The F-35 program originally aimed to have Block 4’s 66 capabilities — which later swelled by more than a dozen — completed by 2026, but that deadline first slipped to 2029 and then further. A 2024 Defense Department review found the program was not on pace to start delivering the bulk of Block 4 upgrades until the mid-2030s, partly due to technical challenges, according to GAO. Program officials then decided to focus on Block 4 capabilities that could be delivered by 2031 at the earliest — still at least six years behind schedule — and that wouldn’t require the additional power and cooling capacity of a planned engine upgrade. Block 4 is still on track to deliver improved electronic warfare, weapons, communication and navigation capabilities, GAO said, but a more detailed list was not available to auditors. Some capabilities, including those that depend on the improved engine, will be delayed, and others struck entirely because they are no longer needed, the report said. GAO said program officials acknowledged the new plan for Block 4 doesn’t meet its original intent, but that the revised version could be realistically achieved within new cost, schedule and performance goals, and allow capabilities to be delivered at a more predictable pace.

A 2021 estimate also found Block 4 costs had grown from the original $10.6 billion to $16.5 billion; an updated estimate won’t be ready until the end of 2025. In a statement to Defense News, Lockheed Martin stood by its work on the F-35 and pledged to keep moving forward on Block 4. “The F-35 is combat proven, offers the most advanced capability and technology, and is the most affordable option to ensure America and its allies remain ahead of emerging threats,” Lockheed Martin said. “In partnership with the F-35 Joint Program Office, we will deliver 170 [to] 190 F-35s this year and continue fielding Block 4 capabilities to ensure the F-35 maintains its unmatched dominance in the skies.” The GAO report also raised other concerns about the F-35 program, including rising costs and ongoing production delays. The F-35’s acquisition costs — which include development and procurement — have grown to more than $485 billion, as of December 2023. That’s a nearly 10% increase from the December 2022 estimate of $442 billion, and more than double its original baseline cost from 2001. Those costs are also $89.5 billion more than the rebaselining that was done in 2012. The F-35’s lifetime cost, including sustainment costs, is more than $2 trillion.

The F-35’s engine will also have to work harder to produce the level of power and cooling capacity the jet’s Block 4 upgrades will require, GAO said. This will result in more wear and tear on the engine, accounting for $38 billion of the program’s lifecycle cost estimate growth.

The F-35 continues to be the Gamer™ plane - after introducing early access, they're now also going to be overclocking the planes past what their parts were originally intended for.

Lockheed is also still behind schedule on the TR-3 hardware and software that will make Block 4 possible. The company now expects to begin delivering those TR-3 elements in 2026, about three years after its original goal. Those delays were caused by problems maturing its integrated core processor and stabilizing its software so that TR-3 reliably starts up. The TR-3 delays in 2023 led to the Pentagon ordering a halt, which ultimately lasted a year, to F-35 deliveries. Lockheed ended up storing dozens of new jets, which were slated to have TR-3, at locations such as its Fort Worth, Texas, facility as it scrambled to get TR-3 working.

ah, so we're upgrading the planes before the previous upgrade was done, and that got delayed too!

Ultimately, Lockheed managed to get an interim version of the software working well enough for the Pentagon to begin accepting the jets, even though they were unable to fly in combat. This was done in part to avoid the risk of having more than 100 high-value F-35s parked together. However, the TR-3 problem has worsened Lockheed’s years-long issue with delivery delays. In 2024, all 110 F-35s the company delivered were delivered late, with an average delay of 238 days behind schedule. That is far below where the company was in 2021, when it delivered 22 of its 142 aircraft late, with an average delay of 16 days behind schedule. As of May, Lockheed was still working to deliver 20 remaining aircraft that were meant to be delivered in 2024. Parts shortages have also contributed to F-35 delays, GAO said. This February, program officials said, Lockheed had 52 in-the-works jets that had to be taken off the production line and temporarily stored because necessary parts were so late. That month, there were more than 4,000 parts shortages in the final stage of the production line, twice the historic average, according to the Defense Contract Management Agency. More than 1,600 of those parts are required for TR-3 hardware, the report said. And the flap on the front of the F-35’s wings is one of the main parts driving production delays over the last two years, GAO said.

well, I'm sure with the Trump tariffs all those shortages are only going to get better!

