The lack of combat for the Marines’ variant has led to continued questions by critics whether the Air Force’s version of the aircraft is truly ready.
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Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, commander of the Air Combat Command, announced the F-35A’s has reached initial operational capability (IOC) during a Tuesday briefing with reporters at the Pentagon.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said Tuesday’s declaration of initial operational capability was an important step to reaching full combat readiness, which will assist the USA military in reaching air dominance in any environment. At a projected cost of $379 billion for a fleet of 2,443 aircraft, it’s also the costliest US weapon system and one of the most closely scrutinized.
So it is no exaggeration to say that the Air Force buy is the linchpin of the whole program.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will continue to exercise rigorous oversight of the Joint Strike Fighter program’s long-delayed system development and demonstration phase as well as the start of the operational test and evaluation phase.
But the program has faced numerous setbacks, including a mysterious engine fire in 2014 that led commanders to ground planes until the problem could be resolved. The United Kingdom and Australia also plan to deploy the aircraft, once satisfied it’s ready for action. Carlisle hailed the F-35’s ability to gather information, fuse data from multiple sources and increase the pilot’s situational awareness. The report warned that a failure “could take the entire fleet offline”, in part, due to the lack of a backup system.
“I think they generally know that this is a pretty shallow stunt”, Grazier said.
Despite the announcement, the F-35As are unlikely to fly into combat until at least 2019, when Hill and the Air Force are expected to have 72 of the jets fully equipped and staffed.
Todd Harrison, a defence analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “The program is not doing everything they wanted it to do…”
The U.S. air force was widely expected to declare the F-35A combat ready sometime this month. “It will provide airmen unprecedented lethality and survivability, a capability they will use to defend America and our allies for decades to come”.
Hill’s squadron is the first anywhere to achieve the distinction. That would be a year later than planned largely because of technical issues that the Air Force now considers sufficiently resolved or on a path to being resolved.
F-35 is manufactured in three versions: a conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) variant for the U.S. Air Force, an aircraft-carrier version (CV) for the U.S. Navy, and a short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) version for the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.K. Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
The A model comprises more than 85 per cent of the total program and is the same version ordered for the RAAF.
The declaration of IOC will have particular impact throughout the worldwide defense world, Thompson says. “We’re ready to do that”.
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Image: F-35A Lightning II aircraft receive fuel from a KC-10 Extender from Travis Air Force Base, California.
