A Re-Look At The F-35A Lightning II -- March 31, 2024

Locator: 46884USAF.

April 2, 2024: in this post, I argued that the military-industrial complex is huge for the US economy.

• exhibit A: USN submarines;
• exhibit B: USAF F-35A Lightning II (see below)

Updates

April 2, 2024: I would argue the F-35A Lightning II fighters are incredibly more challenging to build than any passenger plane Boeing is building.

April 2, 2024: Quora thread. 

April 2, 2024, from January 10, 2024, from National Interest:

Link here.

Original Post

The recent announcement by the Biden administration sell 25 F-35A fighters to Israel prompted a re-look at this program.

The USAF fact sheet: link here.

The wiki fact sheet: link here.

I think most folks consider the F-35A simply a "better" F-15. 

But look at this. The F-15 was not "associated" with close air support (CAS). That was the role of the F-16. 

This is the big takeaway for me with regard to the F-35A: the F-35A a) an air superiority fighter; and, b) tasked with close air support. I'm not sure if we ever had that before, except for the F-4 in Vietnam -- air superiority and close support, but its deficiencies in air superiority were embarrassing and ultimately led to a replacement, the F-15.

Okay, so the USAF gains one aircraft that can do all three: missiles, bombs, and guns; and both the air-to-air mission and the air-to-ground missions.

A first derivative of that double mission: it simplifies organization and training, particularly for ground support (mechanics, replacement parts). The US can replace the F-15, the F-16, and the A-10 with the F-35.

Air-to-ground missiles?

But this is a much, much bigger first derivative:

NATO countries, except the US, are financially stressed and pressed and absolutely cannot afford to develop their own 21st century joint strike force aircraft. Their only option? Yup. Buy from the US -- as Israel just did.

From the USAF Fact Sheet: