Lockheed Martin has announced that it will deliver fewer F-35 fifth-gen fighter jets in 2022 than previously planned, and has blamed Covid for the delays.
In a press release put out on Monday, the company said it and the Pentagon had agreed to a “production rebaseline,” dropping expected output from 158-163 planes, as contractually obligated, to 151-153 F-35s, in 2022. The company plans to build 156 planes in 2023 and into “the foreseeable future” after that as it recovers from “the aircraft shortfall realized over the last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Lockheed expects to build between 133 and 139 F-35s in the current year.
The release stressed that “actual results” on the number of planes delivered “may differ materially” due to an exhaustive list of excuses, such as: “the impact of COVID-19 on the company’s business, including potential supply chain disruptions, facility closures, work stoppages, programme delays, payment policies and regulations, and the company’s ability to recover its costs under contracts; budget uncertainty, the risk of future budget cuts, the debt ceiling, and the potential for government shutdowns and changing funding and acquisition priorities; risks related to the development, production, sustainment, performance, schedule, cost, and requirements of the F-35 programme; planned production rates and orders; compliance with stringent performance and reliability standards; materials availability; performance and financial viability of key suppliers, teammates, joint ventures and partners, subcontractors and customers; trade policies or sanctions; and changes in foreign national priorities and foreign government budgets and planned orders.”
The Pentagon is expected to make a determination on plans to expand its acquisition of F-35s following a month-long exercise to tests the jets’ performance against advanced aircraft and air defences fielded by near-peer competitors such as Russia and China. The tests were originally supposed to take place last December but have been pushed backed repeatedly.
The “production rebaseline” falls short of the 158 F-35s expected by the Government Accountability Office in a July report, with the GAO indicating that “almost all of the aircraft delivered so far in 2021 have been late,” and admitting that it didn’t expect the company to live up to its obligations on deliveries.
The F-35 programme has run into controversy over its gargantuan price tag and a never-ending stream of cost overruns and delays associated with the project. Earlier this year, a report by the Pentagon’s Operational Test and Evaluation Office found that the jet aircraft still had 10 major defects and 861 other hardware and software-related issues – with some of the problems affecting aircraft or pilot safety or threatening to “degrade mission effectiveness.”
Lockheed has produced roughly 650 F-35s to date, with the jets operating across 26 bases around the world. In addition to the United States, the jets have been purchased by Australia, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates have also signed contracts to buy the aircraft. Turkey – one of the original partners on the F-35 programme – was booted out and barred from buying the aircraft in 2019 after purchasing a Russian-made air defence system.