Vice Admiral David Venlet, program manager for the F-35 program, has spoken for the first time in public on the struggling program.
Venlet said the three services is still committed to buying a total of 2,443 despite delays with test and development.
He added that the service chiefs of the Navy and Marine Corps will announce in the coming weeks on how they plan to split the 680 aircraft between carrier borne and short take-off variants.