© AP
The delivery of the first F-35A fighter planes to Belgium could be postponed even further and only take place in the third quarter of this year. The newspaper L’Avenir reported this on Friday. The message is not denied by the manufacturer, the American Lockheed Martin. Initially, the delivery of four aircraft should have taken place before the end of last year.
Source: BELGA
Yesterday at 8:15 PM
The reason for the delay is the difficult development of a new configuration for the F-35 (called TR-3 Block 4 system), which entails significantly improved capabilities. The certification of the new configuration has been delayed. This was initially expected in April last year, but would now only happen in the second quarter of this year or even later.
A Lockheed spokeswoman told Belga on Friday that fixing the TR-3 software remains “an absolute priority” for the American company. “We are taking steps towards the delivery of the first aircraft with the TR-3 configuration. More than 90 percent of TR-3’s functionalities are currently in the flight test phase.”