Aviation defense company Lockheed Martin reported software delays will result in fewer deliveries of its F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, executives announced during its earnings call. The jets are assembled in Fort Worth.
The upgrade, known as TR-3, updates the jet’s core processing power and memory capacity accordingto a release when the upgraded F-35 took its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California last year. The Pentagon halted delivery of F-35sin July 2023 due to the software challenges.
The company’s CEO, Jim Taiclet, estimated Lockheed will deliver between 75 and 110 F-35s this year. That’s less than the estimated 97 jets it delivered in 2023 and lower than the company’s earlier estimate of up to 153 this year.
Taiclet said 90% of the software is in flight testing. The company aims to fully implement the software by the second quarter of the year, but is taking more time than expected, he said, and believes the third quarter of the year is more likely.
“We are taking the time and attention to get this technology insertion right the first time because it will be absolutely worth it,” Taiclet said.
Taiclet touted the F-35’s high international demand. The company unveiled the first jet it would deliver to Belgium during a December 2023 ceremony in Fort Worth. The country ordered 34 jets. South Korea has also ordered 20 more of the jets.
Greg Ulmer, Lockheed’s vice president of aeronautics, previously told the Fort Worth Report the software upgrade is a “very complex integration.”
“We have 15 different labs that are doing work right now across the enterprise,” Ulmer said in December. “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.”
Overall, Lockheed reported slightly less quarterly sales at the end of the year — $18.9 billioncompared to $19 billion in 2022’s fourth quarter.The company reported net sales of $67.6 billion compared to $66 billion in 2022, and earnings were $6.9 billion compared to $5.7 billion in 2022.
Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow @sbodine120 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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