AURORA, Colorado—Lockheed Martin intends to keep building F-35 stealth fighters at a steady pace, even as global demand rises and amid reports that the U.S. might reduce next year’s order. There is no “immediate customer direction” to increase F-35 production, and the company will keep making 156 jets per year for the next “five-plus years,” said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed’s head of aeronautics.
Hours later after Ulmer’s comments, Reuters reported that the Biden administration may seek to buy 70 F-35s instead of the planned 83 in its 2025 budget proposal, expected to be unveiled March 11, to help meet Congress’s defense-spending cap.
The Pentagon continues to refuse delivery of new F-35s until Lockheed finishes testing technology for the jet’s latest upgrade, called Technology Refresh-3. Ulmer announced another delay for the new tech package in its recent earnings call, now forecasting TR-3 to be ready in the third quarter of 2024.
Cost overruns for the new upgrade are set to reach almost $1 billion, which U.S. taxpayers and allied nations will have to shoulder under the cost-plus development contract with Lockheed. The Pentagon is withholding payments on the undelivered TR-3 jets, about $7 million per plane, until TR-3 deliveries resume. The company is on contract to build 148 aircraft with the new TR-3 tech this year.
