Lockheed Martin pitches F-35 upgrade as stopgap to next-gen fighters
Speaking on Lockheed Martin’s 2025 Q2 earnings call, CEO Jim Taiclet predicted that an advanced F-35 upgrade package could deliver “80 percent of [Next Generation Air Dominance] capability at 50 percent of the price.” Leveraging stealth, sensors, and propulsion technologies developed for NGAD—which Lockheed lost to Boeing earlier