LE BOURGET, France—Lockheed Martin says it has completed work on a long-delayed upgrade for the F-35, known at Technology Refresh 3, but the company is still awaiting formal approval from the government.
“What we have been working on throughout this process of getting TR-3 is to get the process stabilized to the point where it was consistently able to operate for the pilot. We believe we have reached that point,” J.R. McDonald, vice president of F-35 business development, told reporters Monday at the Paris Air Show.
There is one part of the upgrade that still needs approval from the government before it will be formally “combat capable,” McDonald said, but Lockheed believes “we’re very close to that.” Lockheed did not disclose what that remaining item is.
The software and hardware upgrade was originally supposed to be ready in April 2023, but challenges with software stability pushed the delivery of full TR-3 capability to 2025. The problems led the Pentagon to stop accepting new F-35s for a year, but officials ended that pause in July 2024.
Since then, the Pentagon has been accepting TR-3 jets with a “truncated” version of the TR-3 package, and has been withholding money from Lockheed until the full upgrade is complete.
“If you think about the airplanes coming off the line since last July, they’re all TR-3 hardware [and] software. It’s all there. Now what we’re doing is we’re implementing software updates relative to that capability. We believe, as J.R. mentioned, we’re there. It’s [up to] our customer to decide whether or not that capability is combat capable, and we’re working with our customer in that regard,” said Greg Ulmer, head of Lockheed aeronautics.
The new upgrade will be the backbone for Block 4 improvements: a suite of capabilities including a new processor, sensors, and weapons. But the exact plan for Block 4 is now in flux, since upgrade delays and cost overruns have forced the F-35 Joint Program Office to “reimagine” the program and figure out the “must-have” capabilities that industry will actually be able to deliver.
JPO did not comment in time for publication.
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