Lockheed Martin has delivered 62 F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation fighter jets in 2023 and will be able to deliver just 29 more aircraft to customers by the end of December

We have written about the problems of the F-35 Lightning II fighters several times. Because of them, Lockheed Martin will deliver 52 aircraft less than planned in 2023.

Here's What We Know

As of 14 July 2023, Lockheed Martin has delivered 62 fifth-generation fighters to customers. The plan for the full year was to deliver 143 aircraft, including 52 models with Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware and software.

In June, the Pentagon said the F-35 TR-3s would go into storage until the company finalised the software. For this reason, Lockheed Martin will lose more than $400 million by the end of this year. Deliveries of the F-35 TR-2 will continue.

In total, the company planned to hand over 91 F-35 Lightning II fighters to customers without new software and hardware. Given that Lockheed has already delivered 62 aircraft, it will be able to deliver 29 more models by the end of the year.

Loading software on the F-35 will take no more than a week. The defence contractor believes it will be able to resolve all problems by December. A Ministry of Defence estimate says F-35 TR-3 deliveries will resume next April.

Source: Bloomberg