WASHINGTON — As F-35 Joint Strike Fighters move from station to station along the Lockheed Martin production line in Fort Worth, screens display information including the aircraft’s global sequence number. aircraft, the military base it is headed to and the country that ordered it.

These screens have a United Nations feel these days, showing the flags of the UK, Norway, Israel and others placing orders for 5th Gen stealth warplanes.

“There is tremendous interest from around the world,” said JR McDonald, vice president of F-35 business development at Lockheed Martin, in an interview. “And obviously the situation in Ukraine forces everyone to rethink the protection and security of their own country.”

Faced with upgrade challenges, cost overruns and budget constraints, the Pentagon has decided to at least temporarily reduce the number of F-35s in its annual budget, even as top brass stress that they are engaged in the aircraft as the foundation of the US fighter fleet of the future.

Unlike the American military’s pumping brakes, international demand has grown for advanced fighters.

Such overseas sales are unlikely to cause a massive hiring boom at the factory.

Past up and down cycles related to the ebb and flow of arms orders were not good for workforce retention and morale, so today the company has a retention strategy of a stable workforce at the Fort Worth site, around its current level of around 18,000.

Still, international business helps support jobs at the facility, which is both a top employer and an important economic engine in the metroplex.

Program Challenges

The F-35 represents the nation’s most expensive weapons system with a Government Accountability Office review earlier this year estimating the overall cost at more than $1.7 trillion – a sum that includes production costs, d operation and sustainment.

The GAO says those responsible for flying and maintaining the F-35 praise it as an impressive and capable machine when in the air, but the oversight agency and others have said little progress has been made. made in reducing costs and increasing reliability. from the plane.

A major modernization effort known as “Block 4” is facing rising costs and schedule delays, according to the GAO, which contributed to the Department of Defense’s decision to reduce its order number for this budget cycle.

The Air Force recently grounded its F-35s on what turned out to be a small number of suspicious ejection seats. Following inspections, however, the planes were cleared to fly again last week and they are not the only military aircraft to experience ejection seat problems in recent years.

As some members of Capitol Hill have sharpened their knives to prosecute the F-35 program, Texas lawmakers from both parties have come to its defense, including Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who is set to assume the powerful position of House Appropriations Speaker if Republicans regain a majority in the fall midterms.

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, also fought for the planes and said in an interview that the F-35 would be an important military asset for the future, although debates about it continue.

“The future of the F-35 and the jobs at the plant will be secure for a long time, but the delegation will have to work together and be able to make sure that money keeps flowing,” Veasey said. .

But Veasey also stressed the importance of overseas sales and cited Germany’s flip-flop on the plane in particular. It ordered 35 F-35s earlier this year after years of indicating it preferred alternative options.

The US military is still central to the F-35 program and is expected to purchase around 2,500 aircraft in total. Of the 837 aircraft delivered to date, two-thirds have gone to the United States

McDonald’s described the Pentagon’s decision to slow the pace of its purchases as unrelated to performance issues.

“It’s certainly not a question of capacity or need for their planes. I think they make budget decisions among major programs,” he said. “Fighters are indicating they want as many F-35s as fast as they can get them.”

He said the Air Force said it had to buy 72 fighters a year just to maintain the average age of the fleet.

Foreign buyers

Despite criticism from watchdogs and bickering on Capitol Hill over the F-35 program, other countries are lining up to buy the planes.

Eight partner nations contributed funding to the F-35 program from the outset: the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Canada.

The last of these partner nations to commit to the F-35 was Canada, which is currently finalizing the decision.

Non-partner countries are also embarking on the wake of the Russian invasion. Germany is perhaps the most notable, but the Czech Republic has also recently announced its intention to go with the F-35 and Greece is also moving in that direction.

The sales pitch to other nations begins with the aircraft’s status as the only true 5th generation multirole fighter available to the United States and its allies. Its stealthy qualities give it a unique ability to penetrate and knock out air defenses.

It also has advanced sensors that provide better situational awareness and allow it to function as a critical information center transmitting data to all allied forces in combat.

Talk of fighter jets tends to conjure up images of old-school goggles and scarves, one-on-one dogfights, or the hot dogging featured in movies like Top Gun.

But such acrobatic aerial duels are considered history, with modern fighter combat more like cyber warfare in the skies. With its advanced sensors and communications technology, the F-35 is designed to perform key tasks: detect enemy activity, relay information and detonate objects.

Another key selling point is interoperability.

People buy iPhones because everyone they know has one. It makes it easy to text between devices and comes in handy when it’s time to borrow a charger.

Switzerland should buy F-35s. Even though it is not a member of NATO, it will have planes that interact well with NATO forces when needed.

“They’ll train the same way, they’ll fight the same way and it’s instant cohesion with all these other countries,” McDonald said.

Other countries may also request specific modifications tailored to their needs. A prime example is Norway, which requested the installation of a braking parachute in its planes to better stop jets when they land on icy runways.

Affordability Contest

Numerous surveillance reports have painted the F-35 as an aircraft that could be very capable when in the skies, but is also temperamental, out of service too often with maintenance problems and burdened with operating costs. students.

McDonald touted progress on those costs and said the proof can be seen in the competitions the plane has won, including those led by Finland and Switzerland.

“The F-35 had kind of a bad reputation for being expensive to maintain,” McDonald said. “They assumed it was expensive because it was 5th gen and stealth and all that stuff.”

One of the reasons the US military has slowed its pace of purchasing is that it is waiting for these Block 4 upgrades and aircraft upgrades are expected to increase costs.

McDonald said pending technology upgrades should reassure buyers that the planes will be relevant in the future.

Even though talks continue about sending Western warplanes to Ukraine, there is virtually no chance of F-35s heading there. Providing them to Ukraine would be seen by Russia as an outright declaration of war and there would be too much danger of a downed F-35 falling into Russian hands, giving them a glimpse of its technology.

But Ukraine was a turning point for the number of countries seeing the F-35.

Russian fighters struggled to dominate the skies there, highlighting the benefits of the F-35’s advanced capabilities.

The threat of the conflict spreading across borders has also prompted countries, especially those in Europe, to increase military spending and ensure they have the latest and greatest technology in the sky.

“It made everyone sit up and say that security is important and investing in defense is important and the ability to secure our own sovereignty is important,” McDonald said.