F22 F35.
Posted on 08/02/2016 9:30:41 PM PDT by Enchante
AF declares the F-35A ‘combat ready’
By Air Combat Command Public Affairs, / Published August 02, 2016 JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. (AFNS) -- The F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation fighter aircraft was declared ‘combat ready’ by Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the commander of Air Combat Command, Aug 2.
Carlisle lauded the aircraft’s performance, noting that the aircraft had met all key criteria for reaching initial operational capability: Airmen trained, manned and equipped to conduct basic close air support, interdiction and limited suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses in a contested environment with an operational squadron of 12-24 aircraft; the ability to deploy and conduct operational missions using program of record weapons and missions systems; and having all necessary logistics and operational elements in place.
“I am proud to announce this powerful new weapons system has achieved initial combat capability,” Carlisle said. “The F-35A will be the most dominant aircraft in our inventory because it can go where our legacy aircraft cannot and provide the capabilities our commanders need on the modern battlefield.”
The F-35A is the latest addition to ACC’s fleet of deployable and fifth-generation aircraft. It provides air superiority, interdiction, suppression of enemy air defenses and close air support as well as great command and control functions through fused sensors, and it will provide pilots with unprecedented situational awareness of the battlespace that will be more extensive than any single-seat platform in existence.
“Bringing the F-35A to initial combat readiness is a testament to our phenomenal Airmen and the outstanding support of the Joint Program Office and our enterprise partners. This important milestone for our fighter force ensures the United States, along with our allies and international partners, remains prepared to deter, deny, and defeat the full spectrum of growing threats around the globe," added Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David L. Goldfein, said that dynamic new capability will benefit the joint warfighter.
"The combat ready F-35A is the latest fifth-generation fighter aircraft in the Air Force's inventory and provides our nation air dominance in any environment. The F-35A brings an unprecedented combination of lethality, survivability, and adaptability to joint and combined operations, and is ready to deploy and strike well-defended targets anywhere on Earth," Goldfein said. "Today's declaration of IOC is an important milestone on the road to achieving full warfighting capability for the F-35A.”
The 34th Fighter Squadron of the 388th Fighter Wing, based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the service’s first operational F-35A squadron, having met all the established criteria for initial operational capability including a successful June deployment to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, and a series of eight-aircraft sorties held in mid-July. 34th FS Airmen will fly and maintain the F-35A alongside Air Force Reservists from Hill’s 419th Fighter Wing.
"Our Airmen have worked tirelessly to make sure our aircraft are combat ready: meeting challenges head-on and completing all the required milestones," said Col. David Lyons, the 388th Fighter Wing commander. "We're very proud that the Air Force has declared us combat ready and we're prepared to take this aircraft wherever it's needed in support of our national defense."
Those sentiments were echoed by Col. David Smith, the 419th FW commander. “It's an honor to fly and maintain the F-35 with our active-duty counterparts here at Hill,” Smith said. “Our units were the first to fly combat-ready F-16s nearly 40 years ago, and we're very proud to have made history once again in bringing the Air Force's newest fighter jet to IOC.”
For more information click this link: http://www.acc.af.mil/AirCombatCommandsF-35AProgram.aspx
For questions, contact Air Combat Command Public Affairs at (757) 764-5007 or via e-mail accpa.operations@us.af.mil
Any idea what the price per plane is up to?
What have the Marines and Navy had to say about this F-35?
Hitting a few comments with one post:
“What happened to the F-22?”
The F-22 is a better airframe, with air-to-air capabilities far beyond the F-35. It’s the F-15 to the F-35’s F-16. Shutting down the production line was a mistake, and the AF is now admitting that 186 of them is too few. There is talk of reopening the production line, as well as upgrading a few components to the more modern F-35 level.
“Every one that is lost is 330 million bucks down the drain.”
No. See the next response. You are including sunk engineering costs which are not affected by a lost F-35.
“Any idea what the price per plane is up to?”
The flyaway cost of the F-35A (cost to manufacture a plane) is around $100 million as of now. The current F-16 is around $60 million without stealth or advanced sensors/electronics. What the F-35 provides over the F-16 is the ability to strike heavily defended targets with few or no losses, and to fire at enemy aircraft before the enemy knows they’re around.
“The joke of a gun goes operational in 2017!
