Lockheed Martin breaks the terms: less than half of the F-35 is built for the US Army

Due to the problems with the TR-3 renewal version, the air forces did not accept any of the F-35 made. Lieutenant General Michael Schmidt says Lockheed Martin pays penalties. One of the largest defense companies by the US Lockheed Martin in 2023 built less than half of the F-35 planned fighter jets. About it reports Defense News.

Lieutenant General Michael Schmidt, Executive Officer of the F-35 program, declared at the subcommittee of the Armed Forces of the House of Representatives, which Locked Martin built 21 F-35 TR-3 fighter from 52 units for 2023. However, the company is under control, according to Schmidt. The production of fighters with TR-3 updates is slower than the more expected rate. The production of key parts is slower than expected.

Also, all made F-35 TR-3 are located at the Lockheed Martin plant in anticipation of spare parts. "The equipment is good. It is the speed at which they produce them to meet our needs for production and modernization. It is a literally small number of components, but I need all of them," Michael Schmidt explains. Lockheed Martin and Pentagon planned to complete the development of TR-3 by April 2023, but because of the problems with the software, the planes have not yet been adopted.

It is now expected that the F-35 with TR-3 software will be ready for the next spring or in June 2024. Schmidt also hinted that Lockheed Martin has significant penalties for fighter supply problems. Therefore, they "have a significant incentive" to achieve results. Currently, TR3 problems do not relate to the F-35 available because they are not modernized before the TR-3 update. We will remind, on November 22, Lockheed Martin offers an intermediate solution with a TR-3 technological update.