollar, making the already expensive F-35 acquisition seem even more pricey. Alternatives to covering the costs of the fifty-two plane commitment may see the order reduced, or spending cut from elsewhere. The slash in other areas would force Norway to rethink its military strategy, and perhaps rely much more heavily on NATO.

January 20/16: The F-35 program will face one of its first live test challenges when a combat-coded F-35A will release an inert, laser-guided bomb at the Utah Test and Training Range between February and March. The releasing of the GBU-12 Paveway II will be the first one conducted outside of development or operational testing, and will mark a milestone in the development of a program plagued by delays, redesigns and spiraling costs. The full compliment of weapons will not arrive until late 2017. Until then, the Air Force will first operate with basic laser and GPS-guided weapons, as well as beyond-visual-range AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. It will also have advanced targeting, surveillance and radar-jamming equipment.

January 19/16: Engine makers Pratt & Whitney will make engines for the F-35 program. Details of the agreement have yet to be finalized, but two contracts will be issued to produce 167 engines to power Lockheed Martin’s latest jet within the next month. Further details of the deals have yet to be realized, but sources close to the deal revealed that the production of the engines alongside engineering support, spare parts and program management, would be worth more than $3 billion to Pratt, a unit of United Technologies Corporation. The USAF said that the latest contracts will help drive down costs of the program which makes it affordable for customers.

January 18/16: All variants of the F-35 fighter jet are to get design overhauls since the discovery that the fuel tanks could over-pressurize in certain flight profiles; 154 F-35s have been delivered to date. Lockheed Martin has already received contracts to implement fixes on F-35A and F-35B, and are currently putting together a proposal for engineering works on the F-35C. Fuel tank ruptures have potentially devastating consequences, especially for fast moving aircraft such as the F-35s, with the potential to cost millions of dollars worth of damage.

January 14/16: Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $28 million concurrency modification contract to correct a fuel tank overpressure issue for the F-35A fighter. The award will see them provide services for air vehicle retrofit modifications associated with the F-35A fuel tank overpressure engineering change. Work will be carried out for the Air Force, and the governments of Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway. The modification in design is not expected to effect the IOC of the aircraft.

January 12/16: The USAF will not be lifting weight restrictions on F-35 pilots until at least 2018. The push back comes as ejector seat manufacturer Martin-Baker needs more time to conduct additional testing on the ejector seat safety features in the fighters. The program has been experiencing problems with this specific aspect of the plane’s development since the summer of 2015, but this has just been one of many issues to have dogged the program amid increased delays and spiraling costs. The Pentagon hopes to make the aircraft’s European debut at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK this summer after engine issues forced it to be omitted from last year’s show. No doubt foreign partners in the program will be following with interest.

A delegation from Israel’s defense ministry has visited a Lockheed Martin production facility in Forth Worth, Texas as the frames of their first F-35I’s enter their advanced production phase. Israeli procurement of the F-35 fighter, dubbed the AS-1, differs slightly from the standard model of F-35A to be exported to other nations involved in the program. Unique features include the integration of Israel’s own electronic warfare systems into the aircraft’s built-in electronic suite, as well as the ability to use indigenously produced guided and air-to-air missiles. Israel has ordered thirty-three F-35I fighters at a cost of $3.6 billion.

December 23/15: Canada’s recent exit of the F-35 fighter program may not be as cut and dried as promised on the campaign trail by the Liberal Party government. During a recent interview, defense minister Harjit Sajjan sidestepped answering questions on whether the Lockheed Martin F-35 jet would be excluded from a competition to replace the CF-18 fleet. The government hopes to replace the aging CF-18 flight before they become obsolete. Recent promises by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to back out of the F-35 development program and find a replacement that was more cost effective has resulted in a new selection process. However, it was unclear whether the F-35 could come under consideration again. Canada has yet to set the terms for the replacement competition, but Lockheed may just have a second chance in 2016.

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $1.17 billion advance acquisition contract for the F-35 fighter. The contract includes the advance procurement of long lead time materials, parts, components and effort to maintain the planned production schedule for F-35 low rate initial production lot 11 aircraft. It will see the production of 80 of the F-35A variant, seven of the F-35B variant and four F-35C aircraft that are destined for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as sales to foreign allies.

December 18/15: It looks like a very merry Christmas for Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as they came out as the major winners in the announced $1.15 trillion spending bill announced on Wednesday. Funding will see eleven more F-35 Lightning IIs than requested by President Obama in February. The F-35 program will see $1.33 billion additional procurement money as production of the fighters will be ramped up. The F/A-18 production line will also be extended, with seven more EA-18G Growlers and five F/A-18E/F Super Hornets planned.

December 15/15: Israel may potentially increase their orders of F-35 fighters as it holds the option to purchase 17 more, enough for two squadrons. They have already purchased 33 of the F-35A variant which allows for conventional take off capabilities, while the F-35B allows for operations in more austere bases and a range of air-capable ships near frontline combat zones. It can also take off and land conventionally from longer runways on major bases. The Defense Ministry hopes that the addition will increase Israel’s offensive capabilities and qualitative edge amid regional threats.

Singapore is apparently in no rush to order some F-35s after Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen visited the Luke Air Force Base, Arizona on December 13. The minister was there for a demonstration of the fighters capabilities, and to see the Singapore Air Force’s (SAF) F-15s compete in training exercises. While speaking highly of the progress of the F-35’s development, he failed to commit to any future purchase of the aircraft for the SAF. Hen’s comments come at a time when several countries linked to the program are either renewing commitment to the F-35 program (Norway), or hesitating over costs and performance (Australia, Canada). Perhaps Minister Hen just wants to be wooed a little more.

December 14/15: The USS America has been the first west coast Navy vessel to receive upgrades to support F-35 operations. The modifications saw key areas of the flight deck have a thermal spray applied to key landing areas which will allow the ship to fully support the new fighter. The thermal coatings will allow the USS America to handle the new F-35’s thrust; reducing heat sent to decks below, allowing for longer time between deck maintenance. It is expected that other members of the America-class ships will undergo the application, to allow for facilitating the jets as part of the US Navy’s plans to increase air capabilities of fleets.

Norway is to order six more F-35 fighters after the government approved a new defense budget worth $5.6 billion. The approval sees an increase of 9% in defense spending. The move comes as a reiteration of Norway’s commitment to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, and will see the number of jets authorized for purchase increase to 28. Delivery of the jets is expected to take place in 2020.

December 7/15: Denmark has further postponed its selection of a new fighter to replace the F-16 until 2016. After it was initially reported that they would select the F-35 this month, funding issues around the acquisition have caused the new government to put further consideration into the commitment. After contributing an estimated $291 million into the project, issues surrounding technical problems and soaring costs may have the Danes looking elsewhere for their fighter needs. Denmark hasn’t been the only country having a wobble over the F-35. Canada announced last month that it was withdrawing from the Joint Strike Fighter development program, and last week, the Australian Senate voted in favor of an inquiry into their acquisition plans.

