Having already delayed delivery of the first TR-3 F-35 to the end of 2023, Lockheed Martin has said this will now happen in the second quarter of 2024. (US Air Force)

Lockheed Martin has had to delay again the delivery of Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3)-standard F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft to international customers as it looks to finalise software developments.

The manufacturer announced the move on 6 September, saying that TR-2 configuration aircraft will continue to be delivered as planned.

“We have updated our F-35 TR-3 schedule projections with a first TR-3 aircraft delivery between April and June 2024. As a result, we now expect to deliver 97 aircraft in 2023, all in the TR-2 configuration. We are producing F-35s at a rate of 156 per year and expect to continue at that pace while simultaneously working to finalise TR-3 software development and testing,” Lockheed Martin said. “Additionally, we remain focused on receiving the necessary hardware from our suppliers to deliver this critical combat capability for the F-35,” the company added.