Lockheed’s Skunk Works expands NLR partnership with Dutch industry focus

Defense News reports the Air Force says it needs 1,509 combat-coded fighters by 2035. These are jets assigned to combat units. The service sent its force structure report to Congress Oct. 16.¹

Stated annual purchase need72 fighters

Fiscal 2027 request62 fighters

Reconciliation funding would pay for 14 of the requested F-35s.

Reported by Defense News. As of Oct. 21, 2026.

TGOs tgos.ioShare

The goal requires congressional funding and timely deliveries from Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Lt. Gen. David Tabor said, Defense News reports. Tabor is the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for plans and programs.¹

Breaking Defense reports the force structure report itself cites delays tied to F-35 modernization setbacks and F-15EX deliveries postponed by production struggles.²

Breaking Defense reports the requirement reflects moderate risk and uses combat coded total aircraft inventory, including backup and attrition reserve jets. Congress's floor of 1,145 tactical aircraft uses a different measure, primary mission aircraft inventory.²

Defense News reports that Air Force officials have long said the service needs to buy 72 fighters a year. The Air Force's fiscal 2027 request seeks 62. The request counts on $2.34 billion through a reconciliation bill. That would pay for 14 F-35s. If the bill fails, Tabor said, the service could shift money from other programs or push the purchases to 2028.¹

Tabor cautioned that the requirement is likely to change with world events, new requirements and new technology, Defense News reports. It excludes Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Tabor said those aircraft could reduce the fighter requirement in future reports but are not yet changing it.¹

MBDA will offer Fortem Technologies' DroneHunter autonomous interceptors to its defense and government customers, the companies announced Monday, Oct. 12.^1–2 The offer would let operators across Europe and worldwide add Fortem's systems as a layer in the air defense networks they already run, rather than deploying a standalone system. The agreement expands a 2024 technical collaboration that integrated DroneHunter into MBDA's Sky Warden counter-drone architecture. Working with MBDA "puts Fortem’s systems inside one of Europe’s most established air defense ecosystems," Chief Executive Jon Gruen said.¹

DroneHunterlow-collateral net captureplanned

allowing operators to add Fortem’s capabilities as a layer to their existing air defense networks

FireThornhard-kill effector for high-threat engagement scenariosplanned

a fully autonomous interceptor co-developed by Fortem and MBDA

FireThorn pairs Fortem’s high-speed, radar-guided autonomous airframe with an MBDA NATO-approved warhead

Sales are subject to applicable export authorizations

Fortem Technologies release, Oct. 12, 2026

Sources

• fortemtech.com ↗

TGOs tgos.ioShare

Fortem, a privately held Utah company, has ties to a weapons maker on each side of the Atlantic, and the expanded deal deepens the European one.^{1, 3} On Sept. 30, Fortem announced the close of a $50 million Series B led by Lockheed Martin. Fortem lists deepening integration with Lockheed's Sanctum counter-drone architecture among recent milestones and says the round will accelerate manufacturing at its Lindon, Utah, facility.³ Fortem already had buyers abroad: in the third quarter of 2025 it received purchase orders for 12 counter-drone systems from U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East.⁴

The companies will also jointly offer FireThorn, a fully autonomous interceptor they co-developed to defeat one-way attack drones and other hostile uncrewed aircraft, including Shahed/Geran and Orlan types. It pairs Fortem's high-speed, radar-guided airframe with an MBDA NATO-approved warhead, giving buyers a hard-kill option alongside DroneHunter's low-collateral net capture. FireThorn is on display at MBDA's booth at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) convention in Washington, which runs Oct. 12 to 14.¹