DCMA officials told auditors that Lockheed has plans it hopes will fix the parts shortages, such as working with suppliers to more quickly identify risks to the supply chain. However, even with those plans, GAO said, parts delays and shortages will continue to delay deliveries through the rest of 2025. GAO also noted that even when Lockheed delivers aircraft up to 60 days late, it still is able to receive partial incentive fees, which can total hundreds of millions of dollars. Auditors advised the Pentagon to rethink its use of those fees to avoid rewarding late deliveries. RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney also failed to deliver any of the jet’s F-35 engines on time in 2023 and 2024, the report said. And last year, GAO said, those engines were 155 days late on average. DCMA has repeatedly urged Pratt to speed up its engine deliveries, so far without success, GAO said. However, those engine delays haven’t affected aircraft production, auditors said. The F-35 Joint Program Office and Pratt & Whitney did not respond to requests for comment by the time of this story’s publication.

I love how when you're an American MIC company you can just charge the government exorbitant prices, fail to actually deliver anything on time, and just keep getting away with it!

Space Force Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, Cyber, and Nuclear, talked at length about current plans for space-based air and ground moving-target indicator (AMTI/GMTI) capabilities during an online talk the Air & Space Forces Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosted today. Burt said a formal “analysis of alternatives,” or AoA, to help inform the Space Force’s path forward on space-based AMTI capabilities is due to be wrapped up this fall. AMTI coverage in the U.S. military today is primarily provided by an increasingly geriatric fleet of U.S. Air Force Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, as well as various ground-based radars. The latter of these assets are largely tasked to support the strategic homeland defense mission rather than tactical operations. GMTI capacity has also been steadily migrating off aircraft and toward space, notably with the retirement of the Air Force’s E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTAR) aircraft.

“I think the important part here is the [space-based AMTI] alternative analysis of alternatives that will be delivered this fall… are [sic] going to be very telling. As I said earlier, we believe it’s multiple phenomenologies,” Burt explained. “There’s no one silver bullet of a phenomenology that’s going to do this. It’s going to require a variety of phenomenology.” Burt was responding to a question about how some $2.2 billion in additional money for AMTI capabilities in orbit that Congress included in a recent reconciliation funding bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, could help accelerate those developments.

what the fuck is she even talking about, multiple phenomenologies?! I don't even understand what one phenomenology would entail here! I guess maybe this is phenomenology in the sense it's used in physics rather than philosophy, but I'm still confused

“So we’re testing out those. Some of that additional funding was really about how to do the RDT&E [research, development, test, and evaluation] of these various capabilities and how to flesh them out and see how they would operate,” she continued. “And then how would [we] put them together as a constellation, and supporting [them], and the data being provided machine-to-machine to compare different phenomenologies, to be able to say, ‘okay, that is an air moving target.’ And how would I then pass it to a combat controller working with aircraft or directly to the cockpit as needed.”

STOP SAYING PHENOMENOLOGY

Burt declined to say whether or not she believed it would be possible to field an operational space-based AMTI capability, even on a limited level, within two years. Space Force officials have said in the past that they see new satellite constellations capable of persistently providing AMTI and GMTI coverage as coming online in the 2030s. “We’re really focused, right now, from an operator perspective, … on the ground moving target indicators,” Burt stressed. “So, GMTI, working very closely with the NRO [the National Reconnaissance Office] and NGA [the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]. We are working together in the Joint Mission Management Center, the JMMC out at Springfield[, Virginia], working with NGA, and really building off their expertise in looking at moving targets and how do you pull multiple intelligence capabilities together to execute that.” ... “We have designated Delta 7 as the lead Delta to help us deliver ground moving target indicator [capabilities],” she continued. “We have a small detachment of Delta 7 operators that are sitting today at Springfield, working side by side with NGA on how do we get after the tactics, techniques, and procedures, how would we do this.”

I love that when I looked up Delta 7 the first thing popped up was the starfighter from Star Wars (one of the coolest designs from the prequels tbh)

...

Burt also said Space Force views artificial intelligence and machine learning as critical to helping process the huge amount of data the new GMTI sensors in orbit are expected to collect. “How do I quickly machine-to-machine go from sensing a moving target to getting it to a shooter on the other end, and the timelines they need to be able to action it before it’s a fleeting target and gone,” she said. “Those are all going to have to be machine-driven. They’re going to have to be automated. That’s going to have to be – we’re talking, in a matter of sub minutes, to make that happen.” Burt noted that work on space-based GMTI capabilities is itself drawing on technology developed for monitoring satellites in space when it comes to automation. ... “With space domain awareness, we have both our own dedicated sensors that do space domain awareness, you have contributing sensors, you have commercial now, a very robust commercial sensing capability for space domain awareness – how do you harness and put all of that together?” she explained. “The machine will, much faster with artificial intelligence, tell me a pattern of life of a satellite, and then very quickly notice, based on the data coming in, ‘hey, it’s doing something different,’ and highlight that to an operator to very quickly address is that nefarious, or is there an anomaly, or what’s going on.”

