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鈥檚 core processing power and memory capacity according when the upgraded F-35 took its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California last year. The Pentagon halted delivery of F-35s
The company鈥檚 CEO, Jim Taiclet, estimated Lockheed will deliver between 75 and 110 F-35s this year. That鈥檚 less than the and lower than the company鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e are taking the time and attention to get this technology insertion right the first time because it will be absolutely worth it,鈥� Taiclet said.
Taiclet touted the F-35鈥檚 high international demand. The company unveiled the first jet it would deliver to Belgium during . The country ordered 34 jets. South Korea has also ordered 20 more of the jets.
Greg Ulmer, Lockheed鈥檚 vice president of aeronautics, previously told the Fort Worth Report the software upgrade is a 鈥渧ery complex integration.鈥�
鈥淲e have 15 different labs that are doing work right now across the enterprise,鈥� Ulmer said in December. 鈥淲e test thousands of test points, and then we get on the flight test. All of that is ongoing as I speak, and we鈥檙e very focused to get that functioning appropriately.鈥�
Overall, Lockheed reported slightly less quarterly sales at the end of the year 鈥� $18.9 billionThe 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 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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