Upgraded Lightnings Won’t Be In USAF Hands This Year After All

Lockheed Martin says that the expected, upgraded F-35 Lightning II’s slated for delivery this year will have to be delayed until 2024, pushing back the introduction of the Tech Refresh 3 (TR-3) package. The change cuts into the expected F-35 fleet quite a bit, with 97 TR-2 aircraft on tap for delivery this year, about 20 fewer than they had planned. Overall, the TR-3 software development process is, in typical F-35 fashion, delayed. Earlier admissions of prolonged development had already pushed 2023 deliveries from 147 to 153 aircraft down to 100 to 120. Lockheed has targeted a rate of about 156 annual deliveries as a goal, now promising that it will be achieved in 202