Lockheed Martin On Track To Deliver 100 F-35s To The US Military This Year

Despite some very public setbacks—particularly with the delays associated with the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) upgrade — Lockheed Martin is on track to deliver at least 100 F-35 fighter jets to the US military (the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps) according to a new Bloomberg article. Overall, F-35 deliveries may be as many as 110— this is at the higher end of the previous estimate of 75–110 deliveries in 2024 .
Lockheed Martin to deliver 100 F-35s to US military
Bloomberg News reported a total delivery of 110 F-35 fighter jets including a blend of newly built aircraft and 66 previously withheld aircraft that needed upgrades to the software and hardware (Bloomberg cited a Defense Contract Management Agency statement to the news agency). The Pentagon had been refusing delivery of the jet causing around 100 jets to be parked around Lockheed facilities until a compromise was met. The Pentagon agreed to accept deliveries with the TR-3 upgrade good enough for flying and training. Lockheed will fully upgrade the jets at a later date.
Photo: US Marines
For comparison, Lockheed has previously stated that it delivered 98 F-35s in 2023 (which brought the total fleet to over 990 aircraft). Now around 1,100 F-35s have been delivered – this is around a third of the total of F-35s planned to be produced over the program’s lifespan. Going forward, Lockheed expects a stable production rate of 156+ F-35s annually (including those produced at its assembly facilities in Italy and Japan).
The Pentagon is withholding $5 million in final payments for each F-35 that hasn’t received the final version of the TR-3 upgrade. As Bloomberg points out, that amounts to around $330 million in withheld payments for the 66 aircraft. In all, the F-35 program has a $486 billion total acquisition price tag.
The world’s most capable fighter jet
Romania has recently become the 20th customer of the jet. Few potential customers for the F-35 could plausibly purchase the jet remain . Almost all countries that the US has permitted to purchase it and have the need and budget for a fighter jet more capable than a 4th generation fighter (like the F-16 Fighting Falcon) have now ordered it. Portugal and Spain remain potential customers, while France and Sweden are focused on their own fighter jet programs.
Photo: Charlotte Durham | Lockheed Martin
While some may look at the F-35’s specs sheet and think it is not that special compared to 4th generation fighter jets, that is to miss what makes the F-35 a capable platform. The F-35 is better thought of as a flying supercomputer capable of supersensor fusion. These capabilities are generally outside public discourse as these critical capabilities are classified (although the extent of the capabilities can be inferred from almost all countries allowed to peer behind the ‘black curtain’ promptly place orders for the jet). There is quite simply no fighter jet on the export market that can rival the F-35 (note that the J-20 has an export ban).
Related Which Countries Has The US Banned From Buying The F-35? The US is known to have blocked the sale of F-35 fighter jets to at least half a dozen US-allied countries interested in buying them.
Chinese production has caught up with the US
Meanwhile, while Russia may be unable to ramp up production of its Su-57 (perhaps fewer than 20 serial production models have been delivered), China is racing ahead with its J-20 Mighty Dragon program. According to The Diplomat, in June 2024, China has ramped up its J-20 production rate from 30 to 100 aircraft annually. It states that conservative estimates suggest the Chinese Air Force (PLAAF) could have more than 800 J-20s by 2030. China’s total fighter jet production rates are likely to be similar to the US now .
The Diplomat notes that 800 J-20s would outnumber the entire Indian Air Force fighter jet fleet. Additionally, the US Air Force only has around 183 of the 187 serial production F-22 Raptors in service (and the United States Air Force wants to retire 32 Block 4 F-22 Raptors as they were built for training and not combat).
Photo: US Air Force | DVIDS Hub
The J-20 is built to challenge the F-35 in the East Pacific. According to Professor Justin Bronks, the J-20 is not meant to be as good or better than the F-35 (it doesn’t need to be). It needs to be good enough that the clutter and confusion of any conflict in that area would make it a formidable opponent in that particular environment.