Italy has received its first F-35 fighter after it came off the assembly on Thursday. While six other countries have received the planes, Italy is the first to have the final assembly done outside of the US. The unveiling took place at the Cameri Air Base where the final assembly and check out (FACO) line is located. It is owned by the Italian government and operated by Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi and Lockheed Martin. Italy will also have the honor of taking the F-35 on its first ever trans-Atlantic flight in February 2016, when three Italian pilots are set to receive training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

Pakistan has announced plans to acquire 5th generation fighters internationally and still continue to develop its own line of JF-17 planes. The move comes as regional rivals have been upgrading military capabilities, with India recently purchasing 126 Rafale fighters from France. According to Pakistan Air Force (PAF) chief Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, the desired choice for the PAF is the Lockheed Martin F-35, but they are also looking at other options. Pakistan will continue to export the JF-17 to other countries with Egypt the latest country to express interest in the plane.

December 4/15: The Australian Senate will launch an inquiry into its planned acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters after a vote on Monday. The Senate foreign affairs, defence and trade committee will investigate how the fighter will integrate with the air force’s needs, its cost and benefits, performance testing and possible alternatives. The Royal Australian Air Force has planned to purchase 72 of the aircraft with the possibility of increasing to 100 fighters. At $11.7 billion, it is the most expensive defence acquisition program to date. Findings in the report will be presented to the Senate in May 2016.

November 30/15: The Australian senate is to vote on whether it to is examine the purchase of F-35 fighters in a deal worth $24 billion ($17.25 billion US). The vote comes in the aftermath of Canada announcing that it is to back out of its own orders last month. The investigation would look into the deal and what would be the best value for money for Australia and its defense requirements. Canada’s withdrawal from the F-35 program has brought about confusion over pricing as it was announced by US Air Force Lieutenant-General Chris Bogdan that costs of each aircraft were likely to increase by $1 million. This was contrary to previous assurances by the Australian Department of Defence that no extra costs would be incurred by Australia. Australia is one of eight nations working in conjunction with the US to develop and purchase the new fighter. The result of the vote will be watched with interest as the program could see a domino effect of cancellations as confidence in the program wanes.

November 23/15: US Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work has suggested that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter will take part in Canada’s latest jet selection competition. The announcement comes after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he would not be purchasing the jet as part of Canada’s replacement of older CF-18s. Work’s comments appear contrary to the Canadian administration but seems to be coming across as part of US efforts to rescue Canadian participation in the program.

While rumours continue over the fate of Canada and the F-35 program, Denmark is expected to confirm an order for the aircraft this December. It was reported last year that the order would be for 30 of the aircraft and would be replace the F-16s that are currently in service in the Royal Danish Air Force. Other European countries expected to make purchases include Norway and the Netherlands.

November 17/15: A crack has been found on the wing of the F-35C fighter during durability testing earlier this month. The crack was located on one of the 13 wing spars of the aircraft but the Pentagon has assured that the government and engineering teams are working on a solution and retrofits are being planned for existing aircraft. The US Navy does not see the setback impacting upon the planned Initial Operating Capability (IOC) of the C model set for August 2018. One does wonder will this impact upon Canada’s order of the aircraft which has been put into question since the election of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month. Trudeau announced that he would put an end to their participation in the F-35 program for a more costly alternative during campaigning. This may increase the cost by US$1 million per aircraft.

November 9/15: Two Italian pilots have completed initial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training at Luke Air Force Base, allowing them to return to Italy and form a bedrock for the Italian Air Force’s F-35 training program. Italy is a Tier 2 partner in the program, with a planned procurement of 90 F-35s.

November 5/15: Lockheed Martin has been handed a $5.37 billion contract action for 55 Lot IX Joint Strike Fighters, including 41 F-35As, 12 F-35Bs and 2 F-35Cs. Six of the F-35As are to complete foreign sales to Norway, while seven are headed for Israel and two for Japan. Half of the 12 F-35B variants are for the Royal Navy, with the remaining B and C models for the Marine Corps and Navy respectively.

November 4/15: The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has fired its GAU-22/A internal cannon while airborne for the first time, following ground testing in July. The 25mm cannon was fired in three bursts above Edwards AFB, with further tests involving a production F-35A planned for next year. The Air Force will pass the F-35A’s Initial Operating Clearance (IOC) without the aircraft’s internal gun system, with the weapon scheduled to enter service in 2017 as part of the aircraft’s Block 3F upgrade.

October 23/15: The Pentagon says that the work to fix the F-35’s ejection seat could take another year, with the program office stating that the manufacturer of the seat – UK firm Martin Baker – will have to cover the redesign costs. Issues with the US16E ejection seat grounded lightweight pilots at the end of September, with the risk of serious neck injury in low-speed ejections deemed too high; however, the restrictions only affected one out of the 215 pilots trained to fly the Joint Strike Fighter. The program office intends to install a head support panel in addition to a switch designed to slightly slow deployment of the ejection seat’s parachute.

If Canada’s new Liberal government decides to pull out from the F-35 program, the per-unit cost across the international program could rise by $1 million, according to the head of the Joint Strike Fighter’s program office. While there would be no impact on the F-35’s development program – scheduled to end in 2017 – the loss of Canada’s previous 65-aircraft order could drive up the cost by as much as 1% for the remaining international partners, owing to the requirement to cover future maintenance and modernization costs.

October 21/15: With Canada’s Liberal party securing victory in the country’s national elections, the potential procurement of Canadian F-35 Joint Strike Fighters are likely to be dropped, with leader Justin Trudeau announcing in September that he would scrap the controversy-ridden program. He has promised an “open and transparent competition” to find a replacement for the Canadian fleet of CF-18 Hornets, with work guarantees for Canadian industry built into any future contract. The savings from buying a less expensive fighter are to be funnelled to the Royal Canadian Navy to shore up expensive shipbuilding plans, with Lockheed Martin standing to lose $6 billion from the decision. However, the decision to back out from the F-35 program – which Canada signed up to in 2002 – could see work for Canadian firms in the F-35 supply base disappear completely.

October 15/15: The problems grounding lightweight pilots from flying the F-35 are now thought to be centered on the Joint Strike Fighter’s sophisticated Gen III helmet. The helmet – designed and built by Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems – is now thought to be too heavy to ensure a safe ejection at low speeds. The precise issue of whether the Martin Baker ejection seat or the helmet requires modification – or both – is currently under review by the Joint Project Office.

October 12/15: The Navy has completed testing of the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C, aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). The two aircraft used in the trials carried out ‘high risk’, heavy launches, involving simulated weapons loads and low airspeeds. These trials build on previous testing (in November 2014) of the F-35C’s ability to land and take off from carriers. When the F-35Cs landed aboard the carrier in early October the trials were also slated to test the JPALS landing assistance system, with no word yet as to whether this was achieved. A third round of at-sea testing is scheduled for summer 2016, with the F-35C developmental testing now approximately 80% complete.

