U.S. Marines Are Now Flying F-35 Stealth Fighters With No Radar

The U.S. Marine Corps has formally accepted six F-35B Lightning II fighter jets without their next generation radars installed, with ballast weights fitted in the nose sections in place of the intended AN/APG-85 active electronically scanned array radar. Reports indicate that radarless F-35 deliveries may have begun as early as June 2025, though official confirmation came only this week.

During a June 23 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, F-35 Joint Programme Office Director Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Masiello confirmed the six aircraft are the only jets delivered without radars so far, with no U.S. Air Force or U.S. Navy aircraft accepted in this configuration as of late June 2026. Both services, however, are expected to receive similarly configured aircraft later this year.

The root cause is a structural incompatibility introduced from Lot 17 production onward. The bulkhead on which the radar is mounted was redesigned specifically for the APG-85 and was not made backwards compatible with the older AN/APG-81 , making a simple swap between the two radars impossible. Lockheed Martin has raised the possibility of a common mounting solution, but this is not expected before Lot 20 deliveries, which begin between 2027 and 2028.

The AN/APG-85 is intended to achieve substantial improvements over the APG-81 in detection range, sensitivity, tracking capacity, resistance to jamming, and low probability of intercept operation, with its development driven in part by the rapid advancement of China's J-20 stealth fighter programme. However, the Pentagon initially considered developing a new adaptive engine to address cooling demands but abandoned the effort due to cost concerns.

Current projections suggest close to 300 F-35s could leave production lines without radars before the first production APG-85 units arrive in 2028. Representative Rob Wittman warned that the U.S. military will be left with aircraft that are not ready for combat until the situation is resolved. The F-35's full mission capable rate has already dropped from 38 percent in Fiscal Year 2021 to 25 percent in Fiscal Year 2025, according to a Government Accountability Office report published on June 11, 2026.