Lockheed Martin has chalked up a record-breaking year for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter programme, delivering 191 F-35s throughout the year to surpass its previous annual delivery record of 142, the company announced on 7 January 2026.
The milestone follows Lockheed Martin announcing on 3 March 2025 that the global fleet of F-35s had surpassed a million flight hours. More crucially, in 2025 the F-35 programme team completed work on the aircraft’s TR-3 (Technology Refresh 3) software update package, which was running years behind schedule and which had previous delayed aircraft deliveries.
“Annual F-35 production is now running at a pace five times faster than any other allied fighter currently in production, underscoring the program’s scale and maturity,” Lockheed Martin stated in its press release.
The company also noted that in 2025 Italy and Denmark increased their F-35 programmes of record by adding 25 and 16 aircraft to their fleets respectively and referenced other international fleet milestones during the year:
- On 16 December Finland celebrated the rollout of its first F-35A at Fort Worth;
- On 13 October Belgium welcomed the in-country arrival of its first F-35As;
- On 1 April Norway became the first F-35 partner nation to receive all aircraft in its programme of record.
Among the F-35’s operational successes in 2025, Lockheed Martin pointed to its participation in Operation ‘Midnight Hammer’ against Iranian nuclear targets on 22 June, the type’s role in shooting down Russian drones over Poland on the night of 9/10 September and the fact that the F-35B recorded nearly 5,000 mishap-free flight hours during a five-month deployment to the US Central Command area of responsibility by the US Marine Corps’ Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542 (VMFA-542).
Lockheed Martin also noted that in September 2025it reached a final agreement with the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) on Lots 18-19 for the production and delivery of up to 296 F-35s for USD 24 billion, marking what it said was the finalisation of the largest production contracts in the programme’s history. The JPO and Lockheed Martin have also agreed to an Air Vehicle Sustainment Contract award that supports annualised sustainment activities across the F-35 enterprise for 2025 and beyond.
“I’m immensely proud of the F-35 enterprise for delivering on our production commitments, performing with excellence and growing our global partnerships in 2025,” Chauncey McIntosh, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the F-35 Lightning II programme, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “As our warfighters continue to employ the F-35 to protect the interests of America and our allies around the world, we’re committed to continuing to push the latest technology into the hands of the warfighter to defeat any threat,” McIntosh added.
There are now 12 nations operating the F-35 across the global fleet, with almost 1,300 aircraft in service.
