F-35 Finally Can Use All Its Weapons In Combat
Mar 5, 2018 Lara Seligman | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
The newest U.S. Air Force F-35s, both stateside at Hill AFB, Utah, and overseas in the Pacific, finally can employ the stealth fighter’s full suite of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons in combat.
The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has delivered the flight clearances, simulators, threat information, and logistics system required for the Air Force’s F-35As equipped with the latest software load to employ all of its weapons throughout the full flight envelope, according to the JPO, Lockheed Martin and Air Force officials.
This milestone gives the Block 3F-configured F-35As assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron stationed at Hill and those forward-deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan—on North Korea’s doorstep—some lethal capabilities. The aircraft now can fire Raytheon’s short-range AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, the GAU-22 25mm gun, and Boeing’s precision-guided Small Diameter Bomb, all while flying up to 9Gs at 1.6 Mach.
The F-35A touched down in Kadena for its first operational deployment to the Pacific in November, a highly anticipated milestone that underlines the U.S. military’s commitment to allies in the region amid tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
The “Rude Rams” F-35As join the “Green Knights” F-35Bs of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, which is permanently stationed at Iwakuni, Japan, significantly increasing the number of stealth F-35s in the region.
The 12 F-35As from Hill will be deployed to Kadena until May, a six-month rotation, as part of U.S. Pacific Command’s theater security package.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps short takeoff, vertical-landing F-35B and U.S. Navy F-35C carrier variant configured with the 3F software will be able to deploy with their full operational capability in May and June, respectively, F-35 Program Executive Officer (PEO) Vice Adm. Mat Winter said during a Feb. 28 media roundtable. For the F-35Cs, this means the aircraft will be able to deploy Raytheon’s AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) in combat and fly to 1.3 Mach.
There is one caveat—the final 3F simulator capability has been broken into two releases, Lockheed’s Executive Vice President for Aeronautics Orlando Carvalho said in a March 5 interview. The first release has been delivered for the 3F F-35As, he said.
Even though the F-35’s long development phase finally is drawing to a close, the JPO and Lockheed will continue working to modernize the aircraft with an updated threat library, logistics system and simulators, Winter said.
“We have warfighting capability today that is effective against the current threats and the ability to fight the fight for our U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force,” Winter said. “Is that good enough? It is absolutely effective and good enough for today, but as we look from our intelligence reports and the threat growth in 2025 [we must] ensure that we stay ahead of that growing threat so that the F-35 air system will remain technologically advanced on the battlefield well into the [century].”
3F is done.
