Status: 03/14/2022 6:50 p.m
The F-35 is America’s most expensive military project. Now Germany also wants to buy the stealth jets. But opinions differ about the qualities of the combat aircraft.
Former US President Donald Trump was delighted. The F-35 really is a great machine, Trump once said and then became really pathetic: “When our enemies hear the noise of the F-35 engines, their souls will tremble and they will know that the day of reckoning has come. “
Not everyone in the USA is so euphoric, because the billing can be understood in a completely different way. The F-35 is America’s most expensive military project, and opinions differ as to whether it’s really as great as Trump says it is.
The F-35 is definitely an event. When the US military is training over California’s Death Valley or the planes are circling at air shows like this one in Pensacola, Florida, spectators grab their cameras and earplugs. The fighter jet reaches almost 2000 kilometers per hour and flies faster than the sound.
Can be used for many purposes
Development began more than 20 years ago and the first aircraft was delivered a good ten years ago. Becoming invisible to enemy radar is the main ability of the aircraft, which comes in three versions. One model can take off and land vertically, another is intended for aircraft carriers. In addition, the F-35 can be extensively equipped with weapons, for example with atomic bombs.
The jet is flown by one pilot. His high-tech helmet costs several hundred thousand dollars and provides him with comprehensive data and views. According to the government, the aircraft itself will cost around 80 million dollars, or around 73 million euros.
Anything but nothing right?
In the meantime, not only the USA but also several other countries such as Great Britain, Australia and Belgium are involved in the program. That doesn’t make things any easier, says military expert Dan Grazier. If you build an airplane that is supposed to fulfill everyone’s wishes, you don’t get an all-rounder, but a do-nothing, Grazier warned in a discussion forum this year.
One of the criticisms is that the F-35 is not as agile as other fighter jets. And the aircraft is incredibly expensive to operate: “If the US military buys the number of units it has planned, the armed services will no longer be able to operate their F-35s because the costs are around six billion dollars will lie within their budget,” says Grazier.
Critics say that the machines, which are stuffed with sophisticated technology, are actually not yet ready for series production and are very error-prone. South Korea, for example, grounded its F-35 fleet in January after a pilot had to land his plane on his stomach due to a technical malfunction.
Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Brown thought aloud last year about the development of a new generation of aircraft. A public outcry followed, and Brown backtracked: the F-35 was the cornerstone of the Air Force’s future. Several hundred F-35s have now been delivered, and over 400 are in service with the US military alone. With the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the USA transferred a number of F-35s to Poland.