As Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, NATO’s eastern flank became an ideal proving ground for the F-35, here’s what the U.S. Air Force learned.
After returning from overseas deployment in May 2022, U.S. airmen have been working on lessons learned from their experience.
They say here that the jets proved to be more flexible than expected, allowing for agile combat employment across multiple regions with minimal staffing. However they add that skeleton crews need more personnel for distributed operations across different locations.
The pallet of spare parts was too bulky, prompting crews to create lighter, modular packages. F-35 pilots have learned to refuel their own jets and inspect engines in a pinch, improving their problem-solving skills.
The F-35’s connectivity with other NATO aircraft has been praised as a huge win for the alliance. Lockheed Martin projects that by 2030, over 400 F-35 jets will be stationed across Europe, making the aircraft the leader in any future regional conflict.
“We weren’t crossing the border. We’re not shooting anything or dropping anything,” said 388th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Craig Andrle in an interview here.
“But the jet is always sensing, gathering information. And it was doing that very, very well.”
I wonder how they will achieve this, clearly, the war in Ukraine and the possibility of conflict with China have given them food for thought. Navy League 2023: DoD explores accelerated F-35 weapons integration10 APRIL 2023 “JPO officials are weighing alternatives, from modernising current weapon test plans to issuing rapidly integrated clearances or interim clearances for weapon systems, to dramatically ramp up weapons integration into F-35. The effort is “a huge focus area” for the programme officials, said F-35 Program Executive Officer US Air Force Lieutenant General Michael Schmidt. “When I look at what are some of the limiting factors… Read more »
This was interesting news too given the current situation in the SCS. “The US Air Force (USAF) will likely end its efforts to operationalise the Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) following a 13 March test failure. Although the test failure marks the first of the all-up round, three component flight test failures in 2021 led to speculation about the programme’s future. The USAF said on 24 March that the test launch “met several objectives,” but provided no further information. The absence of elaboration is notable and likely denotes that the missile was lost prematurely. Since the test… Read more »
At this stage Hypersonic’s are a gimmick. The USAF only green lit ARRW because it looked like an easy and cheap way to field a basic capability to keep Congress and the Internet Trolls of their back when screaming about Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapons that barley exist. The US has over 70 hypersonic programs in development that are far in advance of anything China and Russia has and TLAM and existing weapons are still more than capable of penetrating any Chinese or Russian A2/AD umbrellas. The real tech is not on a handful of very expensive boondoggle hypersonic missiles… Read more »
They seem to be throwing money at it that’s for sure. “The Pentagon requested $4.7 billion for hypersonic research in the next fiscal year, up from $3.8 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. The US is developing a number of different hypersonic weapons programs across the military services, but a string of testing failures plagued certain programs.” Karako says the US backed away from research and development around hypersonic programs in past years. But as China and Russia boosted investment in their own systems, the US has made it a priority to catch up, with its own aggressive schedules.… Read more »
Lets just hope they haven’t forgotten what Regan’s administration did to the USSR. Fooled them into thinking Star Wars programme was generating real capabilities. The Russians spent billions trying to catch up when some of it at least was all smoke and mirrors, allegedly! If true then it has got to be one of the finest misinformation campaigns of all time…
Cheers CR
Agreed.
Just posted on Janes! They’re all at it 😂 Something no doubt for the UK to consider given this new era of cooperation between our two countries.
Japan progresses hypersonic and long-range missile programmes
12 APRIL 2023
LINK
Well the Russians and Chinese have done exactly the same with their comic book “hypersonic” weapons which ignore the laws of physics. It’s very difficult to get through to the Marvel generation that the faster something goes the harder it gets to hit a moving target and exponentially so at sea level. This is basic Black-scholes.
Moving targets totally agree. Static targets are a different matter. So perhaps the Japanese are thinking hypersonic cruise missiles rather than escalating the ballistic missile race. Ballistic missiles are seen ina different light to any other weapon, usually seen in the context of big mushroom clouds in may people’s eyes.
Cheers CR
I recall a mirror was one of the SDI assets they wanted to put into orbit?
I think some of it was not smoke and mirrors but fact, that’s been kept classified. How else coukd Reagan say the US could orbit so many personnel when counting up the Shuttles cargo bays made it clear that officially they couldn’t deploy that many.
Either that or he misspoke. I believe the former.
I think you are right, Daniele, to say some of it was real but the stuff that rattled the Polituro’s nerves wasn’t, at least in part. I think the mix of real stuff and smoke and mirrors convinced the politicians (usually the weak link in any decision chain) of the need to react.
The rest as they say say is history.
Cheers CR
I think that the various Star Wars programmes were just concept studies. Not sure anything progressed into detailed design studies phase.
Hmm, I wonder if that includes allies weapon systems? If it not then I hope Ben Wallace is on the case making sure it does there’s a few key systems that we really, really need if carrier strike is to have real teeth.
Thanks for the quotes, Nigel.
Cheers CR
👍
It will also be interesting to see what happens on the Hill regarding the proposed engine upgrades.
March 30,2023
“WASHINGTON — As the Pentagon and Capitol Hill gear up for a fight over the decision not to pursue a new engine design for the F-35, officials this week stated that increasing demands placed on the legacy F135 engine are poised to wear and tear it at higher than expected rates — resulting in what congressional auditors say is an extra $38 billion in future lifecycle costs.”
LINK
That sounds like they want US next gen and suggests Meteor and Spear won’t be on their priority list.
I doubt much of this would hold water should we get into a shooting war, peacetime commercial interest will not prevail over weapons that will make a difference and save lives
True. Besides, that’s an USAF Colonel and I’m not sure how far a field officer’s opinion can be trusted to be mainstream policy.
