A US F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East after it was allegedly struck by Iran on Thursday, according to new reports. The fifth-generation stealth fighter was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it suddenly had to make an emergency landing,

The F-35 TR-3 crisis highlights a shift in 2026 military readiness: software is now the primary "failure point" rather than mechanical hardware.

The F-35 will also serve as a test bed for technologies that will become commonplace in the next generation of jets. Flying in coordination with AI-enabled drones will become a staple of any sixth-generation fighter, and those new fighter tricks will likely first arrive in the form of the F-35.

The F-35 was not built to win dogfights, but to operate smoothly at long ranges and over long periods of time. The F-35 is often compared to the F-16 or the F-22, nimble aircraft with world-class handling characteristics, against which the F-35 falls short.

To meet China's exploding airpower growth, the U.S. must expand F-35 production capacity, continue its modernization, and stabilize procurement at 72 F-35As annually.

Lockheed Martin delivered 191 F-35 fighter jets in 2025 - a new annual record, but several dozen of those aircraft had been held units delayed from past deliveries as the manufacturer caught up with necessary software and hardware updates needed to comply ...

US Central Command says stealth fighter was forced to make an emergency landing during a combat mission over Iran The first known combat damage to an F-35 fifth-generation fighter aircraft from a likely Iranian attack suggests that stealth jets can be detected by electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor systems,

A US Air Force F-35A stealth fighter was damaged by suspected Iranian fire during a combat mission over central Iran on March 19, US Central Command confirmed. The incident marks the first time Iran has struck a US aircraft since the war began on February 28,