Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) standard avionics for the F-35 fifth generation fighter have been confirmed to be further delayed, with the upgrade package already a year overdue after it was initially scheduled to be ready by April 2023. The Pentagon has notably refused to accept delivery of F-35s without the enhancements, which has significantly slowed the fighter class’ service entry. Causes of delays have included wide ranging software problems, difficulties integrating new software with the aircraft’s new hardware, and significant delays to production of key new components needed to produce F-35s at the enhanced standard. Following years of vocal frustrations criticising delays to software upgrades by lawmakers, Representative Donald Norcross stated in mid-April at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on tactical air and land forces: “We have been in this meeting, coming back year after year talking about this, and each year we’re kicking the can down the road. It’s always something new. You need to understand the frustration.”
Lockheed Martin has sought to limit the fallout from delays by delivering a truncated version of the F-35 with TR-3 upgrades only partially applied, with these expected to begin deliveries in August-September. Delays to upgrades have been among the leading concerns raised by a range of clients, from the Belgian Air Force which rejected fighters delivered in August 2023 due to lack of modernised software, to the U.S. Marine Corps which has made increasingly vocal protests. Chief Executive at Lockheed Martin Jim Taiclet confirmed that the firm will only deliver between 75 and 110 F-35s in 2024, placing deliveries at just 50-73 percent of the approximately 150 aircraft previously expected. Following prior production cuts in 2023, further cuts to production numbers make 2024 potentially the first year that the Chinese J-20 fifth generation fighter will overtake the F-35 as the most produced fighter in the world. Elaborating on the delays hindering efforts to upgrade the F-35 to the TR-3 standard, Taiclet explained the issue as follows: “What we’ve run into on TR-3 is, the level of complexity and executing a [capability] increase that’s pretty dramatic. We are wringing out all of the software through all of the new hardware, and integrating into all of the aircraft’s other systems, and that’s taken longer than our team predicted.” “We’d like to be able to do it sooner, but this is the schedule we’re on,” he added.