f35Deployment in Asia blocked: 100 new planes are waiting for Loma, and the US military refuses to accept them.
Original text: If the United States is missing, it is the F-35 fighter; Surprisingly, however, the largest stock is the same F-35. This may seem paradoxical, but it is not.
Since July 2023, the United States has suspended the acceptance of newly produced F-35 fighter jets due to the impact of hurricanes, a fact that reveals a unique state of affairs.
Although it has been more than half a year, Loma's F-35 production line has remained active, and there are currently 100 to 120 unupgraded original F-35s in warehouses.
Why are Americans reluctant to accept it? The reason is that these fighters have not completed the full upgrade of the US military's TR-3 technology update 3, known as the Block 4 version.
The upgrade is expected to be equipped with more powerful processors, improved data processing, advanced cockpit displays, and enhanced electronic warfare capabilities — key to what the United States lacked in the early standoff.
The Block 4 refurbishment was originally planned to be completed in April, but Loma unexpectedly offered a temporary replacement. The initial test seemed to go well, but after three months of actual combat, the US military found that the performance of the new aircraft did not meet the standard, and it was far from expectations.
The Loma company not only has the most defective aircraft, but also dares to ask for the original price of the TR-3, which is simply treating the US Air Force as a wronged man. To this end, the U.S. military decided to refuse the F-35 from July until Loma can meet the requirements to provide a full version of the F-35 Block 4.
Loma had promised to complete the upgrade in December 2023, but it was repeatedly postponed, first in May 2024, and then in June, although late but acceptable, but the latest report shows that the completion of TR-3 has been postponed to September 2024.
Although Loma avoided talking about the number of rejected fighters and where they were stored, citing secrecy, the Pentagon's F-35 task force knew everything about it. According to statistics, in 2023, the US military has received 52 Block 4s in the TR-3 version, and in 2024 the order needs 148 units.
Based on the original plan of 12-13 aircraft per month, the current inventory has reached 60 aircraft. In addition to Block 4, there is also a temporary version of the TR-3, which was originally intended to expand the fleet, but due to pressure, it has not been received for the time being.
In total, there may be between 100 and 120 F-35s stranded in storage, which is equivalent to the size of six air squadrons or four squadrons of sea-based aircraft.
The dispute between the United States and Loma is like a vicious competition, and both sides are suffering from this tug-of-war. Not only did Loma's hundreds of unsalable fighter jets face maintenance challenges, but the high maintenance costs of the F-35 hit their finances like a double-edged sword.
For the U.S. military, the need in the East China Sea theater is urgent, but the unupgraded F-35 is like a chicken rib and cannot effectively respond to China's military challenges. This is not only a heavy blow to Loma's profits, but also disrupts the strategic deployment of the US military in Asia, exposing the erosion of the US military's strength by the greed of the military-industrial complex.
By delivering semi-finished products and delaying upgrades, they hindered the introduction of new ** and the improvement of actual combat capabilities. Worryingly, according to the current plan, the US military will not have a sufficient number of Block 4 fighter jets to counter China until 2029.
This struggle over greed has had a profound impact on the modernization process of the US military.