US DoD, Lockheed Martin seek to counter F-35 critics

The US-led F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter programme is coming under intense scrutiny at a time when partner nations are making critical decisions about buying the aircraft.

Published reports that Russian-built Sukhoi fighters defeated the F-35 in computer-simulated dogfights in August are "just flat false", according to US Air Force Major General Charles Davis, the Department of Defense official in charge of the USD299 billion programme. During a 19 September media call, Gen Davis added that critics of the F-35 - including Winslow Wheeler and Pierre Sprey, who published a 5 September critique of the fighter in JDW - "have agendas" that they are trying to advance, although he declined to speculate on what those agendas might be.

Gen Davis and Tom Burbage, prime contractor Lockheed Martin's executive vice president for the F-35, sought to tamp down criticism of the F-35 as some partner nations are within months of making major procurement decisions.

"This is probably the point in the programme where more people are having to make more decisions about their future attack aircraft than any part of the programme we've been through so far," said Gen Davis.

"It's as intense a decision-making period as we will ever see," he said.

Partners who have already committed funding for F-35 production, follow-on sustainment and development, include the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.

These countries can still back out, however. They are evaluating the F-35 family of aircraft against a range of 'fourth-generation' fighters that do not have stealth capabilities, including the Saab Gripen, the Dassault Rafale, the MiG-35, the Sukhoi Su-35 and the Eurofighter Typhoon. Boeing is also offering the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to Denmark.

Potential F-35 buyers are concerned about the unit cost of the fighter, which is now reported to hover around USD50 million but could be higher for earlier production aircraft. Also, that price does not include the cost of parts, maintenance or through-life support.

Image: F-35 Lightning II (Lockheed Martin) 325 of 851 words