A stealth fighter missing its most critical sensor
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program -- already the most expensive weapons system in history -- appears to have crossed a new threshold of dysfunction. A growing body of evidence indicates that F-35A variants delivered to the U.S. Air Force since June 2025 have arrived without radars installed, a remarkable concession driven by cascading delays in the jet's long-troubled Block 4 upgrade package. While the Joint Program Office has neither confirmed nor denied the specific claim, its public statements and corroborating details from congressional sources paint a picture that is difficult to interpret any other way.
The issue centers on the AN/APG-85, a next-generation active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar being developed by Northrop Grumman as a cornerstone of the Block 4 upgrade. The APG-85 was designed to replace the existing AN/APG-81, which has served as the F-35's primary radar since the jet entered service. Lot 17 aircraft, which began deliveries in 2025, were built with a modified forward fuselage specifically configured to accept the new radar. The problem: the APG-85 is not yet ready, and the physical modifications that accommodate it are incompatible with the older APG-81.
A mounting wall of circumstantial evidence
Defense Daily first reported the radar-less deliveries last week, citing an anonymous source who said all F-35A models delivered to the Air Force since June 2025 have been affected. Foreign customers, who are still receiving jets fitted with the older APG-81, have reportedly not been impacted. The F-35 Joint Program Office responded to queries with a carefully worded statement confirming that jets "are being built to accommodate" the APG-85 and that Lot 17 deliveries have been ongoing since 2025 -- but pointedly declined to address whether those jets actually have radars installed.
Representative Rob Wittman, the Virginia Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, added further weight to the reports. In an interview with Defense Daily, Wittman confirmed that the APG-85 requires a fundamentally different bulkhead configuration than the APG-81, making the two radars physically non-interchangeable in current airframes. When pressed on whether jets were being delivered without radars, Wittman said the delivery configuration was classified but encouraged reporters to ask the Air Force directly. A separate Breaking Defense report from June 2025 revealed that Lockheed Martin had proposed redesigning the forward fuselage to accept either radar -- an effort that sources say would take approximately two years to complete.
