The world’s most advanced combat aircraft, the F-35 Lightning II, is handicapped by strong delay concerns this time over issues in the TR-3 software update.
The much-needed update meant to further enhance the jet and bring aboard more state-of-the-art weapons systems has been behind schedule and for technologies and manpower available. This effect, sows across global air forces.
Lockheed Martin, which built the F-35 on the strength of TR-3 software, is now forced to stock 100-plus completed aircraft because of the TR-3 delays. Also, theoretically grounded is the main Block 4 upgrade based on the TR-3 as its nucleus.
The delays are not only a logistical nightmare but a strategic headache, affecting operational air force readiness around the world and in Denmark and the United States.
For instance, the Royal Danish Air Force has had to recall six F-35s based in the United States to Denmark to maintain pilot training and operational readiness. The Danish Ministry of Defense says that the country made this decision to “increase the level of training in pilots and support personnel at Fighter Wing Skrydstrup.”
The aircraft was originally planned to be brought back with the update TR-3. However, the delay in the upgrade forced them to come up with a different plan.
Lockheed Martin said it will deliver this summer a capped version of the TR-3 software, which is permissible for training only. Still, that is not a cure-all. Denmark has bought some thirty F-35A fighter jets. It would get its full complement in 2027. The delays may upset that timeline.
The US military has also resumed accepting deliveries of the F-35s with a partial version of the TR-3 software. The first two jets with that partial upgrade arrived at the Air National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing in Alabama and Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
These jets will not be ready for full combat until 2025 said Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt, the program executive officer for the F-35.
Air Comd. James Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said TR-3 issues are not by any means behind them. While the current software is “good enough” to train with, he believes more needs to be done to reach full operational capability.
Delays already have an impact on basing F-35s in Europe. Less than a dozen jets planned for RAF Lakenheath are being delayed.
It is integral to the larger Block 4 upgrade of the F-35 – its carrying capacity for weapons and target identification, and its electronic warfare capabilities. The Government Accountability Office reports that Block 4 isn’t due to be completed until 2029, at which point it is estimated to have totaled a $16.5 billion price tag.
Lockheed Martin and its partners, who include Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and Pratt & Whitney, have minimized the hurdles to the development process as they find a way to conclude the interim TR-3 software. Delays, however, have made the U.S. Air Force lower its purchase plan for F-35A in 2025 from 48 jets to 42.
The F-35 program, with its hiccups, is a centerpiece of modern air combat. Well, over 990 jets have been delivered and over 1,000 made, with nearly 800,000 hours of flight logged.
Eighteen countries are part of the program. No less than 2,300 pilots and 15,500 maintainers have been trained. Software problems are endemic, a reminder that complexity and trouble are hell-bent companions of technological advances in warfare.