F-35 News. Weapons bay redesign for the Small Diameter Bomb.

via Inside Defense

The internal weapons bay of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter cannot fit the required Small Diameter Bomb II weapons load, and a hydraulic line and structural bracket must be redesigned and modified ahead of the planned Block 4 release in fiscal year 2022, the joint program office confirmed this week.
The Air Force and Raytheon plan to begin scaling up production of the 250-pound class, precision-attack munition, except the current F-35B internal weapons bay cannot fit four of the eight required SDB IIs in its current configuration.
The Marine Corps is purchasing 353 of the F-35B jump jets and 34 had been delivered as of Feb. 2, according to a fact sheet from prime contractor Lockheed Martin. JSF partners Italy and the United Kingdom are also procuring F-35Bs and three of those international orders have been satisfied.
In response to questions from Inside the Air Force, F-35 spokesman Joe DellaVedova confirmed the weapons bay does not currently meet the requirements to house the planned Small Diameter Bomb II load and is being redesigned and modified in line with the scheduled rollout of Block 4 capabilities.
The short-takeoff-vertical-landing (STOVL) aircraft has unique weight requirements compared with the Air Force's conventional F-35A and Navy's F-35C carrier variant because of its vertical lift fan and it has a smaller internal weapons bay.
According to DellaVedova, the JSF program has been aware of the issue for some time and expects to award Lockheed a contract later this year to complete the design changes. The F-35 is designed to carry eight precision-attack small diameter bombs internally and 16 externally on its wings, and the program office has not publicly acknowledged the issue.

We've been hearing nothing but happy news from the F-35 program lately.  I almost, no thats a lie...I know its an attempt to take control of the messaging on the program.

But this should make even the most ardent fan boy sit up and pay attention.

This "most open program in procurement history" is anything but.  A reporter scouring over documents had to dig this out.  That leaves us with questions.

What are they not telling us?  What is news has been deemed so bad that they refuse to even put it into documents that people could find?  This is no longer about a defense program.  This has turned into something different.  Has this whole escapade turned into a "Lockheed Martin" is too big to fail story?  Is that why common sense has left so many in positions of power?