As TWZ has noted in the past, functional space-based GMTI and/or AMTI sensor networks have the potential to provide game-changing capabilities. Satellites offer advantages in terms of persistence and global reach compared to traditional air and ground-based platforms tasked with these missions. Historically, space-based assets have also been more survivable, though threats to assets in orbit are only growing by the day. The U.S. military is now investigating heavily in distributed constellations made up of larger numbers of smaller satellites to make them more resilient in the face of losses of individual nodes. These constellations are also expected to offer even greater persistence compared to traditional satellites in low Earth orbit, with the potential to monitor huge parts of the planet continuously. At the same time, Burt’s comments today highlight significant technical challenges still to be surmounted, especially when it comes to fielding useful space-based AMTI capabilities. Space Force officials have previously indicated that they continue to see a role for traditional aerial and ground-based assets, at least for some amount of time, even as capabilities in orbit start to become operational.

“The closer I can come to the target, the more resolution I get on the target,” Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, then Vice Chief of Space Operations, said last year. “As I move to space, it becomes harder and harder to get that same level of resolution on a target that may be required.” Guetlein was recently made head of the top office at the Pentagon in charge of the Golden Dome air and missile defense initiative. Golden Dome would benefit heavily from any future AMTI satellite constellation. All of this continues to raise questions about plans to modernize the Air Force’s current airborne early warning and control capabilities. In 2022, the service decided to replace a portion of the aging and increasingly unsupportable E-3s with E-7A Wedgetail aircraft. This June, the Pentagon revealed its intention to cancel the E-7 program and acquire a number of additional E-2D Hawkeyes to help fill the gap in the interim. However, the ultimate plan has been and remains to push more and more of the airborne early warning sensor layer into orbit.

“I have been concerned. We have E-3 capability up north, of course, but we were all counting on the E-7 Wedgetail coming our way. We’re kind of limping along up north right now, which is unfortunate. And the budget proposes terminating the program,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, had warned at a hearing in June where the E-7 cancellation plan was first confirmed. “The E-3 fleet [is] barely operational now, and I understand the intent to shift towards the space-based – you call it the ‘air moving target indicators’ – but my concern is that you’ve got a situation where you’re not going to be able to use more duct tape to hold things together until you put this system in place. And, so, how we maintain that level of operational readiness and coverage, I’m not sure how you make it.”

...

Burt’s comments today ... indicate that moving beyond traditional airborne early warning and control aircraft, in general, or even significantly reducing that capability, remains a high-risk proposition at present. ... AMTI and GMTI, in general, are capabilities that are already in high demand now, and gaps will need to be plugged until the planned new satellite constellations prove their worth.

A fuel venting issue has emerged in some of the U.S. Air Force’s new F-15EX Eagle II fighters, which has reportedly left them sidelined. The root cause remains under investigation, but manufacturer Boeing is already testing multiple potential fixes. Aviation Week was first to report on the F-15EX fuel venting troubles in a larger story published last Friday about the Air Force’s progress in fielding the jets. As of May, Boeing had delivered nine Eagle IIs out of what is now a planned fleet of 129 of the aircraft.

“Fuel venting occurs when fuel overflows from the tanks inside the aircraft and, by design, then flows overboard through special ports near the tips of the wings on the F-15,” a Boeing spokesperson told TWZ today. “It occurs occasionally on various aircraft, including all F-15 models.” “Some F-15EX aircraft have vented fuel at a higher-than-expected rate, which has a joint USAF and Boeing team investigating the root cause,” they continued. “We have several potential solutions we are testing, including new factory work instructions requiring verification of proper torque on connectors to ensure that’s not a factor, and the team is investigating if we may have a batch of valves showing problems.” TWZ has also reached out to the Air Force for more information.

Well, guess the production line already existing didn't help much, huh. Deindustrialization comes for us all in the end

As noted, aircraft, in general, are equipped with vents for their fuel tanks. In addition to providing a way for fuel to escape if the tanks are overfilled or overpressured, they also allow air in to maintain pressure. Fluctuations in pressure will occur as the fuel in a plane’s tanks expands and contracts due to changes in pressure and/or temperature in the air, including during rapid maneuvers, especially when inverted or on the ground. In flight, fuel venting may look like wing vortices or smoke. Problems with the vents can potentially lead to more serious issues. The fuel venting issues with the F-15EXs have been significant enough to keep some of them “on the ground,” at least temporarily, according to Aviation Week‘s Brian Everstine. How many of the Eagle IIs delivered to date are impacted is unclear. It is also not clear why this has only emerged now, as the basic EX airframe has been flying for years.

