You’ve probably heard the jokes. People call it the "jet that ate the Pentagon" or the trillion-dollar paperweight. Honestly, if you only read the headlines from three years ago, you'd think the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II was a total disaster. But walk onto the flight line at Hill Air Force Base or talk to a pilot who just returned from a rotation in Eastern Europe, and you’ll get a very different story.
It's complicated.
Right now, in early 2026, the F-35 is in a weird spot. It is simultaneously the most successful export fighter in history and a program still tripping over its own feet. Lockheed Martin just came off a massive year, delivering 191 aircraft in 2025. That’s a record. They finally cleared out a huge backlog of jets that were literally sitting in parking lots because the software wasn't ready.
The Software Nightmare That Almost Grounded Everything
Basically, the biggest hurdle lately hasn't been the wings or the stealth coating. It’s been the brain. They call it TR-3 (Technology Refresh 3). It was supposed to be a simple hardware and software jump to pave the way for "Block 4" upgrades.
It wasn't simple.
For about a year, the Pentagon actually stopped accepting new jets. Imagine building a $100 million stealth fighter and having the customer say, "No thanks, keep it in the garage." That’s what happened. The software was so unstable that pilots were reportedly having to reboot systems in mid-flight. Not exactly what you want when you’re pulling 9g or dodging radar.
As of this January, things are better, but not perfect. We’re seeing a "truncated" version of the software. It works well enough for training and basic missions, but the full "combat-ready" version of the TR-3 suite is still being tweaked. The goal is to get the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II to a point where it can run the new APG-85 radar and advanced electronic warfare tools.
Why the World is Still Buying It
If the program is such a headache, why did Italy and Denmark just increase their orders? Why is Finland waiting on pins and needles for their first deliveries?
It comes down to a concept called "sensor fusion."
In an old F-16, the pilot is a busy person. They’re looking at a radar screen, a targeting pod, and a RWR (Radar Warning Receiver), and then trying to stitch that all together in their head. The F-35 does that for you. It takes every piece of data from the infrared cameras, the radar, and other nearby jets, and presents it as one clean picture on a massive touch screen.
Pilots describe it as "god mode." You aren't just flying a plane; you're managing a node in a giant digital web. During Operation Midnight Hammer—the strikes on Iranian air defenses—the F-35 was the quarterback. It wasn't just dropping bombs; it was telling every other ship and plane where the threats were.
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The Three Variants: One Size Does Not Fit All
One of the reasons this plane cost so much to develop is that it’s actually three different planes wearing the same suit.
- The F-35A: This is the "standard" version used by the Air Force. It has an internal gun and is the most agile. It’s the version most allies are buying because it’s the cheapest—though "cheap" is relative when you’re talking about $82.5 million a pop.
- The F-35B: The "jump jet." This one is for the Marines. It has a massive lift fan behind the cockpit that lets it land vertically like a helicopter. It’s cool to watch, but it carries less fuel and fewer weapons because that fan takes up so much space.
- The F-35C: The Navy version. It has bigger wings that fold up so it can fit on carrier decks. It also has beefier landing gear to survive the "controlled crash" that is a carrier landing.
The $2 Trillion Elephant in the Room
We have to talk about the money. A recent GAO report pushed the lifetime cost of the program over $2 trillion. That is a staggering number.
But there’s a nuance people miss. That $2 trillion isn't just the price to buy the planes. It’s the cost to buy, fly, fix, and upgrade them until the year 2088. Yes, 2088. Most of us will be gone, but the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II will still be flying.
The real problem is the "Mission Capable" rate. In 2024, the average readiness rate was around 50%. That means on any given day, half the fleet was stuck on the ground waiting for parts or software fixes.
- Cannibalization: It’s a grizzly word for a frustrating reality. Mechanics are often forced to take a working part off one jet to fix another one because the supply chain is so backed up.
- The Engine Problem: The current F135 engine is a beast, but it’s running hot. The plane's newer electronics need more cooling than the original engine was designed to provide. This wears the engine out faster.
- The Solution: The Pentagon decided against a brand-new engine (the AETP) because it wouldn't fit in the Marine version. Instead, they’re going with an "Engine Core Upgrade" (ECU). It’s basically a mid-life surgery for the motor to make it more efficient.
Real World Performance vs. Internet Myths
You’ll still see people online saying an F-15 can outclimb it or a Sukhoi can out-turn it. In a vacuum, maybe. But modern air combat isn't a 1940s dogfight.
If you're in a dogfight in an F-35, something went wrong. The goal is to see the enemy 50 miles away, fire a Meteor or AIM-120 missile, and turn away before they even know you’re there. In exercises like Red Flag, the F-35 routinely maintains kill ratios of 20:1. That’s not a typo. For every F-35 "shot down," they take out 20 "enemy" aircraft.
The stealth isn't a "cloaking device" either. It just makes the plane look like a golf ball on a radar screen. By the time the enemy radar is powerful enough to get a "lock" on that golf ball, the F-35 has already fired.
What’s Next for the Lightning II?
We are moving into a phase where the aircraft is finally maturing. The "Full Rate Production" decision was finally made in 2024, which sounds boring but basically means the Pentagon is finally happy enough with the design to stop tweaking the assembly line every five minutes.
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For the next few years, the focus is almost entirely on Block 4. This is the update that will allow the jet to carry the Small Diameter Bomb II and a bunch of new international missiles. It’s also supposed to give the pilot better electronic jamming capabilities.
Actionable Insights for Following the Program
If you're tracking the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II for business or interest, stop looking at the unit price. That's stable. Instead, watch these three things:
- The Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) Milestones: Pratt & Whitney is supposed to finalize these contracts this spring. If they slip, the jets will keep running "hot," and maintenance costs will stay high.
- Availability Rates: The Pentagon is putting huge pressure on Lockheed to get that 50% readiness rate up to 65% or 70%. If this doesn't improve by 2027, expect Congress to start cutting the number of jets they buy.
- Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA): The F-35 is being designed to act as a "mother ship" for loyal wingman drones. Watch for testing news out of Edwards Air Force Base regarding how well the F-35 can actually control these drones in a contested environment.
The F-35 isn't the perfect plane critics wanted, and it’s not the cheap "one-size-fits-all" solution promised in the 90s. It’s a massive, expensive, incredibly lethal flying computer that the West has essentially bet the farm on. For better or worse, it's the backbone of global air power for the next 50 years.