180 rounds. 3 seconds of 25mm. And it cant be used yet.”
It was quite premature to declare the gun obsolete in the ‘60s. In 2016, if you’re fighting a modern adversary the gun is only there as an absolute last resort.
180 rounds of 25mm is probably enough to shoot down five enemy planes, if push comes to shove, given that the software assisted aiming should be extremely accurate.
ping
I thought we were hoping for a carrier jet? Like the F-22 with a better frame.
F22 F35.
Combat ready? Pfft. Tell me that when its actually been in combat. Until then, it’s an overpriced, overhyped fish head.
What’s the low altitude stall speed?
“180 rounds of 25mm is probably enough to shoot down five enemy planes, if push comes to shove, given that the software assisted aiming should be extremely accurate”
Huh? The gun is for ground support me thinks. In which case it is about 1000 thousand rounds short of an A-10. Of course in theory the F35 can take out missle defenses to allow it to go in for low altitude ground support whereas the Warthog needs to wait to go in while other assets do that.
It’s complicated, but what killed the F-22 (mostly) is the same thing that is killing the A-10 — the US can’t really afford single-mission aircraft anymore. Everything is multi-role. It’s a bit short-sighted, I know. Multi-role aircraft are a good idea in peacetime operations, and perhaps limited wars, but the minute you go into a full-blown slugging match the guy with enough air-superiority aircraft generally wins the day.
Recall that before the F-22 was terminated, they were playing with the idea of an FB-22. Trying to make a fighter bomber out of a pure air superiority platform with a relatively small internal weapons bay. “Oh, we’ll just hang the weapons on wing pylons!” Say ‘what’?
That said, while McCain hated the thing, the Air Force and its contractors screwed the pooch on this plane. Took 26 years to produce and was waaaaaaayyyyy over budget.
I like great military aircraft as much as the next guy, but this program was poorly managed in production and implementation. I suspect the Air Force got a spanking over this one.
Thank you. Most of the people that slam the F-35 don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. A quick search of YouTube is apparently very difficult.
“Huh? The gun is for ground support me thinks.”
The F-35 won’t be using its gun in the CAS role, except possibly in the case of the Marines, which is a gun pod not the internal cannon.
I believe the AF doctrine on CAS these days revolves around precision weapons. The troops provide GPS coordinates for the target, which are uploaded to overhead aircraft. Shortly thereafter, munitions arrive on target.
“In which case it is about 1000 thousand rounds short of an A-10.”
The Apache is a much better gun CAS platform than either - it’s low and slow. The A-10 has a pretty bad story on friendly fire incidents.
“Of course in theory the F35 can take out missle defenses to allow it to go in for low altitude ground support whereas the Warthog needs to wait to go in while other assets do that.”
Neither the F-35 or the A-10 can take out shoulder-launched missiles before the fact. The F-35 is fairly vulnerable to them, as stealth against IR is only minimally effective. The best defense is to remain at higher altitudes and use precision weapons.
God Rod ‘em from Space, it’s the only way to be sure.
I remember when the first "Joint Strike Fighter" flight sims hit the shelves at the software shops in the late 1990s. Published by a company that's now defunct and sold by retailers that are no longer in business.
Killed off? We have like 150 of them. Fielded and ready at bases all over. Yeah not as many as we wanted, but hardly ‘killed off’.
Greenish-grey is far more likely to be delivered than pink with purple polka-dots.
“Most of the people that slam the F-35 don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.”
Yeah it is pretty pathetic. They mostly regurgitate out of context lines from some leftist hit-piece article. They are the same morons that say ‘it is just a copy of an [random US plane]’ whenever a picture of a foreign aircraft is posted.
It's really short-sighted, especially when you consider that it's about time for another big war. (Though it may not be w/ us, it's a good idea to be prepared.)
There's an old saying: if you want peace, prepare for war
... and the converse is also true, if we prepare for peace then we weaken our ability to wage war.
Recall that before the F-22 was terminated, they were playing with the idea of an FB-22. Trying to make a fighter bomber out of a pure air superiority platform with a relatively small internal weapons bay. “Oh, we’ll just hang the weapons on wing pylons!” Say ‘what’?
I actually don't remember them saying anything about that... in any case it's a stupid idea.
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