Lockheed Martin announces new delays in deliveries of fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighters - the Pentagon will receive two dozen fewer aircraft in 2023

Lockheed Martin and the US Department of Defence have said that the resumption of deliveries of fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighter jets may take place later than planned. This means that the Pentagon will receive fewer aircraft than expected in 2023. This will affect the company's revenue.

Here's What We Know

F-35 deliveries were put on pause in July of this year. Lockheed Martin began sending built fighter jets with Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware into storage. The company believed it could resume deliveries by the end of this year, but that has changed.

According to a new estimate, the first F-35 TR-3 fighters after the pause will be delivered to the customer next year. To be more precise, in the second quarter (April-June). Thus, by the end of 2023, Lockheed Martin will deliver 97 fighters instead of 100-120 as originally planned.

The company said that the culprits behind the delays are partners in the F-35 programme. Specifically, the development of the L3Harris processor (ICP) has caused delays due to unexpected issues related to hardware and software development, integration testing of components and systems, and system qualification tests.

Lockheed Martin has deployed its experts to L3Harris to resolve the problem. The company is also working with Raytheon to ensure delivery of the Next Gen Electro Optical Digital Aperture System.

The US defence contractor will deliver far fewer F-35s in 2023 than it wanted. Lockheed Martin originally planned to send 147-153 fighters to customers, but the forecast was later adjusted to 100-120 aircraft. At the same time, deliveries of the F-35 TR-2 continue.

Russ Goemaere said that five TR-3 fighters have already rolled off Lockheed's assembly line. He said the programme has already made significant progress, but problems are related to software maturity, which was discovered during test flights of the F-35. The Pentagon decided to update the timeline for resuming deliveries because of the continued risk in the TR-3 project.

Source: Breaking Defence