Sign In
Search
Air Force

Air Force Aims For F-35 Nuclear Certification in January, But Jets Won’t Be Ready Then

Dan Leone By
SHARE:
Air Force Aims For F-35 Nuclear Certification in January, But Jets Won’t Be Ready Then
An F-35A Lighting II carrying a B61-12 Joint Test Assembly sits on the flight line at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Sept. 21, 2021. Two F-35A Lightning II aircraft released B61-12 Joint Test Assemblies during the first Full Weapon System Demonstration, completing the final flight test exercise of the nuclear design certification process. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Zachary Rufus)

The Air Force expects to certify the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to carry nuclear weapons in January, once sufficient numbers of pilots and ground crew are trained to carry out the mission. But it may not have the jets, equipped with the proper avionics and mission systems, needed to perform the nuclear mission until several months later, according to a new delivery schedule F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin described in a filing this summer with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month.…

Subscriber-only content. Please log in below.

Not a subscriber or registered user yet?

Please contact us at clientservices@accessintel.com or call us at 888-707-5814 (Monday – Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET.), to start a free trial, get pricing information, order a reprint, or post an article link on your website.

Recommended

Army

Teledyne FLIR Defense To Provide Rogue 1 Loitering Munition For Army’s LASSO Effort

Missile Defense

Golden Dome Head Pushes Back on CBO Estimate; Sen. Sheehy Agrees On Trillion Dollar Scale

Air Force

Space Force Soliciting Industry Prototypes For $783 Million Program To Upgrade Ground-Based Radars

Army

Anduril Details Scaling Up NGC2 Work At Division-Level Ivy Mass Exercise

Trending

Pentagon Signs Framework Deals To Rapidly Buy Low-Cost Cruise Missiles, New Hypersonic Weapon
Addition Of Production Lines For F-15EX Eyed By USAF, MQ-9 Follow-On In Works
HAC-D Lawmakers Skeptical Of Battleship; CNO Says Will Use Ford Reactor
Army Awards Leidos $2.7 Billion To Accelerate Hypersonic Work
Defense Watch: Mythos, DARC, DARPA Plane, New SWO Boss, Startup Raises

Congress Updates

Congress

CENTCOM Looking To Lessons Learned From Use Of LUCAS Drones

U.S Central Command (CENTCOM) is looking to lessons learned from its use of Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones by Phoenix-based SpektreWorks, according to CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper. […]

Army

Hegseth Says DoD Open To Reviewing Army’s Planned Cuts To Legacy Helicopter Procurement

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has told lawmakers the Pentagon is open to reviewing the Army’s planned procurement cuts to its legacy manned aviation fleet. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member […]

Congress

Appropriators Press For Details On Iran War Costs; DoD’s $29B Estimate Doesn’t Include Base Damage

The Pentagon estimates the U.S.’ ongoing conflict with Iran has now cost at least $29 billion, while a lead official noted the updated figure does not factor in damage to […]

Congress

Appropriators Offer Skepticism On $350B Defense Reconciliation Plan, ‘Big Risk’ For Key Initiatives

Senate and House Appropriators told Pentagon leadership on Tuesday they’re skeptical of the department’s plan to fund $350 billion of the fiscal year 2027 defense budget through the reconciliation process, […]

The Force Multipliers

Force Multipliers

Arne Brinck – Dark Wolf Solutions

Force Multipliers

Jags Kandasamy – Latent AI

Force Multipliers

Force Multipliers – Krista McKendree

Force Multipliers

Force Multipliers – Fred Taylor

Job Feed

Post a Job // Post a Resume