USAF combat capability statements, show no value for the F-35

Inside the USAF, a cry for help: avoid F-35 woes.

Saying what some of us knew...for years.

While capabilities are being parsed out, the service is already examining ways it can avoid some of the acquisition pitfalls that plagued other fighter jets, such as the fifth-generation F-35, he said.

“One of the largest single things we’re looking at and working on is how to take all the lessons learned from F-35 and other activities here in the last few years and avoid those in the future,” he said. “It’s everything from starting with requirements to the acquisition process, finding ways to shorten that and make it more efficient.”

The service would likely want to avoid concurrency when fielding the aircraft, which can bring “a lot of baggage.”

--Sterling Anderson, deputy chief of Air Combat Command’s air superiority core function team, February 2016--

Anyone dreading being saddled with the F-35 turkey, now has a parachute to get out of the program. USAF air superiority experts see no value in the F-35. Some would see that statement and think, he may only be mentioning acquisition. Yet the F-35 program has crippled USAF's tac-air recap plan. The huge issue is that he used the word 'requirement'. He doesn't want to get fired, but there you are.

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