Why the Air Force Might Need More F-35s

Kris Osborn

Security,

Expert: If the Air Force does not accelerate its buy of F-35s, in the year 2030 half of its fighter fleet will still be non-stealthy planes. That could make victory over a China or Russia hard to achieve

Expert: If the Air Force does not accelerate its buy of F-35s, in the year 2030 half of its fighter fleet will still be non-stealthy planes. That could make victory over a China or Russia hard to achieve

While senior Air Force leaders are calling for a “fast” pursuit toward production and delivery of its stated F-35 objectives, there are some voices now raising the question as to whether the rates should be sped up even more -- potentially even increasing the overall numbers for the program.

The discussion is centered around several questions currently under consideration. Can the current pace of construction and delivery be accelerated? Can larger numbers of F-35As be moved forward to address nearer term demand? What kind of industrial capacity might there be if the Air Force, perhaps with Army input, seeks to increase the overall production numbers of the aircraft above and beyond its stated objective of 1,763?

In 2018, Lockheed Martin delivered 45 Air Force F-35As, a 70-percent increase from 2017. This year, however, the plan is to only go up to 48 - en route to 60 per year in the mid 2020s - some say this is simply not enough.

At issue is a key and concerning question raised by expert F-35 observers -- namely that if the US should find itself in a high-end war against a major adversary such as Russia on the European continent, will it simply not have enough 5th-gen aircraft to meet the threat? The Air Force’s stated budget-related decision not to re-start F-22 production seems to only compound this problem.

“If the Air Force does not accelerate its buy of F-35s, in the year 2030 half of its fighter fleet will still be non-stealthy planes. That could make victory over a China or Russia hard to achieve,” said Loren Thompson, Chief Operating Officer of the Lexington Institute.

Retired weapons developer Lt. Gen. David Deptula, now serving as the Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace studies, is among a handful of voices saying “no,” the US would not be prepared should it stay at its current rate of F-35 production.

Deptula is specifically calling for faster production to get to the desired inventory more rapidly.