Even After Achieving IOC, Questions Continue to Surround Navy’s F-35C
After years
and years of waiting, the last variant of the Joint Strike Fighter — the F-35C Lightning
II — is officially operational. But it’s still a couple of years away from
making an impact on the high seas — and some questions about the plane remain.
The U.S. Navy
on Feb. 28 declared that the F-35C, the aircraft carrier-capable variant of the
fifth-generation stealth fighter, had reached initial operational capability
(IOC). The Marine Corps vertical-lift F-35B and the Air Force conventional F-35A
variants already have been declared operational.
Of the three JSF variants, the F-35C is the one that is “not in a particularly good place.”
Richard Aboulafia, Teal Group’s vice president of analysis
The first
F-35C squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron 147, completed carrier qualifications
aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) as a precursor to IOC. All that remains is
a couple of years of preparations until the first squadron deploys aboard the
Carl Vinson.
However,
issues still surround the aircraft, which was plagued by development and
production delays over its history.
A report
issued in March by nonprofit watchdog Project on Government Oversight declared
that the F-35 was “far from ready to face current or future threats,” citing
data that allegedly shows “unacceptably low” mission-capable rates. The
watchdog group also stated that the F-35 was initially promised at $38 million
per plane but that they now average $158.4 million apiece.
Despite all
the questions that surrounded the program for years, the plane is here. And the
Navy is preparing to introduce its variant into the fleet.
The IOC was a
joint declaration between the Navy and Marine Corps, because the aircraft will
be flown by both services. In the six months before that, the “last couple of
pieces” began coming together for the program — training, crews and the like,
Brian Neunaber, one of two national deputies for the Navy’s F-35 program, said in
an interview with Seapower.
“So we have
airplanes,” Neunaber said. “VFA-147 immediately reported to Carrier Air Wing
Two. It’s involved with unit-level training, and they will commence air-wing
workups, probably in the middle of next year.”
That said,
the F-35C is still a couple years away from actual deployment. Their first ship
— the Carl Vinson — is in drydock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for repairs and
modernization after concluding a busy deployment cycle.
“She’ll come
out of the shipyard in the middle of 2020, and shortly thereafter the entire
air wing will start working up with Carl Vinson, and sometime in the middle of
2021,” the first deployment is expected, Neunaber said, noting that the
deployment after that would probably take place six months later, and
eventually all carriers would be flying the F-35C.
The Vinson’s F-35C
squadron will consist of 10 planes. Every air wing in the fleet eventually each
will have a squadron of 10 aircraft before the Navy goes to two squadrons per
carrier, he said. The program of record stands at 340 F-35Cs, Neunaber added.
Doubts, Praise for F-35C
Of the three JSF
variants, the F-35C is the one that is “not in a particularly good place,” said
Richard Aboulafia, Teal Group’s vice president of analysis.
Aboulafia said
he believes that, though the Navy is going ahead with purchasing the aircraft,
the sea service isn’t enthusiastic about the F-35C. He noted that the Navy
wants to keep buying the F-35C’s predecessor, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and
that appetite hasn’t seemed to diminish as the F-35C finally reaches IOC.
The Navy has
a lot of reasons to hedge its bets, he argued.
“Why pay the
up-front price at all — rather than wait for someone else to drive down the
cost?” he said, also noting that the Navy “is less convinced themselves that [the
F-35C] has much value at sea. There’s also an institutional preference for
twin-engine fighters.”
Aboulafia also
claimed the F-35C could diminish the Navy’s case for large-deck carriers. “If
the [F35B] works, and Marines deploy Bs and Cs together and the difference isn’t
all that great, then you have a situation where the case for large carriers is
a little undercut,” he said.
In a worst-case
scenario — at least for a sea service that wants to keep operating a fleet of
large aircraft carriers — the Navy could lose support for even a carrier fleet
of 10 ships and see an argument for smaller carriers supplemented by amphibious
ships gain a lot of steam, Aboulafia argued.
Though many
have expressed doubts about the Navy’s enthusiasm about the F-35C, the service
has continued to publicly and emphatically support the fighter. The Navy argues
that the F-35C offers the latest in technology and is perfectly suited to fight
a modern war.
“The F-35C is
ready for operations, ready for combat and ready to win,” the commander of Naval
Air Forces, Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller, said in a statement following the
declaration of the fighter’s IOC. “We are adding an incredible weapon system
into the arsenal of our carrier strike groups that significantly enhances the
capability of the joint force.”
Capt. Max
McCoy, commodore of the Navy’s Joint Strike Fighter Wing, predicted that the
F-35C would make us “more combat effective than ever before.”
“We will
continue to learn and improve ways to maintain and sustain F-35C as we prepare
for first deployment,” McCoy added in a statement. “The addition of
F-35C to existing carrier air wing capability ensures that we can fight and win
in contested battlespace now and well into the future.”