PARIS — Denmark plans to bring home its six F-35 Joint Strike Fighters currently getting used to coach pilots within the U.S. because the delivery schedule for an upgraded version of the aircraft continues to slide.
The six Danish F-35 jets in TR-2 configuration stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona might be repatriated to the Royal Danish Air Force’s Skrydstrup air base, the Defence Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday. They’ll join the 4 stealth fighters already there to bring the country’s operational F-35s to 10, as Denmark prepares to phase out its fleet of F-16 jets.
Lockheed Martin is running out of space to park undelivered F-35 jets amid hardware and software delays linked to the Technology Refresh 3 update, or TR-3, whose full delivery might be delayed into 2025, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in May. That’s disrupting fleet-replacement plans by the likes of Denmark, Belgium and Norway, whose F16s have been flying for greater than 40 years, and whose fleets are counted in dozens of aircraft somewhat than a whole bunch.
“It’s very positive that we’ve now found an answer, in order that the delays from the manufacturer affect us as little as possible,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said within the statement. “F-35 fighter jets are a significant investment for Denmark that might be necessary for our defense and security for a few years to return, and it’s crucial that we follow the phase-in closely.”
The TR-3 software, originally planned for summer 2023, continues to be unstable, the GAO reported in May, with the watchdog saying some test pilots needed to reboot their entire radar and electronic-warfare systems mid-flight to get them back online. The update includes improved cockpit displays and more on-board computing power, and is presupposed to function the premise for an additional upgrade often known as Block 4 that adds latest weapon and electronic-warfare capabilities.
Lockheed Martin will initially deliver F-35 jets with a limited version of TR-3 that may only be used for training purposes, Denmark said. The Danish jets within the older TR-2 configuration might be repatriated as aircraft with the TR-3 software and hardware upgrade are delivered to Luke Air Force Base, the Defence Ministry said.
Bringing home the TR-2 jets will allow Denmark to take care of the operational milestones for phasing in of the F-35 and increase the training level of pilots and support personnel at Skrydstrup, while allowing pilot training at Luke AFB to proceed, the Defence Ministry said.
The Danish move feeds into fears by other European F-35 customers, present and future, that their fastidiously calibrated aircraft-delivery and upgrade schedules might be perturbed by the TR-3 saga.
While the Netherlands and Norway already operate fleets of greater than 30 F-35 jets and subsequently face less urgency than Denmark or a rustic similar to Belgium, which is yet to receive its first F-35, the delays risk pushing back full operational capability.
Defense officials in Norway said they’ve made their concerns clear to the Pentagon’s Joint Program Office, which represents the U.S. and international governments involved within the F-35 program. Oslo’s fear specifically is Lockheed Martin feeding a salad of halfway solutions and different versions into the production pipeline that may grow to be unmanageable.
“We don’t want interim configurations,” said a Norwegian defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to debate internal deliberations.
The Netherlands anticipated development delays and in late 2022 requested delivery of six aircraft within the TR-2 configuration somewhat than the upgraded version, saying deliveries could proceed through to March, in response to an annual government progress report published April 2.
The Dutch were slated to get their first TR-3 configured F-35 in late 2024, and will the software not be available then, the delays may have a “limited impact” on plans to arise the third Dutch F-35 squadron in the course of 2027, in response to the report.
Denmark has purchased 27 F-35s, and the remaining aircraft might be delivered in TR-3 configuration “towards 2027,” the Danish ministry said. The situation isn’t expected to affect the donation of F-16s to Ukraine, nor Denmark’s obligations to NATO in a crisis situation, in response to the Defence Ministry.
The country will stop training Ukrainian F-16 pilots in Denmark after 2024 as Skrydstrup air base switches fully to the F-35, Poulsen was reported as saying at a press conference along with his Norwegian counterpart Bjørn Arild Gram on Monday.
The Danish Ministry of Defence didn’t immediately reply to questions regarding the timeline for repatriating the six aircraft from the U.S. or the delivery of the remaining 17 F-35s.
Sebastian Sprenger in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He began his profession at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.