Block 4 is meant to support an additional 17 new weapons. It’s not just the U.K. requesting the addition of weapons not used by the USA.
It’s possible they might try to add some without the need for the full-fat Block 4. For example, Paveway IV, which the USA doesn’t use, was added previously.
I think there will be difference in weapons development in peace time to an actual hot conflict. Look at some of the things going on in Ukraine where weapons are being used(not fully integrated) on platforms that no one had ever thought possible. You’ll find a more agile approach would be taken in needs be, I would even hazard there’s been a plan B for awhile to get stuff fielded ASAP in required.
You would like to think so, China will be keeping a very close eye on how the war in Ukraine pans out. We are already experiencing a shortage of munitions which could affect their decision-making. Tue April 11, 2023 “Look at the military exercises, and also their rhetoric, they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan,” Wu said. “The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it.” Asked if Taiwan has any sense of the timing of potential Chinese military action, given US intelligence… Read more »
China won’t launch an invasion until they have the ability to not only enforce an encircled blockade. But perhaps more crucially delaying the USN from intervening, so that their amphibious forces have time to mop up the island. They now have their third carrier in trials and the fourth one is midway through build. Both of these will be crucial in holding back the USN. Once the fourth carrier is in trials. Then I’d expect to see more exercises that encircle Taiwan. Which is when the rhetoric will really cramp up. Though they are still seriously lacking in the sub… Read more »
They key here is the information hoover.
By now NATO will know everything about every Russian system.
That then gives vital clues as to which the most effective systems and counter measures would be.
It’s exercises like this that show why NATO is an unmatched Hyperpower and China and Russia are a joke. China recently deployed a couple of H6 bombers to its own boarder in Tibet then flew them back to their home base under electronic jamming and they act like they put a man on the moon. The US deploys fleets of 5th gen fighters on a different continent and countries for months while conducting numerous real life training exercises against a variety of the worlds most advanced platforms then returns to the US with reels of data on what worked and… Read more »
It is NATOs training, flexibility and integration, learnt during 40<+ years of the last cold war that ensures NATOs unparalleled capabilities. The Chinese and Russians even working together cannot hope to match the USAF and USN air power. They both know this but like to blister.
If sleepy Joe had just told Putin. No you are not invading Ukraine. I’m deploying an armoured division and US marines there. The war would never have happened.
Must have decided the kick backs from Raytheon, Lockheed etc we’re worth more than the money laundering from Burisma 🤷🏻♂️
The US belief was that if Russia invaded Ukraine, the Russians would overrun the country in days – hence the offer of an evacuation for Zelensky. Any USA forces would have been bypassed without engagement by the Russian blitzkrieg advance, leaving them unmolested but also unsupportable, in control of a small isolated pocket of the country. The USA would then have faced the humiliation of having to evacuate its forces or asking the Russians for safe passage. Of course in realty, we now know that the Ukrainians are a formidable fighting force, not to be taken lightly. And we also… Read more »
That was the ball he & Bunter Boris dropped big time. Massive mistake. They both said basically, “please don’t invade Ukraine, but if you do we won’t intervene.”
Thank goodness Ukrainian guts saved the whole nation from brutal occupation, albeit at a huge cost. We desperately need to improve on the quality of leadership.
Please. Not a lack of leadership, merely a response based on common sense. If the Russian attack on Kyiv had succeeded (it very nearly did), NATO would have had no play. By the time the politicians had had their say, the situation would have been lost and sending troops would have achieved absolutely nothing. Remember, at that point everyone in the West believed that Russian armed forces had at least a modicum of competence.
If there is one thing the F-35 has shown, it’s what NOT to do – All cutting-edge tech + no HUD + 3 variants + concurrency = Nothing good. Because of what the F-35 has shown, hopefully there will be no more aircraft that use wholly unproven tech to deliver a “silver-bullet” aircraft that can’t replace the aging aircraft it is meant to because it simply can’t get out of its own way. Great tech on-board, sure… But everything else is off-the-charts, especially its 20-year and counting LRIP and its “necessary” brand spanking new engine to deliver what was promised,… Read more »
A question which is not asked often enough in the right circles is “for the same money, what could we buy instead of our F35s ?” Every nation on the planet has a finite defence budget. The F35 is causing many nations to weaken many of their capabilities in return for an aircraft that is massively expensive, has maintenance costs more than 50 per cent higher than stated and is available for less than half the time stated on the contract.
Minor point: “…in February 2022, NATO’s eastern flank became an ideal proving ground for the F-35.”NATO doesn’t have an Eastern flank, it has an Eastern front. A military force is said to have a front, that directly faces the enemy, a left flank, a right flank and a rear. For NATO to have an Eastern flank it would be required to be facing a Enemy coming from the North Pole or the Mediterranean. NATO has an Eastern Front, a northern flank and a southern flank. Maybe if the UK Defence Journal could at least get this right, the rest of… Read more »
Hey, I’m sorry to rain on your parade, but the term “Eastern Flank” is a quote.
It’s actually used by NATO, the USAF, the RAF and others in their official communications on this topic. Maybe next time, you’ll look at where the information comes from before charging in to help out this poor, simple wee journalist.
NATO even use it in their images, press release and quotes issued to news media. See here.
It’s okay, no apology needed.
You have my apologies anyway. I should have guessed that this error was coming from Press Offices (and probably others) in NATO, RAF and USAF. Maybe there is a reluctance to use the term Eastern Front, with its quite negative context from WWII. Or is it that NATO is the only beast in existence that has three flanks, a rear and no fronts at all?