Broadly conceived as an affordable, stealthy, replacement for the F-16, the F-35A Lightning II is a very capable fighter, but does the need for stealth compromise its ability to be a useful all-rounder?
IT’S VERY EASY to criticize a new fighter program, especially one such as the F-35, which has rewritten the rulebook when it comes to development and production. The ‘concurrent’ nature of this program means that hundreds of Lightning IIs will be in service with a host of operators before development test work is complete, let alone formal operational test and evaluation. The F-35 program turns standard development practice on its head.
While this means that early-batch aircraft will need to be upgraded as the glitches are ironed out, it enables production to ramp up faster, theoretically bringing down unit costs through economies of scale. It arguably allows end users to make extensive use of the new fighter earlier, and find flaws that might otherwise only be recognized after a decade in service. It’s a complex argument, and one that stirs deep disagreement between interested parties.
Lockheed Martin says it is on track to bring the unit cost of an F-35A down to less than $85 million by 2019. So far,…
