An F-35 Lightning II aircraft belonging to the US Marine Corps (USMC) flew without a pilot for more than 11 minutes before it crashed in September 2023. However, nearly two years later, Lockheed has hinted that a pilotless F-35 could become a reality in the future.
Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet was quoted saying that an upgraded “fifth-generation plus” variant of the F-35 could include stealth coatings, modifications to the aircraft’s shape, enhanced Electronic Warfare (EW), and potentially a route toward making the aircraft optionally manned.
“We could make the F-35 pilot optional over a relatively modest time frame based on a lot of the development we’ve done” for sixth-generation fighter competitions, Taiclet reportedly told Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference. As for the other sixth-generation capabilities, “we feel like within two to three years, we could have a meaningful increase of capability for the F-35 by porting some of these technologies over.”
The concept of having an optionally manned aircraft has been attributed to the US Air Force’s sixth-generation aircraft. The former US Air Force Secretary, Frank Kendall, first hinted that the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) aircraft could be optionally manned.
“There’s a chance it might be uncrewed, but I think that’s not quite ready yet. And we could always do something like an optionally crewed platform,” he said at the time.
However, the USAF has not laid down more details about this since the contract was awarded to Boeing in March 2025.
The NGAD—now known as the F-47—is likely being designed to support multiple operational modes, including piloted, remotely controlled, or Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven autonomous flight.
The idea behind keeping the next-generation crewed fighter optionally manned is that the flexibility will allow it to adapt to diverse mission profiles, such as air superiority, electronic warfare, or reconnaissance.
This same principle could, perhaps, be applied to the F-35 Lightning II, which is known as one of the smartest fighter jets owing to its superior data fusion capabilities.
The F-35 is equipped with numerous instruments, cameras, and sensors that generate vast amounts of data, which are then fed into computers linked to its Helmet display.
Although it does not yet feature an optional pilot configuration, it does boast an advanced autopilot system that can maintain certain heights, follow pre-programmed routes, and ensure steady flight.
On September 17, 2023, an F-35B flew pilotless for 11 minutes and 64 nautical miles after the pilot ejected, relying on autopilot to maintain a “zombie state” of stable flight.
In the aftermath of the incident, the US Marine Corps investigation concluded that “the mishap aircraft’s extended unmanned flight was due to stability provided by the F-35’s advanced automatic flight-control systems.”
Taiclet’s announcement suggests that the F-35 has gone straight from demonstrating to an “accidental autopilot” feature to getting one as part of a meticulous upgrade process.
The optionally manned feature will be part of the “fifth-generation plus” variant of the aircraft. Taiclet announced this new and upgraded F-35 variant in April 2025, a month after Lockheed lost the NGAD contract to Boeing.
Additionally, Taiclet mentioned possible additional F-35 buyers, including India and Saudi Arabia. The Lockheed CEO had participated in part of Trump’s Middle East tour, where the United States agreed to increase its arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
The White House has not categorically stated whether Riyadh, which has had a long-standing interest in the F-35, will be permitted to purchase the F-35.
“There’s a discussion about a path to fifth-generation in Saudi Arabia, for example; there’ll be multiple steps in that. It could take some time, but I think if we can work with Saudi, Qatar, and UAE on really bolstering their air-superiority capabilities and their integrated air and defense capabilities…there’ll be really significant opportunity for the company along those lines, and a few others too,” Taiclet said.
What Is The F-35 Fifth-Generation Plus?
This fifth-generation plus upgrade is Lockheed’s master plan to devote resources to upgrade its flagship F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter to lure the Pentagon with a much cheaper substitute to the sixth-generation fighter.
“We’re basically going to take the [F-35] chassis and turn it into a Ferrari,” Taiclet asserted. “It’s like a NASCAR upgrade, so to speak, where we would take the F-35 [and] apply some of those co-funded technologies both from NGAD and the F-35 program. Eventually, there’ll be 3,500 of those [F-35] chassis out there at various stages of technology and capability [worldwide]. We think we can get most of the way to sixth-generation at half the cost.”
Given that the NGAD was halted last year due to high costs and budgetary constraints, the promises of improved capability at a lower cost suggest that Lockheed has been attempting to capitalize on the cost factor.
The CEO had earlier said he implored his team to work on disruptive innovation and build upon the recently established internal capabilities, including AI autonomy, crewed-uncrewed teaming, and command and control systems, across the entire company.
Lockheed will incorporate technologies developed for its own NGAD offering, including new radar and infrared-absorbing stealth coatings, new electronic warfare systems, enhanced networking, and autonomy software, into the F-35. Taiclet said the company might also think about altering the F-35’s shape to squeeze out more performance.
“You cannot introduce too much new equipment or too much new software at once, necessarily without interrupting the production flow,” he said, adding changes must be put into production gradually, even though some enhancements might be ready for “first flight and integration” in a few years.
Taiclet stated that future fighters will require technology such as improved passive infrared sensors, which might enable the jet to identify foes farther away without revealing its location to them.
The other significant upgrade would pertain to stealth. “I explained this at a meeting at the White House to the president,” Taiclet said. “Dogfights are not what we want anymore. In air-to-air combat, we want to shoot the other guys, I said, before he even knows we’re there. And you do that, first of all, with the critical sensors to find them. Then you make sure they can’t find you, and that’s the stealth technology.”
According to Taiclet, the stealth technology developed for Lockheed’s NGAD bid may make it far more difficult for an enemy to detect the aircraft due to its low-observable materials, geometries, and countermeasures. He also pointed out that the inclusion of tracking technologies and sixth-generation, longer-range weapons might make the F-35 even more deadly.
Currently, there is no way to ascertain what specific upgrades the fifth-generation F-35 will carry. However, reports suggest that plans are in place to integrate the F-35 with loyal wingman drones in the future for manned-unmanned teaming. The aircraft could also likely be equipped with laser weapons.
Taiclet had previously stated that the US government would be the first to see any sixth-generation technologies that Lockheed might integrate into the F-35. He added that the firm hopes to export those technologies to friendly countries that also purchase the F-35, but the US would ultimately decide what might be exported.
This is significant because 20 countries have purchased the F-35, and enhanced F-35 technology is likely to find many additional buyers. “Our goal is to make as much of this capability as we can, exportable to allies,” Taiclet said. “We try to design [technology] in a way that’s hopeful.”
All these assertions, including the latest made by Lockheed’s CEO, are noteworthy because Lockheed is now working on updating the F-35 to the Block 4 standard, despite delays and software issues. The F-35 TF3 configuration, which serves as the foundation for Block 4, is still pending delivery, and the precise elements of the Block 4 upgrade have not been revealed.
At the Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference, Taiclet stated that by the end of this year, TR-3 is probably going to be completely combat-capable. According to Taiclet, the integration of a new sensor suite, known as the Distributed Aperture System, with the remaining TR-3 hardware and software is now the primary obstacle.
“Once that catches up, we think by the end of this year, then all those aircraft that have been delivered will be combat-capable and allowable to be, like, at the front line for the services and for our allies,” he said.
Notably, Taiclet did not talk about the F-55, a newly proposed twin-engine variant of the F-35 by Donald Trump.
For now, with an optionally manned route now under active consideration, Lockheed appears to be treading into the sixth-generation territory. Thus, creating competition for the F-47 with significantly fewer resources.
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