Lockheed Martin recently announced that the assembly of the 1,000th F-35 fighter jet has been completed. The F-35 fighter jet, which began production in 1978, is produced by the United States following the F-16 fighter jets, one of the most produced fighter jet models. It holds the distinction of being the first model to exceed production volume of 1,000 units. However, there are delays in the delivery of this new generation fighter jet due to ongoing Block 4 upgrade plans, and the delivery of assembled F-35 aircraft cannot be completed due to the postponement of the upgrade plan.
It will replace F-16 Aircraft
The production of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets took place in 1976 and 1978 respectively, entering into service thereafter. With their introduction, the United States Air Force officially entered the era of fourth-generation fighter aircraft. The F-16 fighter jet achieved significant success, making waves globally. Due to the large number of users and significant demand for upgrades, production of the F-16 fighter jet continued to increase. To date, more than 4,600 aircraft have been produced, with new aircraft still being manufactured on the production line for delivery to users.
9 countries produce F-35 together
Apart from the F-16, only the Su-27 family developed by Russia and the Chinese-made J-11, J-15, and J-16 series have exceeded 1,000 units in production. These aircraft are primarily designed according to the specific needs of countries. The significantly higher costs and production challenges of fifth-generation aircraft compared to fourth-generation ones led to the involvement of multiple countries in the production and development stages of the F-35 aircraft.
The F-35 fighter jet project, led by the United States and jointly produced by 9 countries, is one of the largest military aviation programs ever undertaken, aimed at meeting the needs of modern air combat. Currently, with orders coming from various countries in addition to the US military planning to acquire 2,456 F-35 fighter jets, the initial total orders have exceeded 3,300, with a high likelihood of surpassing the record set by the F-16 in the future.
