F-35 Necessities and Shortcomings

Military Logisticians have a duty to generate and transport needed resources for strategic use. This is necessary for commanders to keep a strategic flexibility. Without that flexibility, commanders are fighting with a hand behind their backs. In the G-T-S-R framework of logistics, logisticians must anticipate commander and soldiers needs and plan to meet them. They must generate the resources needed, supply them to the war-fighter and sustain them when used.

Over the last two decades there has been a proliferation in air power as well as air defense. Following operation Desert Storm, the world saw how out of date air defense measures were. Surface to Air Missile (SAMs) systems have improved since to match every advancement US forces have made in air power.  Russian and Chinese SAM systems can now reach distances of 200 miles where 40 years ago just 50 miles was a stretch. Moving on from anti-air defenses and onto air power projection, the Chinese and Russian militaries have made great strides in improving their latest jet fighters to not only be a challenge to our legacy F-15c and F-16 but also outmatch them. In the dog-fighting world, the plane that sees first, shoots first; and the plane that shoots first wins the fight. In this battle, we are losing.

Logisticians  also have a duty to get soldiers the right tools they need. Soldiers in the right place at the right time with the wrong tools are ineffective for a commander. The military's previous attempt to acquisition a new fighter plane was a failure on many levels that bought over a hundred flawed aircraft built for a problem that would never exist (the F-22 was built to fight soviet aircraft that never materialized because of the fall of the USSR). The acquisition continued despite spectacular flaws because of the politics of a project so large. Congress kept voting to stick with the F-22 raptor program because it created jobs in their districts and states. The new F-35 plane is $165 billion over budget and 7 years behind schedule in much of the same way the raptor was late and costly. The difference this time is the glaring need for a fighter plane to outmatch our potential enemies. Both Russia and China sell their SAMs and fourth generation aircraft to countries all over the world. Because of this we must generate a tool for commanders to maintain a strategic advantage.


After observing the failures of the F-22, logicians are already looking to avoid mistakes already made. The F-22 required 30 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight. Attention is already turning to Hill Air Force Base for how the personnel there will be cutting costs in maintaining the new F-35. Though congress has once again bought an expensive new untested plane before driving it, this acquisition may not turn out to be a failure. Lt. Gen Chris Brogdan is in charge of the F-35 program and is holding Lockheed Martin accountable for providing quality in the production of the 2,000 plus the military is expected to buy.

The F-35 program is projected to cost $1 trillion and be the most costly acquisition in the history of armed forces. it will be replacing the air frames for the Navy, Air force and Marines; as well as the fleets for some allied countries. production is well underway and some think that the program is a waste in a time when we are cutting back on spending and downsizing our forces. Critics call it unnecessary and full of flaws. Despite its many problems, cutting our losses here like we did the F-22s - that will never see combat - will result in a worse case scenario where we may not have the right tools to accomplish the mission. We will be leaving commanders to fight without strategic flexibility.