October 5/15: An F-35 released a weapon from its external rack for the first time in late September, according to a Lockheed Martin press release Friday. A test aircraft released four 500lb GBU-12 JDAM bombs over the Atlantic Test Range, building on testing conducted by the Marines in June when GBU-12 and GBU-32 JDAMs were dropped, presumably from the Joint Strike Fighter’s internal weapons bay.

Meanwhile an F-35C landed aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on Friday as part of the second round of at-sea testing for the F-35C known as DT-II. Following the first round of tests in November – which included a catapult launch – this set of trials will also test the fighter’s fancy helmet, the Joint Precision Approach Landing System (JPALS) and operations with a full internal weapons bay. The tests are slated to last two weeks.

October 2/15: An issue with the F-35‘s ejection seat has grounded lightweight pilots from flying the aircraft, according to a report by Defense News. The issue was uncovered during testing in August and the restriction (of pilots weighing less than 136lb) is reportedly only an interim measure until the manufacturer – Martin-Baker – can develop a solution to the problem in cooperation with the F-35’s Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin. Fighter ejection seats are supposed to be capable of accommodating pilots weighing between 103 and 246lbs.

September 25/15: The next set of testing on the F-35C will include new pilot helmets, integration with the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) and operations involving a full internal weapons bay, with these scheduled to take place during the first half of October. The Navy will build on tests conducted at sea in November, which saw the carrier version of the Joint Strike Fighter achieve 100% of its threshold requirements.

September 23/15: The Dutch Defense Ministry has penned an agreement with engine-manufacturer Pratt & Whitney for a Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul & Upgrade workshop in the south of the country to support future F-35 operations. The company’s F-135 engine powers the F-35, with the new workshop at the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s Woensdrecht Logistics Centre set to become a dedicated engine support facility from 2019. The country was selected by the DoD in December to support F-35 heavy engine maintenance, along with Norway and Turkey, and placed its first order for eight F-35A fighters in March.

September 18/15: The Dutch F-35 program could rise in cost by an additional half-million euros, bringing the program up to EUR5.2 billion ($5.9 billion). The rising cost has been attributed to the dollar’s exchange rate, something likely to continue altering the program’s costs as the Dutch place incremental orders to eventually fulfill their requirement for 37 F-35s, replacing their fleet of F-16s. The first tranche of eight F-35s was ordered in March, with these scheduled for delivery in 2019.

September 17/15: A leaked memo has uncovered serious concerns over the Marine Corps’ operational testing of F-35B aircraft aboard USS Wasp (LHD-1) in May, undermining the aircraft’s Initial Operating Capability in July. The memo, penned by the director of the Pentagon’s Operational Test and Evaluation Office, cites a poor availability rate, a lack of realistic operational challenges and an absence of key mission systems. The first has been noted before, with this new memo as critical of how the tests were designed and supported as the aircraft themselves, including the discovery that the Wasp required software upgrades to communicate effectively with the F-35Bs.

September 16/15: The Air Force could deploy F-35As as soon as they reach Initial Operating Capability (IOC), according to the head of the aircraft’s Integration Program Office. With the Air Force scheduled to operate a squadron of operational F-35s by the beginning of August 2016, the three missions likely to be tasked to these 12 to 14 aircraft are close air support, interception of enemy aircraft and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). The first of these is becoming increasingly controversial, given the Joint Strike Fighter’s fist fight with the combat-proven A-10, while SEAD is closer to the original mission set intended for the F-35.

However, the Air Force first needs to rectify its current poor availability rate before IOC and deployment of its F-35s can take place. The Automated Logistics Information System (ALIS) is proving to be a problem for the Air Force and will likely be the most significant obstacle ahead of achieving IOC next year. Despite recent software upgrades, the ALIS system is proving to be a sticking point, with an accelerated production schedule likely to place increasing logistical demands on both the supply base and Air Force.

September 14/15: Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new Advanced Electro-Optical Targeting System for the F-35‘s Block 4 configuration. Designed to replace the current EOTS in operation with existing F-35s, the new version has been a priority for the program, while the Pentagon announced in May that it was to decide which weapon systems it would bake into the Block 4 configuration. A prototype of the Advanced EOTS is expected to make an appearance next year, while the Block 4 configuration is scheduled to be rolled out between 2019 and 2025.

September 11/15: An accelerated F-35 production schedule could stress suppliers, with the program office planning a three-fold increase in the number of Joint Strike Fighters produced each year over the next three years. The pressure on the production line’s supply base is also likely to be compounded by the requirement for incremental upgrades to in-service F-35s, along with a continued issues with the Automated Logistics Informations System (ALIS). Recently updated, the ALIS system saw problems earlier this year which built on persistent schedule delays in 2014. Lockheed Martin was awarded a $430.9 million contract at the end of August to further develop the system.

Aug 14/15: The Navy is reportedly considering reducing the number of F-35C fighters it plans to procure, alluding to budgetary concerns. The Navy is also less enthused by the Joint Strike Fighter compared to the Marines and Air Force because of the Service operating more modern aircraft, including new and upgraded Super Hornets.

Aug 3/15: The Marines announced on Friday that ten F-35Bs of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 have achieved Initial Operating Capability, the first IOC milestone for the F-35 program. The announcement comes after both an Operational Readiness Inspection, which concluded mid-July, and shipborne testing aboard USS Wasp in May. The IOC was announced despite reports that the latter tests uncovered significant reliability issues with the aircraft.

July 30/15: The six Marine Corps’ F-35Bs which underwent testing on USS Wasp in May reportedly showed poor reliability performance, with the aircraft reportedly only achieving availability of around 50%. This is undoubtedly a factor Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joe Dunford has considered as he finalizes the jet’s paperwork for achieving Initial Operating Capability. A decision on whether the F-35B is ready for limited combat operations is expected imminently, with the USMC deciding in March to push on to a timetabled IOC target of fourth quarter 2015, despite issues with the fighter’s 2B software.

July 28/15: The F-35B’s Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) – the system designed to monitor and relay critical aircraft system data – has received its final software upgrade ahead of the fighter achieving Initial Operating Capability. The system has also received critical hardware modifications. IOC for the Marine Corps’ first F-35Bs is expected later this year, with the Corps deciding in March to push on according to schedule, despite issues with the jet’s 2B software.

July 24/15: The F-35’s GAU-22/A 25mm cannon has been tested on the ground at Edwards Air Force Base, with the General Dynamics-designed weapon having been developed for both internal and external gun systems of the Joint Strike Fighter. The cannon is mounted on an external pod for the F-35B and C variants, with the Air Force’s F-35A variant positioning the weapon internally. The four-barrel system allows the fighter to let loose just 180 rounds per reload, allowing for three short passes at best. That last problem featured heavily in criticism of the Air Force for floating the idea – since backtracked – that the F-35A could serve as the main ground forces protection platform. The program has been busy testing other weapons in recent weeks, including the Marines testing live JDAM bombs in early July. The Pentagon has been mulling what to include in future F-35 weapon tranches, with options including the Small Diameter Bomb II and Joint Strike Missile, as well as several others.

