A crowd of Belgian and Fort Worth officials heard the sound of thunder and saw flashes of lights that mimicked lightning before the curtains unveiled the first F-35 Lightning II that Lockheed Martin presented to the Belgian Air Force. Belgium is buying 34 of the jets.
The rollout ceremony for Lockheed and Belgian officials signifies the continuation of a partnership that aids the country’s defense. Belgian forces have been waiting for the jets since 2016 after a competitive bidding process. The F-35 is popular with other countries, and more than a dozen fly the aircraft. The Czech Republic announced it would buy 24 jets in September.
Meanwhile, Lockheed and the F-35 Joint Program are navigatingdelayed deliveries of planeswith updated software, a lawsuit with one of its contractors providing material to build the jets,andhow to mend the jet’s maintenance and repair problems.
In a speech, Belgium’s prime minister Alexander De Croo spoke of the role the F-35 will have in the country and region’s defense.
“It has become quite clear that we are very determined to protect — to protect our population, to protect our values, but also to protect our friends who will be threatened in the values that are shared with us,” De Croo said during the speech.
De Croo said Belgium will defend its country and Allies, and the F-35s will help. The need for a F-35 stemmed from before the war in Ukraine, he said. The country has been using F-15s since the late 1970s, he said, and there is a need for updated technology. Although the country plays a small part in the region’s defense, De Croo said it will play its role.
“The war in Ukraine, I have to say, really opened our eyes to the fact that we are under pressure on the European continent,” De Croo said. “I think it has driven all of us really together. I think the unity in NATO is much, much stronger than anyone would have imagined.”
Belgian companies also play a part in building the F-35. Lockheed builds the F-35 in Fort Worth and relies on more than 1,000 subcontractors across the country. The rollout ceremony highlighted businesses such as Belgian-based Ilias Solutions, which builds a fleet management system for the F-35.
Belgium joined the U.S. innot accepting new deliveries of the F-35 in August, awaiting testing of a software update. In September, Lockheed Martin announced more delays to delivery of the upgraded TR-3 jets.
Greg Ulmer, Lockheed’s vice president of aeronautics, said the upgrade will bring a new core processor and panoramic cockpit display to the aircraft.
He said it’s a “very complex integration” and the company is slightly behind on its delivery plan, but won’t affect the company’s production of the plane. The new processor is 25 times more powerful than the previous one and requires extensive testing, he said.
“We have 15 different labs that are doing work right now across the enterprise,” Ulmer said. “We test thousands of test points, and then we get on the flight test. All of that is ongoing as I speak, and we’re very focused to get that functioning appropriately.”
Ulmer said Lockheed Martin is at its capacity for making the F-35s — the company can make 156 planes a year. There could be a higher demand for the aircraft, though, which would require investment and capital to grow the company’s capability of producing more, but Lockheed would approach expanding with caution.
“We don’t want to necessarily produce above 156 for a very short time horizon,” Ulmer said. “That wouldn’t be efficient and wouldn’t be cost effective. So we just have to be very careful with that approach.”
On top of updating software and balancing demand with capacity to build, the F-35 Joint Program is trying to figure out how to repair and sustain the fleet. A recent Government Accountability Officereport showed 55% of the F-35 fleet were able to fly.
Expanding the F-35’s “mission capable” rate is a focus point for Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt, program executive officer, F-35 Joint Program Office. He calls it the “war on readiness” and wants to boost the program’s supply and maintenance rates, and he says he’s seen progress.
“We are going squadron by squadron, country by country, to make sure we’re sharing the best maintenance practices all around the world, really,” Schmidt said. “And that has shown a lot of benefit.”
Christopher Lowman, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, said the Department of Defense is making investments to repair depots to boost the availability of spare parts necessary to repair the jets.
The Belgian Air Force will train to fly the F-35s at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow on Twitter @sbodine120.
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