(MSN) Lockheed Martin, the US aerospace and defense industry giant, announced a reduction in planned deliveries for its F-35 jet due to production delays by supplier L3Harris Technologies. Lockheed Martin shares fell by 4.6%, while L3Harris shares fell by approximately 1.05%.
Originally, Lockheed Martin had planned to deliver between 100 and 120 aircraft this year, but now the company expects to deliver only 97 jets with current technology. Despite this, the company has kept its annual financial projections unchanged.
Lockheed Martin revealed that the first delivery of its updated version of the aircraft, known as the TR-3, is now scheduled to take place between April and June 2024. Previously, the company had hoped to make this delivery by the end of this year.
The delay was attributed to unexpected challenges faced by L3Harris in the integration and testing of hardware and software, as well as other aspects of development and qualification. To mitigate the delays, Lockheed Martin sent a team to L3Harris and is also collaborating with RTX on the delivery of state-of-the-art digital optical systems.
In 2022, the F-35 jet represented 27% of Lockheed Martin’s consolidated net sales and 66% of its aeronautics revenue, driven by an increase in global demand for defense spending. The company continues to work on the development and testing of the TR-3 software and said it is currently producing jets at an annual rate of 156 units.