July 15/15: On Tuesday, Lockheed Martin was awarded a further $718.3 million contract modification for parts, support services and simulators in support of the F-35’s Lot 8 low rate initial production. The LRIP Lot 8 contract was agreed last year, with 43 of the fighters scheduled for production under Lot 8. Also on Tuesday, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $101.3 million advance acquisition contract for 383 Helmet Mounted Displays for use with the F-35 by the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, international partners and the governments of Japan and Israel through Foreign Military Sales.

July 6/15: The Marine Corps conducted its first successful live ordnance drops from a F-35B in late June, the USMC announced on Friday. The Joint Strike Fighters dropped both inert and live ordnance, which consisted of JDAM GPS-guided munitions in both GBU-12 and GBU-32 configurations. The Marine Corps decided in May to push on towards the F-35B’s Initial Operating Capability (IOC) objective timetabled for 1 July, despite the unearthing of software problems. While it appears that the 1 July objective IOC date has now been missed, the jet has until December to achieve this milestone, with the dropping of live ordnance reportedly one of the last remaining items on a checklist of required capability tests required for IOC.

July 1/15: In a damning report obtained by War is Boring, the F-35A was out-performed by a F-16D in a mock dogfight in January. The newer jet failed to manoeuvre fast or agile enough to defeat the older fighter, despite the F-16 flying with two external fuel tanks. The unnamed pilot listed off numerous serious problems with the fighter, including a low nose climb rate and a cramped cockpit space, as well as other manoeuvrability issues reducing the ability of the pilot to see and kill the older jet, an issue that has come up before. On Monday Lockheed Martin was handed a $19.6 million contract modification to provide requirements development and maturation efforts for the Joint Strike Fighter.

June 29/15: With Naval Air Station Lemoore set to become the backbone of the Navy’s future strike capability, the Navy awarded a contract Friday for the construction of infrastructure to support the base’s fleet of F-35Cs. The $20.2 million task order covers the construction of new buildings to house JSF simulators, as well as classrooms and briefing rooms. NAS Lemoore beat out NAS El Centro last fall to become the Pacific Fleet’s F-35 base, with Strike Fighter Squadron 101 (VFA 101), the F-35C replacement squadron, set to relocate to the base in early 2017.

June 25/15: A US-UK team have successfully tested the F-35B’s short take-off capabilities from a replica carrier ski-jump, the British Ministry of Defence announced Wednesday. The testing is currently in its first iteration, with these tests designed to reduce risk before the JSF is launched from the deck of an actual carrier. The new Elizabeth-class carriers under construction for the Royal Navy will feature a ski-jump, in contract to the new Gerald Ford-class carriers which will feature electromagnetic catapults.

June 19/15: Not a single F-35A was downed by “hostile” fire during the Air Force’s recent Green Flag West exercise, the first exercise in which the Joint Strike Fighter has participated. None of the F-35s were shot down, whilst F-16s and A-10s were. The inclusion of the JSF in the exercises has been criticized as a public relations stunt; additionally, the level of operational pressure the F-35s were put under during the exercises compared with other aircraft has not been released. Whether the F-35 genuinely outperformed the other aircraft and as a result received no simulated destruction – or was just exposed to less severe operational testing – is hard to say.

June 4/15: Lockheed Martin saw a $920.4 million advanced acquisition contract on Thursday for the F-35 program. This award covers the production of 94 low rate initial production Joint Strike Fighters, with these spread across the three F-35 variants.. 78 F-35A models will be manufactured and delivered, with 44 of these destined for the Air Force and the remainder earmarked for international partners. The other 16 aircraft are split between the -B and -C models, with fourteen of the former going to the Marine Corps, as well as Italy and the UK, while two -C models will go to the Navy and Marines.

June 2/15: F-35As will take part in USMC exercises for the first time this week, with the fighter also set to drop live ordnance. The Green Flag West exercises will run to June 12, with the Marine Corps’ B model Joint Strike Fighter recently concluding trials aboard USS Wasp.

May 28/15: The Pentagon is currently determining what should be included in the F-35‘s Block 4 configuration, ahead of a review later this year. Weapons that could feature in Block 4 include the Small Diameter Bomb II and the Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile, as well as potentially the B61-12 standoff nuclear bomb.

May 20/15: As part of the Marine Corps’ F-35B trials currently taking place aboard USS Wasp, a F135 engine has been flown onto the ship to assess the aircraft’s ability to be repaired at sea. The engine uses a modular design to facilitate the swapping out of components, with this also making the entire engine transportable by a single MV-22 Osprey.

May 20/15: The Marine Corps has begun testing its F-35Bs aboard USS Wasp (LHD-1), with these tests set to last two weeks. Six of the aircraft are being tested for specific abilities as part of Operational Testing (OT-1); these include digital interoperability between aircraft and ship systems, something particularly sensitive given the aircraft’s recent software problems. The USMC decided to push ahead regardless of 2B software issues, with the intention of hitting IOC in July.

March 26/13: Singapore. AOL Defense is reporting that Singapore will order 12 F-35Bs within 10 days, while others take a more measured tone. Agence France-Presse cite Singaporean sources as saying they’re in the final stages of evaluating the F-35, which tracks with statements by Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen. Even so, the plane’s very incomplete capabilities mean that part of Singapore’s evaluation is just paper and promises at this point. Singapore’s RSIS points out that the country has traditionally been cautious in its defense buys, restricting themselves to proven platforms.

Singapore’s fleet of about 34 upgraded F-5S/T fighters were bought in the 1970s, and they do need replacement. The RSAF’s alternative would be to order more F-15SG Strike Eagles as F-5 replacements, and wait several years before ordering F-35s. The Strike Eagles would cost less at present, and would offer a much wider array of weapons until about 2025 or later. F-35Bs would offer more risk, and would enter service much later than F-15SGs, in exchange for better stealth, and the ability to take off and land from damaged runways. Either way, a DSCA-approved export request would be required before any order can be placed. The most we can expect within 10 days is a State Department announcement. AOL Defence | AFP | Reuters | Eurasia Review.

March 26/13: UK. The Ministry of Defence announces that RAF Marham, which had hosted Tornados until the fighters were retired to save on support costs, will become Britain’s main base for F-35s. It will also act as a support center, performing depth maintenance. RAF | BBC.

March 25/13: Engine. Bloomberg reports that Rolls-Royce was an average of 160 days late with its F135-PW-600 LiftFan engine parts deliveries in 2012. Subcontractor errors were part of the problem:

“There have been issues such as corrosion on some of the gears and some undersized holes,” Jacqueline Noble, a spokeswoman for the defense agency, said in the [emailed] statement [to Bloomberg]. While London-based Rolls-Royce and its subcontractors have made progress, the need to fix fan parts that don’t meet specifications “is still a concern,” she said.”

