In early April, it was announced that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II had exceeded
500,000 flight hours worldwide, demonstrating the continued evolution and maturity of the
program.
Today, the fifth-generation multirole fighter is in service at 25 bases and 9 ships worldwide.
Its interoperability has made it an asset to the United States, its allies, and partners,
and will continue to function for years to come.
Critics missed the F-35, but it's hard to understand why it's the best fighter in the
world.
A Joint Strike Fighter – Three Planes in One
The F-35 was designed to do what no single aircraft could do – and as a “Joint Strike
Fighter,” it was developed to replace the United States Air Force’s A-10 and F-16,
the United State Navy’s F/A-18, and the United States Marine Corps F/A-18 and AV-8B
Harrier.
The single-engine, single-seat plane is unique in that it can operate as a conventional-takeoff-and-landing
variant (F-35A) for the Air Force, while the Navy’s version (F-35C) was designed to operate
from an aircraft carrier.
The United States Marine Corps, along with the UK’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy,
employ the F-35B, which can operate as a short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) fighter.
The F-35 is now the backbone of allied airpower for a multitude of nations including the United
States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, and
South Korea.
In addition, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and Thailand have either
ordered or expressed interest in flying high with the aircraft.
Range and Speed As a fifth-generation fighter, the F-35 Lightning
II is equipped with advanced stealth capabilities, along with improved agility and maneuverability,
as well as enhanced sensor and information fusion, network-enabled operations, and sustainment.
All that makes the F-35 among the world’s most advanced multi-role fighters flying today.
Powered by F135-PW-100 engines that provide 40,000 pounds of maximum propulsion, the combat
aircraft has a range of 1,200 nautical miles, and can reach speeds of upwards of Mach 1.6
(1,200 mph).
Like the F-35, the F135-PW-100 was developed with two variants; the CTOL version used in
the F-35A and F-35C, and a two-cycle STOVL model for the F-35B, which includes a forward
lift fan.
A 21st Century Warbird The F-35 features advanced electronic warfare
(EW) capabilities that allow pilots to locate and track enemy forces like no other combat
aircraft in the world today.
In addition, the pilots can jam radars and disrupt threats, while advanced avionics provides
the pilot with real-time access to battlespace information.
That includes 360-degree coverage of the tactical environment – and data collected by the
fighter’s sensors can be shared with commanders at sea, in the air, or on the ground.
The real-time data of the combat situation makes the F-35 a true force multiplier during
coalition operations.
The aircraft was also designed to be “future proof,” and in December 2021, BAE Systems
received a new contract to significantly upgrade and modernize the EW system for the F-35 Lightning
II, enabling the fighter to quickly detect and address evolving electromagnetic threats.
The system's modular architecture enables efficient hardware upgrades, reduces lifecycle
and retrofit costs, and supports rapid software updates across the global F-35 fleet.
The upgrade also provides fault isolation and diagnostic capabilities for the Non-Intrusive
Electronic Warfare Testing Solution (NIEWTS), allowing for accurate troubleshooting and
reducing maintenance costs.
Stealthy Until You Bring Out the Beast The Lockheed Martin-built Joint Strike Fighter
was developed to be a “multi-role” stealth fighter, which in essence means that it was
specifically engineered with the ability to launch massive air attacks on air-to-air and
air-to-ground targets.
The aircraft employs an internal weapons bay intended to enable attacks against an adversary
while preserving a stealth configuration, yet can be utilized in a full-force attack
by employing the external pylons as well – which has become known as its “ beast mode”
or “bomb truck.”
The Lightning II can also carry a variety of air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles,
anti-ship missiles, and bombs, and the different weapon layouts are meant to accommodate a
range of tactical scenarios.
The “First Day of War” loadout is meant to preserve the “stealth” configuration,
and the aircraft’s loadout could consist of four AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles for air-to-air
missions, or a mixture of four AIM-120s/GBU-31 JDAM “smart bombs,” for air-to-ground
missions, all of which would be loaded into the F-35’s internal armaments bay.
As the name implies, stealth loadouts are designed to minimize radar cross-section and
to maintain low observability (LO) when the enemy’s anti-air systems are operating at
full capacity.
As an adversary’s hostile anti-air systems – including sensors, air defense missiles,
gun systems, and even enemy aircraft – are eliminated, and the conflict enters into the
“ Third Day of War,” the loadout would change accordingly.
When it is determined that the F-35 no longer needs to rely on stealth and LO for survival,
the F-35 deploys an externally mounted weapon with a large radar field, allowing "beast
mode".
could work.
In this case, the weight of the weapon is quite high.
In stealth mode, the F-35 can carry 5,700 pounds internally, while in "Beast Mode" it
can carry up to 22,000 pounds of both air-to-air and air-to-surface ammunition.
Worth Every Penny The biggest complaint from the platform’s
critics remains the cost of the F-35.
It will indeed go down in history as the most expensive weapons system ever developed, costing
upwards of $1.508 trillion for the life of the program.
However, the F-35s will likely remain in service until the 2070s – and it is important to
note that the dollar figures have also been estimated in 2070 dollars, a fact that needs
to be put in perspective.
Though the fact also remains that while $1.5 trillion is a lot of money, it is worth noting
too that the F-35 will replace numerous older aircraft while the capabilities of the F-35
vastly surpass current fourth-generation platforms.
As many experts have argued, it is also far more cost-effective to operate fewer types
of aircraft, plus the F-35 can streamline training operations and require fewer suppliers
– both have financial benefits.
A final consideration is that potential adversaries are also developing fifth-generation aircraft
and the F-35 is the best platform to ensure we don't lose sight of each other in the sky.