Revealed: Real reason why powerful fighter jet F-35B failed to take off from Kerala, big weakness exposed, bad news for US due to…
New Delhi: An F-35B fighter jet of the British Royal Navy at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is stranded there for more than a month now. The reason is that due to lack of fuel, after an emergency landing, this ultramodern fighter plane got damaged in such a way that the world’s top aviation engineers could not fix it.
Which company makes F-35B fighter jets?
This stealth fighter jet has been made by the world’s largest defense company Lockheed Martin, which is also the largest defense supplier of the US government. Now a report has revealed that such technical problems are not being faced only with the F-35B fighter plane that landed in Kerala. The Donald Trump administration of America is also facing major difficulties due to software and hardware problems of the F-35 jet.
Why delivery of F-35 got delayed?
According to a report by Bloomberg News, Lockheed Martin has delivered 72 F-35 fighter jets to the US government till May 1 this year, which is after a long delay caused by problems in its software upgrade. This upgrade is known as Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3). Its purpose is to improve the software and hardware of the F-35 aircraft. This includes better display and processing power of the fighter jet.
Why is payment to Lockheed Martin halted?
Lockheed Martin is not able to deliver these aircraft to the US government on time, due to which the Pentagon had stopped $ 5 million on each jet since last year. However, in January this amount was reduced by $ 1.2 million per aircraft because the defense contractor showed some progress in the upgrade. However, the report says that the funds for the new aircraft will still be stopped and it will be released gradually by next year. According to Reuters, the Pentagon’s programme office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lockheed Martin declined to comment ahead of its second quarter earnings next week.
The F-35 programme is very important for the world’s largest defense company Lockheed Martin, which accounts for about 30% of its revenue. Due to the delay in upgrading software and hardware by the company, the world’s largest defense contractor is likely to suffer losses in the financial year 2026 due to reduced demand for F-35 aircraft from the Trump administration.
News