It came as a big surprise to me that a fighter jet has to stop for gas enroute from TX to CA.
The article doesn't specify whether the plane departed the Lockheed facility in Fort Worth or from the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.
My suspicion is that it's tied to the ongoing problems with the acceptance of the F-35s from Lockheed. The plane likely departed the Lockheed plant in Fort Worth without a full fuel load.
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2024/05/f-35s-are-piling-lockheed-tarmacs-presenting-unique-risks-pentagon/396646/
F-35s are piling up on Lockheed tarmacs, presenting ‘unique’ risks to the Pentagon: The program is trying to quash bugs that force pilots to reboot in midair, GAO says.
By Audrey Decker
May 16, 2024
The Pentagon has refused delivery of so many F-35s that Lockheed Martin is running out of places to put them, according to a new report from a government watchdog agency. Last July, the government stopped accepting new F-35s because of hardware and software delays with Technology Refresh-3, a $1.8-billion effort to enable new capabilities for the jet. The number of jets accumulating outside Lockheed's plant is “grossly delinquent,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., chairman of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee, told reporters Wednesday. “We know one thing for certain: it's going to be at least over 100 aircraft stacked up on the tarmac,” Wittman said. The GAO report did not say how many aircraft are currently parked, saying the Defense Department deemed that figure “unsuitable for public release.”
“It is unique for so many critical DOD aircraft to be waiting for DOD acceptance, instead of stored at lower densities across many military locations throughout the world. This creates unique financial and schedule risks to DOD,” GAO said.
There’s more to this story. Edwards Air Force Base is for testing, not operational wings. This aircraft was likely being ferried from the Lockheed plant in Fort Worth to Edwards Air Force Base for testing.
I looked it up and it's about 1400 miles and I think the F-35 should be able to go that far without refueling. However, being just a casual transfer, the pilot may have wanted to stop in Albuquerque for other reasons.