March 25/13: Japan LRIP-8. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a $40.2 million fixed-price-incentive (firm-target), contract to provide long lead-time parts, materials and components required for the delivery of 4 Japanese F-35As, as part of Low Rate Initial Production Lot 8. See also June 29/12 entry.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX, and is expected to be complete in February 2014. All funds are committed immediately, and this contract was not competitively procured by US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD, who is acting as Japan’s agent through the FMS process (N00019-13-C-0014).

March 21/13: Netherlands. The 2 Dutch IOT&E F-35As are already slated to go into storage until 2015, because the jets aren’t fit for purpose yet (q.v. Feb 11/13). Now Reuters reports that the Dutch are looking to cut their planned order of 85 F-35As by 17-33 planes. On the surface, this isn’t exactly news, as the MvD was known to be looking at a 56 plane order (-29 aircraft) when the Oct 24/12 Rekenkamer report came out. Reuters gives a figure of 52-68 planes and a budget of EUR 4.5 billion, but full replacement of the RNLAF’s reduced fleet of 68 F-16s with F-35As doesn’t square with that budget. A “defense source close to the talks” is quoted as saying that an F-35A order could drop as low as 33-35 planes (-50 or more aircraft), based on Rekenkamer estimates.

That can’t be welcome news to the F-35 program, which expects to have foreign orders making up half of production after LRIP Lot 8 in 2014 (q.v. March 12/13). For the RNLAF, Defense Aerospace cites Dutch Parliamentary documents which size their operational F-16 fleet at just 24 / 68 planes, due to maintenance issues and lack of spare parts. That’s a bit of a crisis; meanwhile, the larger question is whether 24-35 fighters is even close to adequate for future needs.

The new coalition, sworn into office in November 2012, expects to finalize a new defense policy and fighter purchase plans later in 2013. Defense Aerospace reports that the Dutch Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence has already scheduled presentations from Boeing (F/A-18 Super Hornet family) and Saab (JAS-39E/F Gripen), and the Eurofighter consortium has told the publication that they’re keeping an eye on developments. Reuters | Defense Aerospace.

March 20/13: Australia. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives an unfinalized, not-to-exceed $9.8 million modification for Australian-specific non-recurring support activities. It includes ALIS equipment and sustainment and logistics support, and will be bought under the LRIP Lot 6 contract. $4.9 million is committed immediately.

Australia was set to buy 2 F-35As for IOT&E preparation under LRIP Lot 6. The timing of their follow-on buy of 12 F-35As may be uncertain, but this contract seems to indicate that they’ll buy the 2 IOT&E jets (see also March 5/13). Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (35%); El Segundo, CA (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, FL (10%); Nashua, NH (5%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete in January 2019. US NAVAIR in Patuxent River, MD manages the contract (N00019-11-C-0083).

March 13/13: Denmark. The Danes pick up their fighter competition as promised, following their announced hiatus in April 2010. Invited bidders include the same set of Lockheed Martin (F-35A), Boeing (Super Hornet), and Saab (JAS-39E/F) – plus EADS (Eurofighter), who had withdrawn from the Danish competition in 2007. The goal of a 2014 F-16 replacement decision has been moved a bit farther back, and now involves a recommendation by the end of 2014, and a selection by June 2015.

The Flyvevabnet are reported to have 30 operational F-16s, with 15 more in reserve, out of an original order of 58. Past statements indicate that they’re looking to buy around 25 fighters as replacements, but there are reports of a range from 24-32, depending on price. Danish Forsvarsministeriet [in Danish] | Eurofighter GmbH | Saab | JSF Nieuws.

March 12/13: Issues & allies. JSF PEO Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan, USAF, offers a number of important pieces of information at the Credit Suisse/McAleese defense programs conference in Washington, DC. One is that he hopes to have unit cost, including the engine, down to $90 million by 2020 – about 10% lower than current Pentagon estimates beyond 2017. Allies “need to know where their money is going”, especially since orders after LRIP-8 (2014) are expected to be about 50% allied buys. Unfortunately there’s an issue with IOT&E processes, which has been left unaddressed until the issue became a source of buying uncertainty:

“Adding insult to injury, the JSF program office classified all documents as “U.S. only,” which upset partner nations. Even if they are all buying the same aircraft, each country has its own air-worthiness qualification processes and other administrative procedures that require they have access to the aircraft’s technical data. JSF officials are working to re-classify the documentation, Bogdan said.”

Regarding Operations & Support costs, which are over 2/3 of a weapon system’s lifetime cost: “If we don’t start doing things today to bring down O&S now, there will be a point when the services will see this aircraft as unaffordable.”

Most of those costs trace back to design, so changes at this point are possible, but difficult. One design and support issue is that the 80% commonality between variants envisaged at the program’s outset is now closer to 25-30%. That means more expensive non-common parts due to lower production runs, larger inventories for support of multiple types in places like the USA and Italy, more custom work for future changes, etc. Information Dissemination | National Defense.

March 11/13: GAO Report. The GAO releases its annual F-35 program report: “Current Outlook Is Improved, but Long-Term Affordability Is a Major Concern“. Some manufacturing indices like labor hours per jet delivery rate are getting better, but operations and maintenance costs are a serious problem, and F-35 acquisition funding requirements average $12.6 billion annually through 2037.

There’s much, much more. It’s difficult to summarize this report, and worth reading it in full.

March 9/13: Cost sensitivity. Reuters gets their hands on an advance draft of a GAO report, which looks at the F-35’s sustainment and purchase costs. The GAO’s estimate to refurbish produced F-35s to incorporate fixes required by discoveries during testing? $1.7 billion. That’s a lot, but it’s a decision that touches on the next area they examine: what happens if some countries don’t buy, or the USA buys fewer?

Current American plans will average $10.6 billion per year until 2037 [DID: it turns out to be $12.6 billion]. Average costs have already climbed from $69 million to $137 million, and would rise by another 9% if the USA dropped its orders from 2,443 – 1,500 (to $150 million). They would rise by 6% (to $145 million) if all 8 foreign partners cut their planned 697 orders, but the USA kept its own. The combination? More than additive, at 19% (to $163 million).

Here’s the thing. The GAO is calculating averages, but all F-35 partners including the USA, have a limited window of safe remaining life for their fighter fleets. That forces them to place earlier orders, which can cost a lot more than “average over all production” estimates. They’re also more price sensitive to production cuts, since fewer planes per year are being built at this stage. A design that isn’t done testing adds another disincentive, and the combination of unready planes and spiraling costs for near-term buys can force quite a few cancellations and reductions. Each cancellation may be minor in the long term, but it’s a larger cost hike in the short term, which ensures that the long term production figure never arrives.

One response just starts production earlier, and lets the main partner eat most of the concurrency costs. So, was the $1.7 billion concurrency cost worth it, in order to speed up the purchase schedule and production ramp-up by 5-6 years? That’s an individual judgement. Reuters | IBT.

March 6/13: DOT&E OUE. The POGO NGO gets its hands on a copy of the Pentagon’s Operational Utility Evaluation for initial F-35A training, dated Feb 15/13. While DOT&E cautions that you can’t draw any meaningful conclusions from a system this immature, some of their observations and trends are relevant and concerning.

