By Jovaduplex @Adobe Stock
Stavros Atlamazoglou of The National Interest reports that Lockheed Martin plans to enhance its F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II stealth jets with advanced technologies originally developed for the F-47 sixth-generation fighter, which it lost to Boeing. CEO Jim Taiclet aims to deliver “80% of sixth-gen capability at half the cost” by upgrading the F-35’s existing platform into a “Ferrari”-like fighter. These upgrades include integration with unmanned systems and other tech developed under the NGAD program. Lockheed also wants to make many of these improvements available to allied nations flying the F-35, pending export approval. He writes:
“Beast Mode” for the F-22 and F-35
On Tuesday, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told company investors that the defense and aerospace giant intends to transfer technology that it developed in its unsuccessful bid for the F-47 fighter into the existing F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.
“There are techniques and capabilities that were developed for [the F-47 bid] that we can now apply here,” Taiclet said.
The Lockheed Martin CEO said that their intention is to take the F-35 chassis “and turn it into a Ferrari.” […]
“Eventually, there’ll be 3,500 of those chassis out there at various stages of technology and capability,” Taiclet said. “We think we can get most of the way to sixth-gen at half the cost.”
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