On paper, the F-35 is a truly remarkable aircraft. Its numerous systems, subsystems and sensors provide unprecedented situational awareness and allow the jet to act as a force multiplier for other weapon systems. However, in practice, things are starkly different. Namely, Lockheed Martin’s most significant product is infamous for its numerous design flaws, hardware and software issues, notorious lack of robustness and poor kinetic performance. And yet, there’s another glaring problem that’s not always discussed and comes down to basic economics – chronic shortages of rare-earth elements (REEs). It doesn’t take an expert to understand that Lockheed Martin needs these materials to build all the high-tech sensors and systems found on the F-35.

Obviously, central to this is the radar, the “eyes” of all fighter jets. They’ve grown increasingly sophisticated and complex, requiring a larger percentage of expensive REEs in their construction. This has led to high demand for these materials, particularly in the latest radar variants. One example of this is the Northrop Grumman’s AN/APG-85 AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, a heavily upgraded variant of their AN/APG-81 (which, in turn, is a successor to the AN/APG-77 found on the F-22). The deeply troubled Block 4 modernization package for the F-35 stipulates that all newly-built jets come with the AN/APG-85 instead of the earlier AN/APG-81. The plan is to install these on all three F-35 variants, starting with Lot 17 onwards (since mid-2025).

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