Not training ready. To begin at the beginning, current F-35s aren’t even close to suitable for new-pilot training, and are very marginal even for experienced pilot training. This situation, and the long list of accompanying flight restrictions, is normal for an aircraft mid-way through its testing phase. What’s different is that continued program delays would leave the US military unable to stream new pilots to its production aircraft.

Touch screens. A notable but less urgent design deficiency involves the touch screen display, which may need to be used less. Using it to control radios, for instance, is a bad idea, especially at high Gs and under stress. To duplicate this feeling, have a jumpy 3-year old grab and flail at your arm while you’re trying to operate a computer mouse. MIL-STD-1472G already prohibits this sort of thing as a sole option, and voice recognition is intended to fix the problem. Until it’s ready, of course, we won’t know if it has its own issues.

Visibility. The most serious deficiency remains technical problems with the pilot’s ambitious Helmet-Mounted Display, coupled with a designed-in lack of rear visibility that HMDS needs to overcome using the plane’s embedded sensors. The visibility is poor in order to improve stealth vs. a full bubble canopy; and also to keep design commonality with the STOVL F-35B, which mounts its lift fan and doors behind the pilot. The OUE’s experienced F-16 and A-10 pilots were universal in their criticism, saying that poor to no rear visibility made basic tasks like keeping formation more challenging, and was a deficiency in combat situations.

It’s also a maintenance risk, of course, since all associated systems must be working or the planes will be at a large combat disadvantage. The likely result? Either lower readiness rates, higher maintenance costs, or both. Those are both areas where the F-35 remains behind the curve, with potentially dire fiscal consequences. POGO summary | Full Report [PDF]

March 5/13: LRIP-6. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a not-to-exceed $72.2 million unfinalized LRIP Lot 6 contract modification. It buys F-35A support equipment for Luke AFB’s Pilot Training Center 1. It also covers associated Data Quality Integration Management supplier support tasks, and all other sustainment data products for the USAF and the governments of Italy and Australia. The contract is split-funded by the USAF ($55.0M/ 76.2%); Italy ($10.3M/ 14.3%); and Australia ($6.9/ 9.5%).

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (35%); El Segundo, CA (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, FL (10%); Nashua, NH (5%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete in August 2014. $36.1 million is committed immediately (N00019-11-C-0083). This brings total LRIP-6 contracts to $5.674 billion.

March 1/13: Return to flight. The Pentagon lifts the grounding order on its F-35 fleets, after inspecting fleet engines. The engine in question belonged to a plane used for flight envelope expansion testing, and had been operated for an extended time at high temperatures.

“Prolonged exposure to high levels of heat and other operational stressors on this specific engine were determined to be the cause of the crack [as opposed to high-cycle fatigue, which would force a redesign].”

The engineers believe no redesign is needed. Pentagon | Reuters.

Grounding lifted

Feb 28/13: Block 8 long-lead. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a $333.8 million fixed-price-incentive (firm-target), advance acquisition contract, covering early equipment buys for 35 LRIP Lot 8 planes: 19 USAF F-35As ($155.2M/ 46%), 6 USMC F-35Bs ($85.4M/ 26%), and 4 USN F-35Cs ($27.5M/ 8%); plus 4 F-35B STOVLs for Britain ($45M/ 14%), and 2 F-35As for Norway ($20.7M/ 6%). All contract funds are committed immediately.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX, and is expected to be complete in February 2014. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 (N00019-13-C-0008).

Feb 27/13: Unhappy relationship. F-35 PEO Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan criticizes some important decisions, such as concurrent testing and production, and he’s also unhappy with the vendors. There’s some back-and-forth in the news reports regarding production cost, which he pegs at about $120 million for a Lot 5 F-35A with engine, and whether cost reductions per lot have been adequate. His AuBC interview also includes this remark, which got less attention but is more important:

“The real big elephant is how much it costs over the life of this plane to maintain it, and sustain it…. I think today, looking at what we have, the cost to maintain and sustain this plane is too high…. What I’ve told Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney is “you have yet to earn the right to become the product support integrator for the life of this program.” So what I’ve done is, I’ve tried to take pieces of the life cycle, and I’ve tried to introduce some competition [from domestic and foreign companies]….”

The decision to use only 1 engine also comes into play, as he describes the 6 month negotiations to finalize the F135 engine LRIP Lot 5 contract (vid. Feb 6/13 entry), which began shortly after their F136 competitor had been eliminated:

“Now, you would think a company like Pratt & Whitney that was just given the greatest Christmas gift you could ever, ever get for a company would act a little differently…”

In truth, the full tone of Gen. Bogdan’s remarks isn’t fully captured in written reports. He’s adopting classic crisis management recommendations, acknowledging known problems rather than being dishonest, placing them in context when he can, then promising to fix what’s left and deliver a successful jet. The comments in Australia were made shortly after the DOT&E report (vid. Jan 13/13). They’re aired a month or so later in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Reach for the Sky” documentary on the program, just before Australia submits a formal request to buy another 24 Boeing Super Hornet family fighters. Center for Public Integrity | Fox News | TIME | AuBC’s Reach for the Sky.

Feb 22/13: Engine. A crack in an F135-PW-100 engine blade grounds the entire F-35 fleet. The fault was found in an F-35A, but this part of the engine is common to all 3 variants. No one wants to have a blade break off inside and destroy the engine or the plane on its way out the back, hence the grounding.

These kinds of problems aren’t unheard of during testing, but the incident raises 2 big questions. One is the Pentagon’s flawed policy of ordering operational planes during the testing phase, which multiplies the cost of fixes during a fiscal crunch. The other involves the DoD’s decision to have just 1 engine manufacturer for the F-35, unlike its existing fighter fleets. Imagine exactly this sort of fleet-wide grounding, when the F-35 is the main fighter of all 3 armed services. DoD | Reuters.

Engine problems ground the whole fleet

Feb 13/13: Australia. Australian MP Dennis Jensen [Lib-Tangney, near Perth] chronicles the key assertions, decisions, and official reassurances made in Australia concerning the F-35, most of which have turned out to be somewhere between inaccurate and untrue. It’s a sobering account of how far program timelines and costs have gone awry, and effectively eviscerates the credibility of official ADF and DoD analysis.

The former defense research scientist also has the brass to point out that while the military has been busy missing the mark, independent analysts like Air Power Australia laid down key cost and performance markers that are now being vindicated by official reports.

Jensen is a long-time critic of the F-35. His 2009 guest article for DID focused on the F-22 as a better solution for Australia, and one wonders if he still has that view in light of recent events. His skepticism concerning the F-35 has remained, as evidenced by his March 2012 release, “Joint Strike Fighter lemon“. That release goes a step beyond most political releases, whose authors aren’t likely to confront a senior air force officer with step by step analysis of hypothetical 8 vs. 8 air combat engagements. Australian parliamentary transcript | JSF Nieuws has added sub-headers for easier reading.

