New Upgrades On The F-35 Further Pushes The Fighter's Cost Towards $500 Billion

Four F-35 Lightning II aircraft prepare for takeoff at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, May 4. Hill's active duty and Reserve F-35 pilots recently began flying routine four-ship configurations, just as they would in combat. U.S. Air Force/Paul Holcomb

Washington Examiner: Lockheed's $712 million F-35 upgrade drives priciest fighter's cost further toward half a trillion dollars

Lockheed Martin won a $712.8 million order to design and test updated technology including cockpit displays for the F-35 fighter jet, already the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history.

Improvements made in the so-called TR-3, or Technical Refresh-3, upgrade will appear on jets scheduled for delivery in 2023, the Bethesda, Md.-based company said Friday. They're designed to provide a government-owned interface into the F-35's "inner guts," which can then be modified at the military's discretion, Vice Adm. Matt Winter, the head of the program, told the House Armed Services Committee earlier this year.

Lockheed selected Harris Corp. to handle a key piece of the work, modifications of the integrated core processor that serves as the stealth fighter's brains, in September. The processor handles data for communications, sensors, electronic warfare, guidance and control, cockpit and helmet displays.

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WNU Editor:  And this is why the U.S. Air Force does not have any money to buy other planes .... The U.S. Air Force Has Too Many Old Planes (December 26, 2018).