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chairman donald trump Is Agreed to move forward with sale United States’ most advanced Warrior jet, the F-35To saudi arabiaDespite significant concerns that China could gain access to the aircraft’s vaunted American technology.
The agreement was reaffirmed during the Saudi Crown Prince mohammed bin salmanRecent trip to Washington.
Within the Republican administration, fears also exist that providing F-35s to Saudi Arabia could undermine israelSignificant qualitative military advantage over its neighbors. This concern is especially prominent as Trump seeks Israel’s support for his proposed Gaza peace plan.
Israel, which used the F-35 during its 12-day conflict with Iran in June, is one of 19 countries globally that either have the advanced jet or have agreements to acquire it.
It was almost 20 years ago when the first F-35 Lightning Strike fighter rolled off an assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, hailed as a technological leap forward and lamented as a military money pit.
Since then, more than 1,200 stealth jets have been built, which Lockheed Martin says underpins about 300,000 jobs associated with its supply chain in 49 states and Puerto Rico. The aircraft have been delivered to the US Air Force, Navy and Marines.
Here’s what to know about the F-35:
Many people like this fighter jet
The Marines used F-35s to strike enemy targets in Afghanistan, while Italian F-35s were part of NATO’s response to Russian aircraft in Estonian airspace in September.
But the stubby nosed aircraft with twin tail wings has been criticized from the beginning because it was designed to meet the different needs of three different military branches. For example, the Navy launches them from aircraft carriers, while the Marine Corps’ version can take off and land like a helicopter.
This is the Pentagon’s most expensive spending program to date – according to the Congressional Research Service, they cost $77 million a piece in 2023 – while they were famously plagued by cost overruns and delays.
Meanwhile, China may already have at least some intelligence on the planes, even if it is several years old. The Defense Science Board, which advises the Pentagon, issued a report in 2013 alleging that Chinese cyberattacks accessed data from dozens of Pentagon programs, including the Joint Strike Fighter.
The most advanced American fighter jet
According to Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the F-35 is “widely recognized as America’s best and most advanced fighter jet”.
Bowman said U.S. military systems are constantly being updated and improved to counter any potential secrets stolen years ago.
“That’s why you already have 19 partner countries and why countries like Saudi Arabia want this,” Bowman said. “If the aircraft had been so compromised because of theft from the Chinese, the Saudis would not have wanted that.”
First proposed in the 1990s, the F-35 was intended to replace several aging fighters, including the Air Force’s F-16 fighter aircraft. The aircraft were designed so that pilots could easily move between aerial battles rather than simply bombing a single mission.
According to the Congressional Research Service, it has been described as a fifth-generation fighter aircraft, with its technologies including stealth coatings as well as advanced radar and sensors.
“What makes the F-35 particularly formidable is the increased difficulty for our adversaries to detect it,” Bowman said. “So if you can’t see it, you can’t kill it.”
Bowman said the aircraft also has advanced sensors to better detect enemies, as well as networking capabilities to communicate with allied aircraft and ground forces during combat.
Each aircraft was considered relatively cheap to manufacture, with each variation being produced on a single assembly line. But as the first F-35 prepared for its inaugural flight in 2006, the program’s costs had ballooned.
high cost of aircraft
The Defense Department estimates it will cost more than $2 trillion to maintain, operate and modernize the planned 2,470 aircraft over a 77-year life cycle, according to a September report by the Government Accountability Office.
The report also found that Lockheed delivered 110 aircraft last year, all of which were “delayed an average of 238 days, up from 61 days in 2023.”
Meanwhile, concerns have emerged regarding the preparations. The Government Accountability Office found that in 2023, the rate at which the aircraft could complete one of its assigned missions was about 55%, well below the program’s goals. Part of the problem was delays in setting up maintenance facilities, inadequate equipment, and supply problems.
Dan Grazier, a senior fellow and director of the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, said the F-35 program has ultimately failed.
He pointed to the aircraft’s stealth coating to avoid radar detection, which he said requires too much maintenance, while the camera system providing situational awareness also has problems.
“It doesn’t matter what transformative combat capability an aircraft has if it can’t be trusted,” he said.
The F-35 was designed to replace several different aging airplanes at once, said Grazier, noting that it “does a lot of things well, but it doesn’t do anything well.”
“It also costs a lot of money,” he said. “So you pay a lot of money for an aircraft that is actually in many respects less capable than the aircraft that came before.”
Lockheed Martin rejected such criticisms.
“The F-35 is a battlefield cornerstone for 20 partner nations, enabling peace through strength,” the company said in a statement. “It is battle-proven and offers the most advanced capabilities and technology. With more than 1 million flight hours and more than 1,255 aircraft in service, the F-35 is an indispensable contributor to global security.”