Lockheed Martin may upgrade the F-35 with autonomous capabilities and sixth-generation tech, creating a “pilot-optional” fighter within years, despite losing major next-gen contracts to Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

After failing to be selected to build the United States Air Force’s “sixth-generation” manned fighter that is the centerpiece system of systems of the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet suggested the company will supercharge its F-35 Lightning II. 

The result would be a “fifth-generation-plus” multirole fighter, he told analysts during an April earnings call.

Taiclet has since offered some additional details on what could be included in the more advanced version of the Lightning II.

“We could make the F-35 pilot optional over a relatively modest time frame based on a lot of the development we’ve done [for NGAD competition],” Taiclet said at Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference on Wednesday, Breaking Defense first reported.

The Lockheed Martin chief explained that the sixth-generation capabilities could be integrated into the F-35 “within two to three years” and that porting some of these technologies over “could [offer] a meaningful increase of capability for the F-35.“

What Were Trump’s Plans for the F-25 Fighter Jet?

Though Lockheed Martin had competed to develop and build the aircraft, President Donald Trump announced in March that Boeing was selected instead. The aircraft received the formal designation F-47. 

Just weeks earlier, the United States Navy also said that Lockheed Martin had been eliminated from the F/A-XX program, leaving Boeing and Northrop Grumman as the two competitors.

Instead of protesting the NGAD award, Lockheed Martin shifted gears. Taiclet said that it would develop a supercharged F-35 that could be equipped with upwards of 80 percent of the capability of a sixth-generation aircraft but be far cheaper than the F-47.

Earlier this month, while speaking from Doha, Qatar, Trump suggested that Lockheed Martin could be contracted to build a twin-engine F-35, which the president said would be designated the F-55. Aviation experts have called such an upgrade highly unrealistic, and doubling the Lightning II engines wouldn’t be remotely feasible.

Instead, the fifth-generation-plus version of the F-35 would likely receive less visually noticeable hardware upgrades, including new sensors and radar, an improved electronic warfare (EW) suite, and enhanced software. The aircraft could also get an infrared-absorbing stealth coating that would enhance its low observability and stealth capabilities, but it still wouldn’t be invisible.

“There have been some adjustments or learnings, I’ll say, on what we call the outer mold line, which is the actual shape of the aircraft itself, especially about engine inlets and outflows of nozzles, that we might be able to again improve on the F 35 without redesigning it,” Taiclet further explained while speaking at this week’s conference.

The Lockheed Martin CEO added that while some of the advancements could be ready within just a few years, he explained that upgrades will need to be phased in, “because you cannot introduce too much new equipment or too much new software at once, necessarily without interrupting the production flow.”

The aerospace firm has steadily increased production of the F-35. Still, just two years ago, the US Department of Defense (DoD) halted acceptance of the aircraft due to delays in its Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3) hardware and software upgrades. 

Only last summer, after a truncated version of the TR-3 update was released, the Pentagon cleared the way for deliveries to resume.

According to Taiclet, issues with integrating the Distributed Aperture System, part of a new suite of sensors, could be resolved by the end of 2025. Once that is addressed, the TR-3 could be fully combat-capable.

“Once that catches up, we think by the end of this year, then all those aircraft that have been delivered will be combat-capable and allowable to be at the front line for the services and our allies,” said Taiclet.

Is the Autonomous F-35 Fighter Jet Real?

Among the other upgrades that Taiclet touted was “autonomy software,” which could pave the way for an autonomous F-35. Along with more advanced stealth and sensor fusion capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI) features, including autonomous control, have been identified as a key facet of a sixth-generation fighter.

Taiclet suggested that the autonomous upgrades to the Lightning II could “make the F-35 pilot optional over a relatively modest timeframe, based on much of the development we’ve done for our NGAD offering.”

Defense One also reported that the F-35 is already outfitted with some autonomous capabilities, “which were displayed in 2023 when a jet flew for 11 minutes after the pilot ejected.”

Does this mean the “Ferrari” or “NASCAR” level F-35 could be operated without a pilot as the F-47 enters service? That may be as likely as an F-55 ever taking to the skies, but there is no denying that the US Air Force remains committed to autonomous aircraft. So, an unmanned F-35 could serve as a loyal wingman of the F-47, but time will tell.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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