What are the Pros and Cons of the F-35 Fighter Jet? General Features of the Aircraft: Part 1

Overview

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the largest joint military aviation program ever undertaken, designed and built under the leadership of the United States, in partnership with participating nations, to develop an aircraft capable of meeting today's air combat requirements.

The F-35 Lightning II, the largest acquisition program of the US Department of Defense (DOD), is a fifth-generation fighter aircraft designed/produced in different versions for the US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. The F-35 was named Lightning II in reference to the P-38 Lightning I, a twin-engine fighter of the World War II era.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the F-35, with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems providing design/product development support. According to current production planning, the US Army will procure a total of 2,456 F-35s. An additional 14 aircraft have been produced for research, development and flight testing. 

The F-35 is an aircraft developed by an international industry group consisting of some US allies and leading aerospace companies. Production, maintenance, sustainment and logistics support activities are shared among the production partners according to this setup.  Taking part in such an advanced fighter jet project was considered important for all countries involved in the program due to the added value potential it could provide directly and/or indirectly to their own aerospace industries. 

In 2001, the US invited the countries it considered as allies to participate in this program, which it wanted to be multinational from the very beginning. Within this framework, those allied countries that showed interest in the program participated. 

In addition to the United States, a total of 8 countries were included in the program as international partners: United Kingdom (UK), Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Denmark, Canada and Turkey. Turkey was completely excluded from the program in 2021 by a so-called unilateral decision taken by the United States as a result of the rough patches in Turkish-American relations since 2016. 

The other 8 countries indirectly involved in the program through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) are: Belgium, Finland, South Korea, Israel, Israel, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Singapore. 

The F-35 Program is managed by the F-35 Joint Program Office (PMO), which reports directly to the Pentagon. In addition to American personnel, personnel assigned from international partners and FMS countries are assigned duties and responsibilities in the office. 

The F-35 is the F-16 of the future for US allies. It is envisaged that the use of the fourth generation F-16 will be replaced by the fifth generation F-35 aircraft. Thus, it is aimed to meet the need for interoperability in terms of fighter aircraft in all military operations in which the US will participate with its allies. In addition, the initial cost of F-35 development is expected to be lower, and the cost is expected to be shared with the aircraft to be produced for other countries. Again, with this method, the sale of the aircraft outside the US could be guaranteed from the very beginning. In addition, the Western world's transition to fifth-generation aircraft was intended to be a collective one, and the transformation was to be realized together. With the new alliance structure shaped around the F-35, it was envisaged that this aircraft would serve as a "cement" between the allied countries at the political, military and strategic levels, and serve as a joint contribution to global security. 

As is the case with many high-tech programs, the myriad of capabilities to be acquired as part of the F-35 fighter jet program have caused the program to exceed its initial budget and fall behind schedule. 

In 1994, the US Congress decided to produce a single fighter aircraft for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps) that needed a fighter aircraft similar to the F-35. This was intended to reduce the costs of aircraft design, product development, production, maintenance, sustainment and logistics support. The political decision by Congress resulted in a relatively low-budget fifth-generation aircraft that combines the joint capability requirements of the US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy in the same aircraft. 

Three different force-specific versions of the F-35 have been produced for the three services. All three versions were envisioned to be highly capable fifth-generation aircraft incorporating the most advanced modern technology. Indeed, the F-35 has become a pioneering aircraft that stands out with its advanced engine, high use of composite materials, low stealth, advanced radar and sensors, and integrated avionics. This aircraft has been equipped with important modern aviation capabilities that have emerged in recent years and has been transformed into a war machine that maximizes the pilot's situational awareness. While the fifth-generation F-22 is designed for air superiority, the F-35 is a dual-role tactical fighter capable of both air-to-ground (bombing) and air-to-air (interceptor) missions.

F-35 Program Management 

From the very beginning, the F-35 program has strived to move forward with an emphasis on jointness, advanced technology, and network-centric concept of operations demonstrations. The identification and development of new weapon systems, sensors and capabilities to be acquired with this aircraft took time. A program management office was needed to manage the production and cost schedule of this inherently complex multinational aircraft development program. Despite the efforts of the F-35 program office and its maestro role, the acquisition of some F-35 capabilities has fallen behind schedule. This led to criticism from many production partner countries, including the American public, and the program management faced various negative criticisms. In the end, the program has made progress, with the program office bearing the brunt of the high cost and schedule delays. F-35 program management was able to focus on developing an aircraft with jointness, affordability, and integrated combat capability, enabling the production of a high-performing fighter.

The JSF program emerged in late 1995 as a result of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program, which began in late 1993 to replace the Navy's aging A-6 carrier-based attack aircraft and the Air Force's F-16 fighters. 

On 16 November 1996, the US Department of Defense announced that Boeing and Lockheed Martin had been selected to compete in the concept demonstration phase of the program, with Pratt & Whitney providing propulsion hardware and engineering support. Boeing and Lockheed competed against each other for the three planned JSF variants. They were contracted by the Pentagon to design/manufacture concept demonstrator aircraft and conduct test flights. Following the first flights of Boeing's X-32 and Lockheed Martin's X-35 prototypes, in October 2001 the US Department of Defense selected Lockheed Martin's X-35 and Pratt & Whitney's X-35 as the engine. Meanwhile, General Electric (GE) continued its engine development efforts to meet the alternative engine requirements for the mass production phase of the program. 

Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the F-35 program was completed in April 2003. Critical Design Reviews were conducted in February 2006 (F-35A and F-35B) and June 2007 (F-35C). 

The F-35A made its first flight on November 14, 2009. The F-35C flew for the first time on June 6, 2010. The F-35B made its first vertical landing on March 17, 2010. The US Marine Corps certified that the F-35B reached Initial Operational Capability (IOC) on July 31, 2015. The US Air Force certified that the F-35A reached IOC on August 2, 2016. The Navy completed the F-35C IOC approval process on February 28, 2019.  

The F-35 Joint Program Office announced the completion of 17 years of System Development and Demonstration (SDD) on April 11, 2018. To date, the development flight crew has flown more than 9,200 sorties and 17,000 flight hours. More than 65,000 test points of development flight tests have been completed.

F-35 Models/Versions

In line with the requirements of the US military and other program partner countries, three variants of the F-35 family have been produced. 

The F-35A is designed to operate from conventional runways and is the most common variant. The US Air Force and the majority of the countries that have purchased this aircraft have preferred to use the F-35A.

The F-35B can land vertically like a helicopter and take off over very short distances. This allows it to operate from simple, short-runway military bases and aircraft carriers. The F-35B is used by the US Marine Corps, the UK, Japan, Singapore and the Italian Air Force. 

The F-35C is only available to the US Navy and Marine Corps.

All three versions/models have similar performance characteristics and identical advanced avionics. The differences between the models are due to the differences in the expected operational requirements of the forces. In addition, the systems, components and parts common to all three models resulted in low unit costs of the aircraft.

Table: F-35 Key Performance Parameters

Most aviation observers believe that the F-35 could dominate the fighter export market, just as the F-16 did. Like the F-16, the F-35 is now recognized as an attractive aircraft for most countries due to its relatively low cost, flexible design and promise of high performance. France's Rafale, Sweden's JAS Gripen and Europe's Eurofighter Typhoon are the F-35's competitors in this category, but since none of them are fifth-generation fighters, the F-35 is technically superior.  

In Part-2, which will be published tomorrow, I will discuss the Technical Specifications of the Aircraft.