Lockheed Martin mentioned it set a file delivering 191 F-35 Lightning II jets in 2025, clearing backlog deliveries within the course of, with a worldwide fleet that now counts 1,300 plane.
Lockheed Martin introduced that it has delivered a complete of 191 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets in 2025, setting a brand new file that surpassed the earlier one in every of 142 set in 2021. On the identical time, the corporate nearly doubled the numbers in comparison with 2024, when solely 110 plane had been delivered.
The achievement comes after Lockheed Martin cleared the backlog deliveries which had been halted after the issues with the Expertise Refresh-3 (TR-3) issues. Throughout that interval, between 72 and 110 plane had been reportedly saved earlier than the F-35 Joint Program Workplace (JPO) allowed deliveries to begin once more.
“I’m immensely pleased with the F-35 enterprise for delivering on our manufacturing commitments, performing with excellence and rising our world partnerships in 2025,” mentioned Chauncey McIntosh, Vice President and Common Supervisor of the F-35 Lightning II Program. “As our warfighters proceed to make use of the F-35 to guard the pursuits of America and our allies around the globe, we’re dedicated to persevering with to push the newest expertise into the palms of the warfighter to defeat any menace.”
World F-35 Fleet
Throughout 2025, the F-35 Lightning II reached new milestones, with some of the vital being the a million flight hours mark. The announcement arrived on Mar. 3, 2025, based mostly on the cumulative flight hours from all 16 providers which might be at the moment working the F-35, encompassing take a look at and operational missions, together with coaching sorties and real-world fight.
This unimaginable variety of hours not solely highlights the reliability of the F-35 platform, but in addition underscores the huge work “behind the scenes” required to take care of a relentless operational readiness. Hundreds of individuals are employed in logistics and assist roles to make sure the F-35 is able to take to the skies across the clock.
As Lt. Gen Michael Schmidt, Program Govt Officer for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Workplace acknowledged, “This milestone is not only a testomony to the F-35’s unmatched functionality, but in addition the resilience and dedication of everybody concerned in this system.”
Round 1,300 F-35 plane are in service globally, and the fleet retains rising. The final addition, so as of time, is Finland, with the maiden flight of its first F-35A in December 2025.
The F-35 has additionally been on the heart of the information for its fight actions. Amongst these are the Russian drone incursion over Poland in September 2025.
A number of Russian drones violated Polish airspace within the night time between Sep. 9 and 10, 2025, throughout Moscow’s large-scale strike on Ukraine. A number of belongings had been launched to counter the airspace violation, together with Polish F-16s and Dutch F-35s.
Three drones had been reportedly shot down by NATO plane, with the Netherlands later confirming that the F-35s had been used to shoot down a few of them, with out specifying the quantity, and one F-35 obtained a kill marking. The unprecedented incident marks the primary time that Russian belongings have been destroyed over NATO territory because the begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
One other distinguished fight motion of the F-35 was its involvement within the Operation Midnight Hammer, the strike in opposition to Iranian nuclear amenities in June 2025. On that event, the Lightning IIs had been tasked with the escort of a strike package deal, “kicking down the door” and paving the way in which for B-2 Spirit stealth bombers.
With one of many major missions units of the F-35s being the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), a formation of the unit’s F-35s was the primary to penetrate Iranian airspace and the final to depart it. The Lightnings used their stealth, radar, sensors and focusing on methods to detect and destroy surface-to-air threats.
The specifics of the motion weren’t disclosed, with the F-35 using weapons however not focused by Iranian methods. The plane beforehand took half additionally in Operation Tough Rider, hanging Houthi targets.
“We employed weapons to nice impact in opposition to surface-to-air missile websites… whereas they had been attempting to focus on us with some very excessive high-end methods they usually had been simply unable to,” mentioned U.S. Air Power Lt. Col. Aaron Osborne, thirty fourth Fighter Squadron commander. “It was cool to see the jet detect and defeat issues – to look at it do precisely what it was designed to do.”
Business Progress
Throughout 2025, the F-35 program continued to make progress additionally on the commercial aspect, with the fleet persevering with to develop. Among the many main milestones are the completion of the deliveries to Norway in April, the arrival in nation of the primary Belgian F-35 in October and the primary flight of the primary Finnish F-35 in December.
Some present clients are growing their fleets, with Italy procuring 25 extra F-35s, of which 15 F-35As and 10 F-35Bs, and Denmark procuring 16 extra jets. Germany, Switzerland and Canada are persevering with with their plans for the F-35, with deliveries inching nearer.
In September, the F-35 JPO and Lockheed Martin finalized the most important manufacturing contract of this system. In truth, a ultimate settlement was reached for the Manufacturing Heaps 18 and 19, which can see the corporate constructing as much as 296 F-35s for a complete contract worth of roughly $24.3 billion.
Lockheed Martin was initially awarded in December 2024 a primary undefinitized contract for Lot 18, value $11.8 billion, to provide a complete of 145 F-35s by June 2027. These jets embrace 48 F-35A plane for the Air Power, 16 F-35B plane and 5 F-35C plane for the Marine Corps, 14 F-35C plane for the Navy, 15 F-35A plane and one F-35B plane for F-35 non-U.S. DoD program companions, and 39 F-35A plane and 7 F-35B plane for International Army Gross sales (FMS) clients.
The new contract modification awarded on Sept. 29, 2025, value $12.5 billion, elevated Lot 18 to 148 plane and added 148 F-35s as a part of Lot 19. The latter embrace 40 F-35A plane for the Air Power, 12 F-35B and eight F-35C plane for the Marine Corps, 9 F-35C plane for the Navy, 13 F-35A and two F-35B plane for F-35 cooperative program companions, and 52 F-35A and 12 F-35B plane for International Army Gross sales (FMS) clients.
The corporate says it will probably produce 156 jets yearly, however the quantity may change within the close to future. The U.S. Air Power, within the latest ten-year fighter pressure construction plan, mentioned a requirement of the manufacturing is required to attain the required fleet measurement in satisfactory time.
U.S. President Donald Trump equally mentioned there could be a have to increase and pace up the manufacturing, finally constructing new manufacturing crops. This might find yourself within the lately introduced $1.5 trillion improve in protection spending for 2027.
