F-35 has been carefully designed to revolutionize fighter procurement for the Air Force. Further, it is going to take the mission of several aircraft and complete it all. The maintenance went to be cheaper and cutting edge computer software. However, the list of planes it was going to replace was long. The operating costs for the aircraft which is around $36,000per hour that is still around $10,000 more expensive than that of the older fighters in the Air Force inventory.
Brig.Gen.David Abba, the director of the Air Force’s F-35 integration office said, “The biggest cost challenge that we face in the airplane is the life-cycle sustainment cost of the jet. “What I can tell you is the Air Force is laser-focused on that.”
Remarkably, F-35 is considered an incredibly capable aircraft, and the Air Force seems to have decided for diversifying its fleets. It is F-15EX which is the upgraded version of the F-15 that first flew in the 1970s. In this month, it is on the acquisition block and the first F-15EX was delivered to the Air Force. As per the recent comments by the Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown has pointed out its possibility of procuring a light weighted fighter for the replacement of the aging F-16.
Justin Bronk a remarkable airpower and technology research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute stated, “The idea that because there are some affordability challenges that the USA is somehow going to just bail on this program is mad.”
“Of course, they have to consider the future fighter mix. It makes sense because the sums don’t add up, and they haven’t added up for a long time.”
