Lockheed Martin: new F-35+ will have 80% of F-47 capabilities at half the price

Lockheed Martin is promoting a project to integrate 6th generation NGAD technologies into a new F-35 modification that will bring the aircraft to the level of Generation 5+ fighters.

Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Tyklet told The War Zone about the details of the project.

The company refuses to appeal the results of the NGAD competition, recognizing Boeing’s victory. Instead, it will reintegrate its research and development work into existing F-35 and F-22 fighters to develop their competitive capabilities.

The technologies developed under the Next-Generation Air Dominance program will improve the F-35 to fifth-generation plus levels, including new materials, geometries and countermeasures.

“This is a true NASCAR upgrade: taking the F-35, applying jointly funded technologies and getting 80% of the 6th generation capabilities at half the price. And we really see a way to realize this idea. We are committed to delivering the best value for money for a customer with a limited budget and increasingly complex threats,” says Jim Tyklet.

The CEO said that some key technologies and approaches were already in the process pf their implementation for the F-35 Block 4 version of the fighter jet, including combat systems and sensors: more advanced radars and passive infrared detection sensors.

“This is the fifth generation plus concept for the F-35. Our long-term investment in NGAD will be directly applied to this platform,” says Jim Tyklet.

He added that the modernization program is jointly funded by the government and Lockheed Martin. In addition, other solutions will also be separately proposed to the Pentagon later.

To date, Lockheed has already produced more than 1,100 F-35 aircraft, and demand for them remains consistently high. Modernization of the platform can ensure its relevance in the coming decades.

The company is also continuing to modernize the F-22, partly using the results of the NGAD program to maintain the aircraft’s combat capabilities and its potential to gain air dominance in the long term.

The latest iteration of the Block 30/35 modernization program started in 2021 at the request of the US Department of Defense, which has allocated $10.863 billion for the program to support and upgrade about 180 fighters.

However, according to the plans of the US military command, it is the F-22 that will be replaced in the future by the F-47 fighters developed under the NGAD program by Boeing.