In a major milestone for the Joint Strike Fighter program, the F-35 stealth fighter has finally been cleared for full-rate production, nearly 17 years after its first flight and 23 years after Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract. The decision, known as Milestone C, was signed by William LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, on March 14, 2023.
"This is a major achievement for the F-35 program," LaPlante said in a statement. "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 full-rate production decision comes more than four years later than initially planned, primarily due to delays in the Joint Simulation Environment tests. These tests, which were designed to put all three versions of the aircraft through realistic and complex scenarios, were finally completed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland on September 21, 2022.
Despite the milestone, concerns remain within the Pentagon regarding the F-35's manufacturing process, performance, reliability, and sustainment and support systems. Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt, the F-35 program executive officer, acknowledged these issues, stating, "The F-35 enterprise has made significant improvements over the last decade, and we will always be driven to continuously improve sustainability, interoperability, and lethality so warfighters have the capability needed to fight and win when called to do so."
The milestone is also overshadowed by ongoing delays in the development and testing of the Tech Refresh-3 (TR-3) hardware configuration, which underpins the F-35's future Block 4 capabilities. As a result, completed F-35s are being parked as soon as they come off the production line until they receive these new features.
Block 4 promises to bring significant capability enhancements to the F-35, including expanded processing power, new displays, enhanced cooling, new sensors, and additional weapons. The head of Air Combat Command has even stated that the electronic warfare aspect is the biggest advantage associated with Block 4.
Despite the challenges, global demand for the F-35 continues to grow, driven by recent geopolitical events and emerging threats. This has led to a spike in customers for the Joint Strike Fighter, including some that would have been considered unlikely candidates just a couple of years ago.
