NeverEnding Story: Pentagon Awards $109M to Upgrade F-35's Hardware, Software

The Pentagon has awarded another $109 million to upgrade the beleaguered F-35 jets.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Lockheed Martin received a nearly $110-million contract to provide hardware and software upgrade kits for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Department of Defense announced in a press release.

"Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $109,563,735 modification to a previous ordering agreement for the procurement of 567 modification kits for off-board system hardware and turnaround assets," the release explained on Tuesday. [The contract includes] recurring labor for the completion of hardware and software upgrades in support of the F-35 Lighting III Block 3F upgrade."

Block 3F is the fifth of six software upgrades planned for flight controls, radar functionality, communications, navigation and identification, electronic attack, sensor fusion and weapons deployment, according to published reports.

Work under the contract is expected to be completed in December 2021, the Defense Department noted.

The F-35 combat jet is the most expensive acquisition program in the history of the Defense Department.