Lockheed resume F-35 delivery

Pentagon has started accepting the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, following an agreement between F-35 Joint Program Office and L...

Pentagon has started accepting the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, following an agreement between F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin to efficiently and effectively address F-35 the hole primer issue.

The delivery pause was over payment responsibility regarding a production error discovered in the second half of 2017, which resulted in corrosion. Pentagon had stopped accepting new jets from last March 29.

During maintenance, Lockheed Martin failed to apply corrosion preventing primer on fastener holes, on F-35As repaired at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

The issue affected around 200 fighter jets delivered and is expected to take around two years for the repair.

Lockheed Martin says it is on track to meet the 91 aircraft delivery target in 2018.