Aircraft program
Single-seat, single-engine, multi-role supersonic aircraft for electronic warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Three variants: F-35B - short takeoff/vertical landing, F-35C carrier and F-35A CTOL - designed to operate from conventional runways. Manufactured by Lockheed Martin in partnership with Northrop Grumman (centre fuselage) and BAE Systems (aft fuselage, vertical and horizontal tails).
Airframe is 35% composite and designed to enhance stealth with trapezoidal mid-wing configuration, twin tailfins and internal weapons bay. All-electric flying control systems direct the wing and tailplane leading edges, flaps, rudders and all-moving horizontal tails.
Advanced sensors and mission systems enhance pilot’s situational awareness and communications with AESA radar, EOTS targeting system, Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Helmet Mounted Display (HMD), and the Communications, Navigation and Identification (CNI) Avionics.
Single pilot facing touch screen panoramic main display with speech recognition technology in the glass cockpit. Pilot has a helmet-mounted display system (Vision Systems International) with display in visor of helmet.
The aircraft as engineered: what it is built from, the systems it flies with, and its configuration — each box a theme.
Notable technologies — each tag names a technology on our research record for this aircraft, with its fitting status: Primary, Standard, Option or Planned.
Technical reference compiled with AI research; a value appears only where two independent research passes and a web fact-check agree. Gaps are deliberate.
Supplier geography and market analysis for this program — with an Analytics subscription.
Subscribe| Variant | Launch / first flight | Production end | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II | 1996 / 2010 | Conventional carrier-based variant. | |
| Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II | 1996 / 2008 | Short take-off and vertical landing variant. | |
| Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II | 1996 / 2006 | Production: 191 (2025) GAMA: F-35 Lightning II (all variants). Conventional land-based variant, including F-35I Adir for Israel. |
| Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company | News | |
| Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation | News | Japan F-35 FACO operated by MHI with technical assistance from Lockheed Martin |
The program’s dated history — milestones, contracts, supplier selections and facilities, each linked to its source. Log in to view.
Information on this page is compiled from a variety of published sources; links do not necessarily imply recommendation or confirmation by the airframe manufacturer.
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