Disposable Fighter? Pentagon Report Reveals F-35’s Extremely Short Lifespan

While Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II fifth generation single engine light fighter has long been the centre of controversy, with its design, performance and cost slammed by analysts, Pentagon officials, presidential candidates and Senators alike - most recently the Secretary of Defence - a recent Pentagon report has shed new light on critical flaws plaguing the fighter program. Following on from reports that some early production variants of the F-35 delivered to the U.S. Air Force and allies such as Australia may need to be scrapped entirely due to the considerable cost of modifications necessary to make the aircraft combat ready, the Pentagon has revealed that the fighters’ lifespan “may be as low as 2,100 flight hours.”

F-35 Stealth Fighters

While the F-35 was initially designed with a lifespan of 8,000 flight hours - allowing for approximately four decades in service depending on the intensity of use - recent reports indicate that the fighters may well be set for retirement after just ten years in service. With early production variants of the F-35A costing well over $100 million per fighter, and the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) capable F-35B  variant costing over $130 million, this would provide a considerably poorer return on the investment of the stealth fighter’s clients than previously expected - and could if not properly addressed seriously undermine prospects for exporting the aircraft. Fighters with such a short service life, by far the shortest of any high end modern fighter in the world, can be considered essentially disposable. Other flaws in the F-35 highlighted by Robert Behler, the director of Operation Test Evaluation at the Pentagon, included a poor level of combat readiness - “well below the planned 80 percent” - and weapons systems with an “unacceptable” level of accuracy wholly inadequate to “meet the contract specification.” Behler noted that while some improvements had been made to the gun’s aiming cues, “ no software or hardware corrections have yet been implemented to current the gun accuracy errors.”

F-35B Performs Vertical Landing

While the F-35 was first declared combat ready in late 2014 when the F-35B variant entered service with the U.S. Marines, the fighter appears to still have a long way to go before it is capable of carrying out combat missions against near peer adversaries or penetrating contested airspace. The Pentagon report further emphasised “vulnerabilities” in the F-35’s cybersecurity which had yet to be remedied. How Lockheed Martin will respond to mounting criticism of their fighter program, particularly in light of the accession of Patrick M Shanahan’s, a former Boeing official, to the post of Secretary of Defence and Boeing’s marketing of the highly cost effective and in many ways more capable F-15X - a potential alternative for both the U.S. Air Force and America’s export clients to the troubled F-35.