USAF Declares F-35 Ready For War
The U.S. Air Force on Aug. 2 officially declared the F-35 ready for war, a huge milestone that signals the tide may finally be turning for the fifth-generation fighter jet.
The decision to declare the Air Force’s F-35A operational right around the target date of Aug. 1 is a triumph for a program with a long history of cost overruns, technological challenges, and schedule delays. But now that the chief of Air Combat Command (ACC) has finally given the green light, the Air Force will waste no time in deploying the Joint Strike Fighter to Europe, the Pacific and even the Middle East.
“I would like to deploy it to both the European and the Pacific theater in the not-toodistant future, so I would say within 18 months I think I’ll try to get to both those theaters,” said ACC commander Gen. Herbert Carlisle, adding that if U.S. Central Command asks for the F-35 in the Middle East, he would send it in a heartbeat.
The plan to send the F-35 to combat zones in the next few years stands in sharp contrast to the Air Force’s delay in deploying its other stealth fighter jet, the F-22. Though the Raptor entered service in 2005, the jet did not see combat until the U.S.-led intervention in Syria in 2014. The F-22’s time spent fighting Islamic State terrorists and its deployment to Europe as part of the U.S. response to Russian resurgence did wonders for its public image, even sparking a movement in Congress to potentially restart the production line.
In rolling out the F-35, the Air Force may be taking lessons learned from the Raptor to heart. U.S. partners and allies really want to see the jet in action, Carlisle said. “I think when the F-35 deploys to places like in the European theater as well as in the Pacific theater, it will give our allies and partners confidence in the airframe,” Carlisle said. “It will also give them a chance to see it in operation and see it in interoperability working with their fourth-generation airplanes.” Deploying the F-35 to these regions also serves as an effective deterrent to potential adversaries, Carlisle said—in other words, Russia.
The Air Force decided not to deploy the F-22 to combat zones immediately because some believed sending the world’s only fifthgeneration stealth fighter to the Middle East would be viewed as a provocative move, Carlisle explained. However, at this point he does not believe operating the F-35 over the skies of Iraq and Syria is a bad move. “From my perspective, I think it sends a good signal,” Carlisle said. “I think it reassures friends and allies and it is a deterrent to potential adversaries, so I don’t think it’s provocative at all.”