F-35 finally approved for full-rate production, years late

The Pentagon has officially approved the F-35 fighter jet for full-rate production, years after the planemaker began delivering the aircraft. 

Typically, reaching full-rate production is an important milestone for the Pentagon’s weapons systems. But for the F-35 program, it’s more of a technicality: Lockheed Martin has been building F-35s at maximum capacity—156 jets per year—and has delivered nearly a thousand to customers.

“This is a major achievement for the F-35 program. This decision—backed by my colleagues in the department—highlights to the services, F-35 cooperative program partners, and Foreign Military Sales customers that the F-35 is stable and agile, and that all statutory and regulatory requirements have been appropriately addressed. The F-35 program is the premier system that drives interoperability with our allies and partners while contributing to the integrated deterrence component of our National Defense Strategy,” Bill LaPlante, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said in a Pentagon release.

LaPlante approved the milestone Tuesday after meeting with the Defense Acquisition Board, according to the release. 

The milestone, which means operational testing is complete, was held up because of delays with integrating the F-35 with the Joint Simulation Environment. The F-35 had to successfully complete 64 “runs for score”—or combat scenarios in the JSE. The Pentagon once envisioned moving to full-rate production in 2019, but the tests were delayed by technical problems with the simulator and the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the program completed the virtual combat tests in September, paving the way for the move to full-rate production. 

“With this milestone, the program is now well positioned to efficiently produce and deliver the next generation of aircraft to meet the evolving needs of our services, partners, and FMS customers,” the department statement said. 

Meanwhile, the Pentagon continues to refuse delivery of new F-35s until Lockheed finishes testing technology for the jet’s latest upgrade, called Technology Refresh-3. Lockheed recently announced another delay for the new tech package in its latest earnings call, and now forecasts TR-3 will be ready in the third quarter of 2024.