It’s also unknown how a strike by approximately 3,200 machinists within Boeing’s defense business unit, which just began on Monday [the article is from August 5th, so it's been a month now], may impact work to resolve the F-15EX fuel venting issue.

See, this is the kind of shit workers in the imperial core could be doing, Now, obviously these workers aren't doing it out of commitment to the anti-imperialist cause or anything, but just pure self-interest on the part of American workers, in a thoroughly neoliberalized economy where the ghouls at the top are looking to squeeze out every last cent of profit, could grind the war machine to a near halt. Especially now with all the munitions and equipment that have been expended in Ukraine and Israel - this stuff is going to need to be replaced, but that process could be significantly slowed down by stuff like this. Of course, with unions devastated and no meaningfully organized left to drive action like this...

“We’ll manage through this. I wouldn’t worry too much about the implications of the strike. We’ll manage our way through that,” Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s CEO, said during an earnings call last week when asked about the potential implications of a strike.

yeah dude, no worries about your workers walking out right as you need to fix a glaring issue with your product! surely bringing in scabs is totally not going to exacerbate any potential quality control problems that may have led to this in the first place!

Though the F-15EX fuel venting issue appears to be relatively limited at present, it does come at a time when Boeing is just starting to rebound after years of serious upheaval and problems on both the commercial and defense sides of its business. This includes technical and quality control issues that have caused delays and cost growth across a number of major programs for the U.S. military, including the future VC-25B Air Force One jets, T-7A Red Hawk jet trainers, and KC-46 tankers. Boeing did notably win the Air Force’s sixth-generation stealth fighter earlier this year with what is now designated the F-47.

From all indications, the F-15EX has otherwise been a model program, at least on the testing and evaluation front, helped in part by the well-established underlying design. The Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing has been leading the way in fielding the F-15EX operationally within the Air Force, as you can read about more in this past TWZ feature. The California, Louisiana, and Michigan Air National Guards are also in line to get a squadron each of Eagle IIs. The F-15EXs will also be assigned to two active-duty squadrons forward deployed at Kadena Air Base in Japan. The Eagle II test jets just made their first-ever trip to the Pacific in July as part of the Resolute Force Pacific 2025 large-scale exercise. Boeing has also been securing export sales, and otherwise seeing interest, in further F-15 variants that build off of the EX configuration. In the meantime, Boeing is now testing multiple options to at least mitigate the excessive fuel venting some F-15EXs are experiencing.

The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and president of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, today praised the unusual nature of the ties established with Vietnam over the last 65 years.

“Vietnam and Cuba have forged such an exceptional relationship that it has stood the test of time and become a benchmark for friendship and cooperation, particularly in times of enormous challenges to peace,” he said at a ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Díaz-Canel pointed out that this unique bond transcends formalities and protocols because it is rooted in and reinforced by deep traditions and identities forged in the days when the Cuban Solidarity Committee constantly denounced the crimes of imperialism in Vietnam.

That brotherhood, he added, became even more heartfelt when the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, assured a huge crowd that we were willing to give even our own blood for Vietnam.

The Cuban head of state assured that today these ties are being consolidated in all areas: political parties, parliament, defense and security, the judiciary, workers' organizations, women's organizations, young communists, and solidarity.

He emphasized that political dialogue at the highest level is systematic and characterized by frankness, mutual trust, broad agreement on approaches to the international agenda, and a permanent willingness to exchange experiences on the processes of renewal in Vietnam and the updating of the economic and social model in Cuba.

He highlighted the historic visit of To Lam to Havana in 2024 as a decisive event for bilateral ties, which confirmed their close nature and outlined new economic and cooperation projects in strategic sectors for Cuba, with a new focus on sustainability and shared benefits.

He recalled that Vietnam is currently the leading Asian investor in Cuba, with projects linked to food production, basic necessities, biotechnology, and renewable energy.

“Cuba reaffirms its willingness to promote an increasingly attractive environment for Vietnamese entrepreneurs, based on the facilities and incentives approved by the Cuban government,” he said.

He also highly valued Vietnam's unwavering support in the fight against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States and the unjust and unacceptable inclusion of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Díaz-Canel also reiterated his gratitude to Vietnam “for its invaluable support for Cuba's food security.” In this regard, he noted that the special sensitivity shown by the Vietnamese Party and government in creating trade facilities to guarantee rice supplies to the Cuban people, amid the complex situation we face, “confirms the strength and depth of our friendship.”

Prior to the start of the ceremony, Díaz-Canel and his Vietnamese counterpart, Luong Cuong, toured an exhibition of 65 photographs selected from the archives of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) that reflect the close and fraternal relationship that has existed for more than six decades between the parties and peoples of both countries.