US To Deliver More Than 100 F-35 Fighters In 2018

The US will deliver more than 100 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter aircraft to consortium partners in 2018 and up to 145 by 2020.

After ‘major design problem’ coming from the in-testing stealth F-35 fighter aircraft, Frank Kendall III, the US undersecretary for defense acquisition, technology and logistics was quoted as saying by Hurriyet that, “I do expect additional discovery, but I will be surprised if a major design problem surfaces at this point,” he added.

Kendall’s comments came at a US Senate Armed Services Committee panel, where he answered lawmakers’ questions alongside Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the program executive officer for the F-35 Lightning II joint program, and J. Michael Gilmore, the US defense department’s director of operational test and evaluation.

Last month Gilmore told a house committee that the program would be delayed for one year because of problems with stability systems, sensors and other issues with the aircraft.

He said April 26 the program had issued corrections and “we are cautiously optimistic that these fixes will resolve the current stability problems, but are waiting to see how the software performs in an operational test environment.”

“It is now rapidly changing, growing and accelerating. We will be finishing our development program in late 2017 and begin a transition to a leaner, more efficient follow-on modernization program,” he said.

According to the general, the program will be able to deliver more than 100 aircraft to consortium partners in 2018 and up to 145 by 2020.

It has been able to produce just 45 F-35 fighters thus far, the general noted.

“Additionally, in the next four years, we will continue a stand-up of 17 new operating F-35 bases all over the world,” he added.