Lockheed Martin is putting a software engineering specialist in charge of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program as the current director gets set to retire.
Chauncey McIntosh, currently a Lockheed vice president and its deputy on the F-35 program, will take over as the program’s general manager on Dec. 1, the company said Wednesday.
Bridget Lauderdale, who currently runs Lockheed’s F-35 program, will retire at the end of the year after 38 years with the company.
“Chauncey is an exceptional leader with distinct qualifications needed to lead the F-35 program,” Lockheed Martin Aeronautics President Greg Ulmer said. “Critical leadership appointments like this will continue to advance our 21st Century Security solutions to support our growing customer needs.”
21st Century Security is Lockheed Martin’s strategy for integrating physical hardware with digital technologies, and making defense supply chains more resilient.
McIntosh was previously vice president and general manager of integrated warfare systems and sensors for Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems. During that time, McIntosh oversaw software development for the Aegis Weapon System, as well as managing missile defense, radar, shipbuilding, directed energy, and combat system integration programs.
The F-35 program has struggled with its own software issues, which were a major factor in a recent year-long delivery halt. Beginning in July 2023, the Pentagon refused to accept delivery of new F-35s that were to include an upgrade known as Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, which promised better displays, computer memory and processing power.
TR-3 had software problems and difficulty integrating with the F-35′s new hardware. This, along with hardware delays, prompted the delivery halt and caused dozens of fighters to be stored at Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas, facility.
Lockheed eventually developed a “truncated” form of the software that worked well enough for the jets to be delivered and to fly training missions. But those jets still can’t fly combat missions, and likely will not be ready for combat until 2025. The government is withholding about $5 million in payments to Lockheed for each jet, until TR-3′s combat capability is qualified and delivered.
Besides working with the F-35 and Aegis programs, McIntosh’s tenure at Lockheed has included time overseeing program and project management, software engineering, systems engineering and avionics design for the F-22 Raptor, C-5 Galaxy, P-3 Orion, and S-3 Viking aircraft.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