Feb 13/13: Lot 6 Engines. United Technologies’ Pratt and Whitney Military Engines in East Hartford, CT receives a $65 million cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for ongoing sustainment, operations, and maintenance to LRIP Lot 6’s F135 engines. This contract combines purchases for the USMC ($43.8M / 69%); the USAF ($17.8M / 26%); and the US Navy ($3.3M / 5%). $55.3 million in FY 2012 and 2013 contract funds are committed immediately, and $11.8 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/13.

Efforts include labor and materials required to maintain and repair F135 propulsion systems; sustainment labor consisting of fleet and material management, sustaining engineering, and joint services technical data updates; and material required to support fielded propulsion systems and support equipment after unit and depot activations at production, training, and operational locations.

Work will be performed in East Hartford, CT (54%); Indianapolis, IN (31%); and Bristol, United Kingdom (15%), and is expected to be complete in December 2013 (N00019-12-C-0090).

Feb 12/13: F-35B flying. The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office clears the F-35B variant to resume flight operations. Within the fleet, all affected hoses have been inspected, and the ones that are out of tolerance will be replaced beginning in about a week. F-35Bs with properly crimped hoses can resume flying now. Yuma Sun.

F-35B cleared to fly

Feb 11/13: Dutch IOT&E. Minister of Defence Mrs. JA Hennis-Plasschaert sends a written brief to Parliament, covering recent developments with the F-35. It outlines the recent American DOT&E report, and also discusses developments in Canada, where the F-35 decision is under review. With respect to their own order, the first Dutch F-35 is ready, and the 2nd will arrive in summer 2013, but the project’s lateness has started to affect the RNLAF.

The original plan was to use their IOT&E jets with Block 3 software for testing and tactics development from April 2012 – August 2014, and pay EUR 27.1 million. Because the program is so far behind on Block 3 software delivery, per DOT&E, the Dutch will have to store their jets in the USA at their own expense until 2015, run their IOT&E from 2015-2018, and pay EUR 47 – 55 million. All on top of buying their jets several years earlier than they needed to, which raised their cost by many millions of euros.

Turkey was probably thinking of these kinds of issues when they postponed their planned IOT&E buy in January. JSF Nieuws has excerpts from the letter, which has not yet been published on the government’s web sites, and also showed us the full copy.

Dutch IOT&E

Feb 6/13: The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office and Pratt & Whitney announce an agreement in principle regarding the final engine contract for LRIP Lot 5’s planes.

An unfinalized version of that contract was announced on Dec 28/11, and the new contract is reportedly about $20 million lower than the $1.122 billion quoted at that time. Even with that reduction, adding the engine contract to other fighter-related Lot 5 announcements would give an average Lot V flyaway cost across all types of around $170 million per plane. It’s important to note that the engine contract includes things besides fighter engines, but even with no engines at all, Lot V announcements sum to a cost per fighter of $137.5 million.

Final engine figures and divisions won’t be forthcoming until the official Pentagon announcement. Note that some media reports don’t match up with the 32 planes known to be in Lot V (vid. Dec 14/12 entry). American Machinist | Reuters.

Feb 5/13: Britain’s switch costs. The British House of Commons Defence Committee says that the government’s shift from the F-35B STOVL to the F-35C and back cost the country GBP 100 million (vid. section 2, #14 & 15). Most of that money was spent on budgets related to Britain’s new carriers, and the committee faults the government for rushed work on the October 2010 SDSR.

That is quite a lot of money to waste, and it’s true that after the Conservative/ Lib-Dem coalition took power, there was a strong push to get the SDSR out the door in a short period of time. These kinds of decisions are very complex, and the committee faults the Ministry for going along with this recommendation, without really understanding the changes involved.

The Ministry’s defense is that their CVF/ Queen Elizabeth Class carriers had been touted as “future proof”, able to include catapults if that became necessary during the ships’ lifetimes. That proposition was put to the test early with the F-35C switch. The Ministry’s retrospective conclusion is blunt, and discomfiting on its own terms: “It is not my belief that [the carriers] were genuinely designed for conversion, or that the contract allowed them to be designed for conversion.” One wonders, then, why they were touted that way. UK Commons Defence Committee Acquisitions Report | Flight International.

Britain’s type-
switching costs

Feb 2/13: A USAF presentation to Congress says that if sequestration takes effect, F-35 order will be reduced (duh). They add that the program may need to be restructured, too, along with the KC-46A aerial tanker and MQ-9 Reaper Block 5. That would make a few allies grumpy. Flight International.

Jan 31/13: Personnel. AviationWeek reports that Tom Burbage, the executive vice president and general manager of program integration for the F-35, will retire in March 2013, after 32 years at the firm. He had been appointed in that position in 2000.

Jan 30/13: DOT&E – Pilot views. Flight International interviews both experienced pilots and Lockheed Martin personnel, in the wake of the turning & acceleration performance downgrades announced by DOT&E’s 2012 report. One experienced pilot flatly says that those performance figures put the F-35 Lightning in the same class as the 1960s-era F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber, rather than modern high-performance fighters. The Lightning does retain some kinetic strengths, but the overall picture isn’t encouraging when examined closely.

Then a Lockheed test pilot with broad experience takes up the gauntlet, to say that the F-35 is actually kinetically better than other 4+ generation fighters. Some of his fellow test pilots question those claims. Read “The F-35’s Air-to-Air Capability Controversy” for in-depth coverage of this issue.

Jan 30/13: Japan problem. If Japan wants to make parts for all F-35s, they’re going to have to do something about one of their “3 principles” on arms exports. Those restrictions won’t allow exports to communist countries, countries subject to arms export embargoes under U.N. Security Council resolutions, or countries involved in or likely to be involved in international conflicts. Unfortunately, many potential F-35 customers, especially in the Middle East, fall into the 3rd category.

We’re sure Israel would be perfectly happy to simply have all of the affected parts made in Israel instead, but this is going to be a wider issue. The program could always go to a “second supplier” arrangement for all Japanese parts, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said maintaining consistency with the ban is “under discussion within the government.” Asashi Shimbun.

Jan 30/13: Industrial. Lockheed Martin says that there are 88 F-35s of all versions in various stages of completion on the program’s production lines. When it’s delivered, AF-41 (a USAF F-35A) will become delivery #100.

Jan 28/13: Fueldraulic fault found. Flight International reports that the failure of an F-35B’s Stratoflex fueldraulic line has been traced to a failure to properly crimp it. The F-35 Program Office says that Stratoflex, Rolls-Royce and Pratt &Whitney, have “instituted corrective actions to improve their quality control processes and ensure part integrity.”

The same problem was found on 6 other aircraft, and all 7 will need to be fixed. Until a Return to Flight plan is approved, however, all 25 F-35Bs will remain grounded.

Jan 18/13: F-35B grounded. The F-35B fleet is grounded, after a fueldraulic line (q.v. DOT&E report) fails and forces the pilot to abort a takeoff. There was no danger, and the pilot simply moved his airplane off of the flight line after it happened.

