We don't need thousands of F-35s

(It's a trap. We don't need thousands of F-35s.)

Even if they work somehow, we don't need that many F-35s.

The F-35 isn't likely to have much operational value except for show.

A façade.

And that assumes it works to specification.

The U.S. DOD does not need thousands of this aircraft.

How many combat-coded F-35s do all services need? Note, this does not include aircraft used for training, currently going through refurbishment, attrition and testing.

Somewhere between 860 and 1180 combat-coded F-35s is about all we "need".

If the USN wants to run mixed squadrons on the aircraft carrier deck, with about 6 aircraft carriers available, 160 F-35Cs should be enough. And this is even going with a bigger USN squadron (akin to USMC). 10 Squadrons of 16 aircraft each. 1 squadron per carrier deployment.

If the USN was to go with 3 active F-35C squadrons on the aircraft carrier deck for deployment and no Super Hornet? 480 F-35Cs, 30 squadrons with 16 aircraft each.

If anyone cares, my F-35C idea is somewhere in between.

How many USMC F-35B models? 160. 10 squadrons of 16 each.

USAF. 20 air air defense locations around the U.S. 20 squadrons, 18 aircraft each, for 360.

10 Air Expeditionary Force Squadrons; for 180 aircraft.

Total USAF combat coded aircraft: 540.

USN plan 1: 860 combat-coded F-35s DOD-wide.
USN plan 2: 1180 combat-coded F-35s DOD-wide.

You can multiply those totals by about 1.3 to get your training, aircraft currently in refurb, Test-dev and combat-coded aircraft as a grand total for this military aviation Ponzi scheme.

I think that is a solid (and generous) requirement for an aircraft that will likely get shot down vs. emerging threats and suffer significant costs to own and operate.

(OK, hand over your money. All of it.)

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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Bill Sweetman, Aviation Week and the F-35
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) FY2012
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)
-A look at the F-35 program's astro-turfing
-F-35 and F-16 cost per flying hour
-Is this aircraft worth over $51B of USMC tac-air funding?
-Combat radius and altitude, A model
-F-35A, noise abatement and airfields and the USAF
-Deceptive marketing practice: F-35 blocks
-The concurrency fraud
-The dung beetle's "it's known" lie
-F-35's air-to-air ability limited
-F-35 Blocks--2006 and today
-The F-35B design is leaking fuel
-F-35 deliveries
-ADF's wacky F-35 assumptions
-Gauging performance, the 2008 F-35, Davis dream brief
-Aboriginal brought out as a prop
-Super Kendall's F-35 problem
-LM sales force in pre-Internet era
-History of F-35 engine problems
-Compare
-JSF hopes and dreams...early days of the Ponzi Scheme
-The Prognostics
-2002--Australia joins the F-35 program