F-35
upgrades slip to 2024, drawing lawmaker’s ire
By Stephen Losey
Mar 30,
06:39 PM
The
first F-35 upgraded with Technology Refresh 3 hardware and software
flies above the Mojave Desert in California, January 6, 2023, in its
first test flight from Edwards Air Force Base. (Air Force)
WASHINGTON
— The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will receive a slate of important
hardware and software upgrades known as Technology
Refresh 3 a
year later than originally expected, the three-star general in charge
of the program told lawmakers Wednesday.
Lt.
Gen. Michael Schmidt, the F-35′s program executive officer, said in
a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing March 30 that the Joint
Program Office now estimates TR-3 — which is intended to load
the F-35 with improved displays,
computer memory and processing power — will arrive in April 2024.
That
would be a year later than the original due date of this April for
TR-3, tactical air and land forces subcommittee chairman Rep. Rob
Wittman, R-Virginia, said.
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By Stephen Losey
The
“F-35 is currently planning to achieve full operational capability
status after the full TR-3 and Block 4 capabilities of the aircraft
are fielded in 2028 — 27 years after the program began,” Wittman
said. “That is by any measure unacceptable.”
Schmidt
said Lockheed Martin, the F-35′s primary manufacturer, believes TR3
will arrive this December, and he suggested the actual arrival of
TR-3 could fall in the “window” between those two dates.
The
F-35 needs the TR-3 improvements, which will allow the fighter to
store and process more data as well as run advanced software, before
it can receive a modernization known as Block 4, which will include
new sensors, the ability to carry more long-range precision weapons,
more powerful data fusion, increased interoperability with other
platforms and advanced electronic warfare capabilities.
Wittman
criticized the F-35 program for delays and for TR-3 running about
$700 million over budget, saying “the program has to do better.”
The
delayed delivery of TR-3 is starting to hit already-existing fighter
squadrons that are retiring older legacy fighters, Wittman said.
Those squadrons won’t receive F-35As with the capabilities they
need in time to avoid gaps in aircraft after their older aircraft are
retired.
“We
currently are paying for a great capability, but we’re currently
only getting a good capability fielded,” Wittman said, quoting an
unnamed Air Force official as saying.
Schmidt
acknowledged to lawmakers that “We are behind.”
Driving
up costs
The
hardware’s development lagged and initial production was slow,
Schmidt said, but the hardware has now matured to the point where it
is proving reliable and passing flight safety requirements.
Schmidt
said software integration also proved to be a challenge, and got off
to a late start.
The
Government Accountability Office in 2022 said that the
greater-than-expected complexity of TR-3 was driving up the costs of
the Block 4 modernization effort.
The
Air Force conducted the first test flight of an F-35 with some TR-3
capabilities at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Jan. 6, and
Schmidt said it has now flown 25 times.
The
next software drop will come in about a month, Schmidt said, and will
be a critical update that “unleashes most of the tactical
capabilities in there,” so the military can do more thorough flight
tests.
