Platforms & Systems

The United Kingdom confirmed it will acquire at least twelve F-35A Lightning II fighters, adding a land-based nuclear mission to the Royal Air Force for the first time since 1998. Defense officials confirm the jets will form part of NATO’s Dual-Capable Aircraft program, which keeps U.S.-owned B61-12 bombs under shared control.

Slovakia has reached the point of decision after more than a decade of debate over its MiG-29 replacement. Formal offers now sit on the defence minister’s desk from two camps: Lockheed Martin with the F-16V Block 70/72 and Sweden’s Saab with the Gripen C/D. The ministry aims to brief the cabinet by 29 June and secure approval before Parliament rises for its summer recess.

Foreign air forces that bought the F-35A woke up this week to a blunt statement from Major Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the U.S. Air Force officer who runs the program. He told Reuters on April 7 that engineers had started scoping a new radar, fresh avionics, and even a more efficient engine because present hardware “cannot keep pace with rapid technology advances by potential adversaries”. The jet is still a year from initial combat status, yet its core systems already trail the threat curve.

Early F-135 advocates promised a smooth learning curve. They said each production lot would cost less than the one before. Fresh data show the opposite. Unit prices still hover near $30 million, even though annual output has more than doubled since 2011. 

The Defense-Aerospace editorial team has confirmed that Lockheed Martin is pressing ahead with the Hybrid Base Station upgrade for its Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod. The move clears a long-standing barrier that limited how much targeting and sensor data an F-35 could pass to other platforms. It also marks a rare case in which a proven external pod, rather than an aircraft’s internal avionics, becomes the core of a wider data-sharing network.

The Pentagon just raised the F-35 bill again. Numbers inside its fresh acquisition report point to $438 billion for development plus production. Last year they put the figure at $412 billion. Now planners must live with extra $26 billion—they said inflation and stretched schedules forced the jump.