F-35 Modifications

F-35 Modifications under the United States Air Force (USAF), aims to develop and deploy a family of highly common, affordable, next-generation, stealthy, multi-role strike fighters that meet the needs of multiple services and countries. The program funds modifications and retrofits to the F-35A aircraft and integrated air systems, providing correction of deficiencies, near and long-term improvements to the fleet, and focusing on documented deficiencies related to safety, maintainability, and aircraft systems. These modifications and selected component changes are accomplished by field and depot retrofit activities. The overall effort is essential to sustain and improve F-35A system operations by managing, preparing, processing, and incorporating modifications. The specific objectives include post-aircraft delivery correction of deficiencies, Block 4 upgrades of hardware and software, and Structural Life Limited Group 2 (SLLP2) upgrades.

The program's funding request for FY2024 enables several distinct efforts pertaining to the USAF F-35A aircraft. This includes post-aircraft delivery correction of deficiencies, Block 4 upgrades of hardware and software, and Structural Life Limited Group 2 (SLLP2) upgrades. The Block upgrades provide more robust performance in navigation, weapons, avionics, survivability, maneuverability, maintainability, and mission deployment of the F-35A platform. Additionally, the SLLP2 will remove life limits below 4,000 hours. The program also intends to begin awarding SLLP3 Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs) as soon as possible to maximize installation efficiency in the future. Furthermore, the program plans to install Lot 15 kits in FY2024 while continuing to procure Lot 15, 16, and 17 kits. These efforts are crucial for bringing early production aircraft and integrated systems to a common fleet configuration as fielded capabilities evolve over the course of the F-35 program.