The crash occurred just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday after the jet took off from Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aircraft was an F-35B test jet on its way to Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California.
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Lockheed Martin alleged in court filings that Howmet cut off the supply of titanium after the aerospace giant refused to agree to higher prices, threatening production of the F-35.
Older F-35 stealth fighters were slated to start getting the Technology Refresh 3 upgrade this month, but the Pentagon has postponed the retrofit plan to an unspecified date.
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has refused to accept newly built F-35s due to problems with the software, and the resolution has slipped several times from the expected April 2023 release date. TR-3 is now projected to be completed sometime this summer – but not earlier than July, and possibly as late as September.