The F-35A and F-35C fleets are unaffected. Bloomberg | Defense News | Flight International.

F-35B Grounded

Jan 13/13: DOT&E Report. The Pentagon’s Department of Operational Test & Evaluation submits its 2012 report, which includes 18 pages covering the F-35. The fleet continues to work through significant technical challenges, which isn’t unusual. What is unusual is the steady stream of deliveries that will have to be fixed later, in order to address mechanical and structural problems found during testing. A summary of the key statistics & challenges can be found above, in the Testing section, but 2 issues deserve special mention.

One issue is software, which may be more important to the F-35 than it is to any other fighter aircraft. Unfortunately, the software development program is late, and is straining to fix and test issues across several developmental versions. Block 1.0 software capability is only 80% delivered, and the Block 2A software for training is under 50%. Block 2B, which adds rudimentary combat capabilities for serious training, was under 10% as of August 2012. Test resources and personnel are both limited, so this problem is likely to get worse.

The other issue is weight. The F-35 was designed with little margin for weight growth, but new capabilities and fixes for testing issues often add weight. One frequent consequence is higher costs, as very expensive but lightweight materials are used to save an extra pound here and there. Another consequence reduced performance, as seen in the F-35B’s drop to 7.0 maximum Gs after its aggressive weight reduction effort. A third consequence involves ruggedness and survivability. The F-35B faced a suspension of structural fatigue life stress testing in 2012, after cracking was discovered in several places. Even this pales in comparison, however, to the fleet-wide problem created by saving just 11 pounds in all variants. Without fuelstatic flow fuses and Polyalphaolefin (PAO) coolant shutoff valves, DOT&E estimates that these flammable substances make the F-35 25% less likely to survive enemy fire. DOT&E report [PDF] | Lockheed Martin re: 2012 testing | Reuters | TIME magazine. | Washington Post.

Jan 5/13: Turkey. The Turkish SSM procurement agency decides to postpone its initial buy of 2 training and test aircraft, which were supposed to be part of the Lot 7 order (q.v. Sept 27/12 entry). The SSM cites capabilities that are behind scheduled expectations and not ready for full training, and cost concerns, while reaffirming Turkey’s long-term commitment to 100 F-35As.

The Pentagon DOT&E report is quite specific about the plane’s delivered software being unsuitable for any combat-related training or test. Block 2B software would be required for that at least, but the program has yet to deliver parts of Block 1, and the Block 2A software on current planes is also just a partial implementation. In light of that information alone, Turkey’s decision to wait seems prudent. Why incur higher costs from an earlier production lot, if the plane isn’t going to be fully useful in its intended test and training role? Turkish SSM [in Turkish, PDF] | AFP | Washington’s The Hill magazine | Turkish Weekly.

Turkey postpones planned IOT&E buy

Dec 28/12: LRIP-6. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a not-to-exceed $3.678 billion unfinalized modification to the low rate initial production lot 6 advance acquisition contract. It covers 29 American planes: 18 F-35As, 6 F-35Bs, and 7 USN F-35Cs, plus “all associated ancillary mission equipment.” LRIP-6 contracts total $5,729.6 million, and include:

* March 20/13: $9.8 (support for Australia)
* March 5/13: $72.2 (support infrastructure for USA, Australia, Italy)
* Feb 14/13: $65.0 (engine maintenance)
* Dec 28/12: $3,677.9 (USA 29: 18 F-35A, 6 F-35B, 7 F-35C)
* Dec 28/12: $735.4 (support, unfinalized)
* Dec 6/12: $386.7 (long-lead)
* March 12/12: $38.6 (F-35A long-lead)
* Feb 9/12: $14.6 (F-35B long-lead)
* Jan 6/12: $194.1 (engines)
* Aug 8/11: $535.3 (38 long-lead: USA 19 F-35A, 6 F-35B, 7 F-35C; Italy 4 F-35A, Australia 2 F-35A)

Long-lead items contracts can include JSF partner and foreign buys, since the material buys are basically the same. Main contracts for customers outside America are often announced separately, which explains why some are missing from the Dec 28/12 announcement. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (35%); El Segundo, CA (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, FL (10%); Nashua, NH (5%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete in February 2015. $1.839 billion is committed immediately (N00019-11-C-0083).

LRIP Lot 6 main

Dec 28/12: LRIP-6 support. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a not-to-exceed $753.4 million unfinalized modification to the LRIP-6 advance acquisition contract, for one-time sustainment and logistics support. This modification also includes site stand-up and depot activation activities, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) hardware and software, training systems, support equipment, and spares.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (35%); El Segundo, CA (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, FL (10%); Nashua, NH (5%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete in December 2015. $375.2 million is committed immediately (N00019-11-C-0083).

Dec 28/12: LRIP-6 & 7 support. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a not-to-exceed $374.5 million unfinalized modification to the LRIP-6 advance acquisition contract. It covers initial spares in support of 60 F-35s from LRIP Lot 6 and LRIP Lot 7: 37 F-35As, 12 F-35B STOVL, and 11 F-35Cs.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (35%); El Segundo, CA (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, FL (10%); Nashua, NH (5%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete in November 2015. Contract funds in the amount of $374,495,232 is committed immediately (N00019-11-C-0083).

Dec 28/12: Studies. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a $48 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to perform engineering, programmatic, and logistics tasks supporting investigations or studies covering various systems in the F-35 Lightning II.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX, and is expected to be complete in December 2015. $7.2 million is committed at the time of award. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 (N00019-13-D-0005).

Dec 28/12: LRIP-5 support. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a not-to-exceed $17.1 million unfinalized modification the LRIP Lot 5 contract. This modification buys initial air vehicle spares for LRIP-5 F-35As.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (35%); El Segundo, CA (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, FL (10%); Nashua, NH (5%); and Baltimore, MD (5%), and is expected to be complete in November 2015. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/13 (N00019-10-C-0002).

Dec 14/12: LRIP-5. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, TX receives a $127.7 million fixed-price-incentive-fee and cost-plus-incentive-fee modification, finalizing the F-35’s LRIP Lot 5 contract for 32 planes. This contract also includes funds for manufacturing support equipment; 2 program array assemblies; ancillary mission equipment, including pilot flight equipment; preparation for ferrying the aircraft; and redesign to change parts with diminishing manufacturing sources.

Some news reports place the contract’s figures at $3.8 billion, but a review of past contracts, and conversation with Lockheed Martin, show that the entire LRIP-5 is actually $6.459 billion so far. The distribution also differs from Reuters’ report: it’s 21 F-35As, 4 F-35Bs, and 7 F-35Cs. Past awards, in millions, include:

* Dec 14/12: $127.7 (finalize)
* Aug 6/12: $209.8 (spares)
* Apr 13/12: $258.8 (add 1 F-35B, 1 F-35C for USA)
* March 12/12: $56.4 (support of delivery schedule)
* Dec 28/11: $1,122

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