Aviation
Military /
USA
F-35 LIghtning II
The Lockheed Martin fighter becomes the second most numerous in the U.S. Air Force
F-35
US Air Force / Ministerie van Defensie, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gabriela Ramos
5/14/2021
The F-35 overtook the F-15s and the A-10s, thus becoming the second largest fleet of fighters in the USAF, behind only the F-16. Now the Air Force arsenal has 283 units of the F-35, a milestone reached about two weeks ago.
The number of fighters will continue to increase at air bases in Alaska and the interior of the United States, as the Air Force still intends to receive 1,763 more aircraft, which will start to be delivered later this year.
General Charles Quinton Brown Jr., USAF chief of staff, said studies were underway on tactical aviation requirements to define the best combination of old and fifth generation fighters. “The intention here is to take a look at the fighter portfolio that we have today with the seven different fighter fleets and what is the best mission capability as we move into the future. (...) We need to have a variety of fighters to make both the high-end and the low-end, ”he declared. The F-35 is the most advanced USAF fighter in terms of technology and, as it does not have a complement, it is necessary to find a balance in the form of use.
According to Brown, “the intention here [is] to study a range of options which should be the right combination when looking at future threats. [That] is part of what the study is going to provide. (...) So [the study] will not be there to give us an answer - it will give us a range of responses to take a look at the threat to make sure we did the analysis to inform us, but also to inform our main stakeholders ”.
The fighter has attracted a lot of attention recently, having even been called a "mouse hole" by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Adam Smith, which indicates the possibility that the Department of Defense will cancel the general purchase.
For some time now, Congress has been buying more F-35 units than the Department of Defense has requested in its budgets. Deputy John Garamendi even commented on his “enormous concern” regarding the maintenance of the F-35 and the possibility of canceling fighter purchases.
F-35
U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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