Software delay will reduce F-35 deliveries for a second straight year
Lockheed says the TR-3 upgrade, due last year, has slipped to third quarter of 2024.
PATRICK TUCKER | JANUARY 23, 2024
INDUSTRY AIR FORCE NAVY MARINE CORPS
The Pentagon will be getting fewer new F-35s again this year because already-tardy software won’t be ready until the third quarter of 2024, Lockheed officials said on Tuesday.
The company will deliver just 75 to 100 of the tri-service jets this year, mostly in its second half, CEO James Taiclet told investors on an earnings call. That’s down from the 147-to-153 range announced just three weeks ago, and likely even less than the 96 or so delivered last year against the same target.
The problem is with the Technology Rollout-3 software, part of the Block 4 improvements to the planes’ sensors and weapons. Jets equipped with TR-3 were originally to begin arriving in late 2023, a date that slipped last fall to April or June.
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2024/01/software-delays-will-reduce-f-35-deliveries-second-straight-year-lockheed-says/393562/
