A Short History of Why the F-35 Exists.
So here we are, the 21st century. And things have gotten pretty complex, insanely complex, our lives and by extension the defense apparatus of the country is dependent on billions of lines of code. Someone has to write that code, design the machines to operate the functions in that code, and then figure out how to keep those machines running at an efficiency that is mind boggling. The rapid pace of change in the aviation field in comparison to how long humanity has been around is pretty staggering, and this rapid pace makes it hard to draw a baseline for what is normal. As aviation developed air-frames were relatively straight-forward machines. Avionics and air-frame developments continued, spurred on even further by two World Wars.
After World War Two it seemed like the United States churned out a new airframe every year, and the average lifespan of these frames was fairly low compared to what we expect today. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation fighters came and went with regularity, at least in the U.S. inventory. Part of this had to do with advances that made these airframes obsolete. Another factor was that although these airframes did become more complex as the years went on, until the information age truly went into high gear, the complexities, and advantages of computer systems were limited.
In the late 1970’s we hit what is known as the 4th generation of fighter aircraft. These aircraft had complex computer systems, fly by wire controls, and in most cases computer aided design. The assembly lines for these aircraft required more skilled technicians and engineers than their predecessors, which in turn meant that they cost more to produce, maintain and field. The major players out of this generation are the F-16, F/A-18, F-15, and A-10. These four airframes covered the Air Force and Navy’s bases for a light, cheap fighter, a naval aviation fighter-attack aircraft, and a close air support aircraft, built to ravage Soviet tank columns in central Europe. Of course there are more airframes, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going to keep the scope limited. But by and large, the number of fighters, attack aircraft, interceptors, and fighter bombers condensed from multiple airframes of each type, complete with their own maintainers and support squadrons who had to be trained on that specific airframe, to a relative few.
Then the Cold War ended.
So what happened? Well the cost and complexity of the air-frames coupled with the end of the Cold War led to a period of upgradability. When previously air-frames would have been ditched to the side for newer ones in a decade or so, the cost of a F-15 didn’t make that worthwhile. But upgrading the F-15 with newer avionics, computer systems, weapons systems, all of these things were much more affordable. And this was the trend that occurred with the other major air-frames. In essence what emerged was the idea of a 4.5 generation fighter. One with complex information systems but missing one critical component to be considered 5th generation.
What was that missing item? Stealth. Stealth changed the survivability of airframes in high threat environments.
The U.S. pushed on with development of the F-22, one of the most complex aircraft ever designed or produced, as the replacement for the F-15. Meanwhile the F-35 was proposed, a revival of the idea of a joint strike fighter, first pioneered by the F-111 (a resounding failure as a joint fighter for multiple reasons), which pushed the notion that if you all use the same airframe, the lifetime costs will make the airframe cheaper in the long run. And with the realization that occurred during the use of 4th generation aircraft that they were difficult to design, produce, and replace, which in turn lead to their lifespans being prolonged, the most notable example of this being the venerable B-52, which is expected to lumber along until the 2050s.
So due to the increasing costs of development of new aircraft, due to the complexities and lower purchase numbers among other factors, the United States ended up in a position where there were essentially two major programs to replace several different airframes, instead of replacing each airframe in turn with a new aircraft, or doubling down and keeping 4th generation (or 4.5 gen after block upgrades or in the case of the Hornet to Super Hornet, full re-designs) production lines open.
Many detractors of the F-35 program point to legacy aircraft and see a solution. However this argument fundamentally misses the point of why new aircraft designs are needed. Sure, a F-16 can still get the job done against second tier powers, but against China will it hold the line in 15 years? Maintaining air superiority requires massive investment.
Taking yesteryears designs and slightly modifying them, such as with the F-15S, the slightly stealthy edition, are stopgaps that will not hold up in the long run.
It may be looked back on, if it is not already, that limiting the production run of the F-22 to 126 aircraft was a strategic mistake made at a time when the United States sat on top of a unipolar world. In a way the Zumwalt class echos this sort of misguided short sighted decision, but I’m sure the troubled LCS will totally keep up with the Chinese Type 55 destroyer rolling out. Once the F-22 line was shut down, the cost to re-open it, with all that would entail would be cost prohibitive to say the least, and also take the most precious of resources if a conflict were to happen that requires more F-22's, namely, time.
So here we are, with an open F-35 production line that is fulfilling orders for not just our military, but for militaries around the world. The F-35 is not as capable of a fighter as the F-22, but it is good enough. And it’s advanced sensor suite and low observability attributes give survivability on the modern battlefield.
It may not be the fastest, the most agile, or the win the mantra of the 1970s, “Bigger, Higher, Faster”, but that isn’t what is designed for. The F-35 fights smarter, not harder, and even in recent conflicts such as the Saudi intervention in Yemen, older airframes such as the F-15 have shown their age as Soviet era SAM’s blot them out of the sky.
Although the F-35 program has had massive cost overruns and a longer development cycle then planned, the United States has reached a point where we have the only exportable 5th generation fighter in existence. Competing projects in Russia and China are worth examining and deciphering, however the Russian economy, combined with a lack of buyers has hampered the SU-57 project, and the two Chinese stealth aircraft that have been unveiled are unproven and possibly much further away from operational status then Beijing would ever admit.
Everyday it feels like there are Air Forces around the world showing off their first batch of operational F-35s, and each time one takes off, the costs and problems of the program matter less and less. Perhaps this is the last manned fighter aircraft, even the idea of a pilot optional fighter sounds like perhaps the optional part may be the more important word in the descriptor. But regardless, the F-35 was not too big to fail, the United States not investing in creating a true 5th generation aircraft in significant numbers would have been failure.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://selfscroll.com/a-short-history-of-why-the-f-35-exists-2/
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