The F-35 Lightning II was conceived as the jewel in the crown of contemporary air power—stealthy, well-networked, and capable enough to rule the skies for decades to come. It was designed to provide the United States and its allies with a commanding advantage over any potential foe far into the future. But the journey to that vision has been anything but easy. Rising costs, persistent reliability issues, and changing needs of the modern battlefield have planners puzzled over how to reconcile the aircraft’s potential with its shortfalls.
The scale of the program itself is enormous. The U.S. has more than 600 F-35s in operation now and intends to grow the fleet to approximately 2,500 jets by the 2040s, with the service continuing through the late 2080s. Maintaining that many aircraft in flight is not inexpensive. Government projections indicate operating and maintenance costs rising from $1.1 trillion in 2018 to $1.58 trillion by 2023—a nearly 45 percent increase over five years. Add on the costs of purchasing them, and the overall cost over the lifetime of the planes is more than $2 trillion. They are real figures; they are the basis for decisions from hours of flight training to other costly defense contracts.
Most of that cost is a function of the plane’s intricacy. Consider the F-35A, the Air Force’s entry-level model. Flight time runs roughly $42,000 per hour, versus perhaps $25,000 for the F-16 and $30,000 for the Super Hornet. Fuel alone would cost some $4,500 an hour by itself, and the advanced systems of the aircraft require seasoned technicians and special equipment. Adding training, logistics, and upkeep, one F-35A can cost over $5 million a year to fly. Spare parts are staggeringly costly as well, with landing gear units costing up to close to $200,000 and advanced sensor modules at more than half a million dollars each.
Confronted with those costs, the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have had to rethink how often they can currently manage to fly the planes. Planned flying time has been reduced—almost a fifth for the Air Force and almost half for the Navy. Even after the reductions, availability is still a problem. Maintenance runs behind schedule, spare parts accumulate, and the advanced stealth coatings of the aircraft that render it virtually invisible make even ordinary maintenance expensive and time-consuming. However, few will quibble about the aircraft’s resilience.
Block 4 modernization in today’s F-35 adds over 75 enhancements to all variants. More missile capacity, cutting-edge electronic warfare capability, and superior target recognition are only the start. What really makes the F-35 stand out, however, is that it can collect, process, and distribute data from the battlefield in real time.
Its “sensor fusion” provides pilots with a smooth 360-degree awareness of their surroundings, sensing and seeing threats before they appear to the naked eye. That information can be fed in real time to coalition forces, making the plane an operations center for coordinated action. As Maj. Gen. Gina Sabric put it, the F-35 is “the quarterback of the entire battle,” commanding the tempo of action and multiplying the value of all assets engaged. This transition has revolutionized not only combat capabilitybut flalso ight training.
Flying fifth-generation fighter aircraft demands a new psychology. The pilots no longer need to stick close to one another in formation flying or follow scripted maneuvers. Miles between them and bound together by secure networks and situational awareness, they fly alone on individual missions but as part of a coordinated team effort. Decision-speed, stress resistance, and ease of integration with air, land, and sea forces are now the focus of training.
Training exercises, once the sole province of advanced training, such as Red Flag exercises, now belong to the baseline. But with these advancements come strategic and fiscal costs as well. This singularity’s scope on one plane and one builder has led to an industrial lock-in that can constrain flexibility.
For minor air forces, F-35 fleet maintenance costs may realistically replace investment in other requirements, like base modernization or the acquisition of advanced ordnance. Even for America, the sheer magnitude of the program has forced difficult choices, slowing or canceling modernization elsewhere.
Yet the F-35 is today the backbone of allied airpower around the globe. Scores of them are flying today in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, uniting partner nations with a level of interoperability that had never before been achieved. As Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt has put it, having so many allied F-35s represents a force multiplier that protracts security and reach across the globe.
The question now is where the program will go from here. Its unprecedented capability is its greatest asset—and its most enduring test. Higher prices, maintenance challenges, and changing operational requirements will have to be successfully managed if the full potential of fifth-generation air power is to be achieved. The decisions in the years ahead will determine not only the future of the F-35 but also the future of air dominance for decades to come.
