F-35 Lightning/JSF (Joint Strike Fighter)

[Guest Raptor08]

So here's a question...with the F-35 supposedly dropping out of UPT in the next 3ish years, what impact would that have on the 38 drops and class sizes? I would think at some point the wave has to go back up, it's not going to be a 1 for 1 trade of pilots out of vipers and hogs and such into the 35, guys are bound to retire, etc. In the past few years we've been dropping only a handful of guys to the pointy noses, is there any chance of that scaling back up or is this probably going to be the norm until skynet and the RPAs take over.

I had a similar question and while I'm not going to pretend to know I'd guess it will be far more than 3ish years. Remember the F-22 only started becoming available (and it was short lived) to UPT studs about 10 years after production began (1998 started deliveries, operational in 2005, first 4 UPT drops in late 2007). Unless the F-35 program is sped up (and its already years behind schedule) I'd imagine we won't be seeing any Lightning II drops for another 5-6 years min.

[brabus]

Based on info from dudes in the program, UPT won't be seeing these till at least 2016, with realistically more like 2018-2020. They don't even expect to start the "influx" of CAF guys until 2014. And that's "best case." So, figure 2 yrs min before they start dropping them to UPT, but probably longer than that.

[WillFlyForCoffee]

First stud F-35 dropped to CBM today with the added caveat "you'll be able to compete with your other IFF classmates," but it was on the screen. Thread revived.

[HuggyU2]

What was his class ranking?

[Day Man]

8 hours ago, Huggyu2 said:

What was his class ranking?

"Pretty darn good."

[ClearedHot]

Fat Amy gets a kill!

 

[Clark Griswold]

Czechia Signs to Buy U.S. F-35 Jets
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/01/29/czechia-signs-to-buy-u-s-f-35-jets/

IDK, seems like we’re encouraging an ally to buy a very pricy system when if they bought a less expensive one (in greater numbers) to acquire/operate/sustain they might be better off in the long run (FA-50 for example)

Just my opinion from the cheap seats but a better COA is to plan for our smaller allies to bring more less capable but relevant systems to the party and Uncle Sam brings the exquisite capes rather than expecting them to be mini versions of us


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[brabus]

All about money and shinny new things. The Swiss have zero need for the F-35. It’s actually probably a negative for them, and should have gone with Block 70 Vipers, new Super Hornets, etc. Similar applies to multiple partner countries.

[Clark Griswold]

All about money and shinny new things. The Swiss have zero need for the F-35. It’s actually probably a negative for them, and should have gone with Block 70 Vipers, new Super Hornets, etc. Similar applies to multiple partner countries.

Yup
I think this is “fixing the glitch” in whatever’s F-35 numbers you wanna believe
More operators for bigger economies of scale for more ways to hide higher than published life cycle costs
What the hell, just print some more money and shovel it around…


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[Lawman]

Yup
I think this is “fixing the glitch” in whatever’s F-35 numbers you wanna believe
More operators for bigger economies of scale for more ways to hide higher than published life cycle costs
What the hell, just print some more money and shovel it around…


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It’s also far easier to deal with the attritional impact of Large Scale Combat and rebuild our numbers post conflict by simply buying up their spares at premium with the promise of new shiny later.

A country that sits in the NATO order of battle like for example Moldova doesn’t need F-35s, or Abrams, or really any other top line piece of tech that isn’t worn/carried. But it can rent them for a while….


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[di1630]

Fighters are a source of pride. Most NATO allies need more support aircraft but they don’t look good at airshows.

Some allies are buying shiny new F-35s and still using the missiles they bought from the 90s.


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[uhhello]

1 hour ago, di1630 said:

Fighters are a source of pride. Most NATO allies need more support aircraft but they don’t look good at airshows.

Some allies are buying shiny new F-35s and still using the missiles they bought from the 90s.


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And they have 90s missiles with about 10 total spares 🙂