The full-rate production phase for the F-35 fighter jet program faces another delay after the Department of Defense (DoD) pushed back testing in the Joint Simulation Environment from December 2020 of this year to sometime in 2021, Defense News reported Monday.
Jessica Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Hon. Ellen Lord, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at DoD and a four-time Wash100 Award winner, announced the delay in simulation tests, which she said will inform a statutory report DoD needed to review and decide whether to grant Milestone C approval in order for the program to advance to full-rate production.
“Production of the F-35 will continue in [low-rate initial production] in accordance with Congressional authorization and appropriation,” Maxwell said in a statement.
The F-35 program was expected to receive Milestone C decision in December 2019, but that timeline was pushed back to March 2021, according to the report.
