Lockheed Martin Corporation ( LMT ) shares are trading higher today. The Pentagon will reportedly resume accepting new F-35s next week.

As per a report issued Wednesday, the service plans to select the builder of its next fighter jet later this year.

Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the head of Air Combat Command, said during an event on Wednesday, “Right now we’re very much focused on the TR-3 upgrade, software upgrade, to the [F-35] jet. And as you know, Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) had some issues with stability of that software package.”

“So we’ve held up signing the jets over to the Air Force for the last few months. And so we’re very much focused on unwinding that hold up. And I’m hopeful that those jets will start to be delivered this month,” 

Notably, in July last year, the government halted acceptance of new F-35s due to issues related to Technology Refresh-3, or TR-3.

Apart from this, recently, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $520.4 million contract modification by the U.S. Air Force to produce the F-16 Viper Shield electronic warfare suite.

Also, Lockheed Martin’s top competitor, RTX Corporation ( RTX ) , won a $1.2 billion contract today to supply Germany with additional Patriot air and missile defense systems.

Investors can gain exposure to LMT via Global X Funds Global X Defense Tech ETF and First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF .

Aerospace and defense exchange-traded funds trended upward on Thursday. iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ( ITA ) and Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF .

Price Action: LMT shares are up 0.52% at $463.89 at the last check Thursday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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