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F-35s Are Rarely Flight-Ready and Repairs Are Too Slow, GAO Says
Lockheed fighters are available to fly just 55% of the time
Report released days after an F-35 crashed over South Carolina
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Posted on 04/13/2024 8:40:12 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie
The U.S. Air Force’s F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters are now certified for delivery of B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs—and, in fact, have been since October 12, 2023.
This bombshell—dropped by F-35’s Joint Program Office (JPO)—was reported by Breaking Defense Friday morning. JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere stated that the certification had actually been awarded months earlier and far ahead of schedule.
This means that F-35As will now be considered “dual-capable” platforms useable in both conventional and nuclear warfare—in the latter role carrying up to two B61-12s internally and using its suite of ground-scanning sensors and datalinks to target the bomb more precisely than other B61-delivering aircraft.
Furthermore, while the U.S. Air Force has long operated conventional F-15E and F-16 fighters with the necessary ‘N-wiring’ to employ nuclear weapons, the F-35A is the first ever stealth fighter equipped as such.
Unlike the Air Force’s older air-to-air combat-oriented F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, the F-35A was always intended to assume the tactical nuclear strike capability of the F-16 fighters it was meant to replace. However, implementation of that capability—with the requisite wiring and datalinks to use the advanced features of the new B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb—was associated with an extensive (and highly expensive) upgrade program known as Block 4.
The certification award means that development and testing of the B61-12 capability is finally complete and deemed satisfactory after “10+ years of intense effort,” according to Goemaere.
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/11/israel-uses-f-35i-to-shoot-down-cruise-missile-a-first-for-joint-strike-fighter/
Just sayin', mullahs.
Certified, not a moment too early.
America is 11 times bankrupt and its children are being groomed and sexually mutilated. How does an F-35 carrying nukes undo this?
We could nuke a country before they know we did it perhaps.
With its ability to penetrate modern air defense systems, the F-35 makes the B61 nuclear bomb a much more significant threat to any of our enemies. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Israel develop an equivalent weapon that fits the internal weapons bay of their F-35I.
Bzactly.
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F-35s Are Rarely Flight-Ready and Repairs Are Too Slow, GAO Says
Lockheed fighters are available to fly just 55% of the time
Report released days after an F-35 crashed over South Carolina
.
.
Russian S-500 missile system could destroy the F-35 Lightning II fighters, US says
"In July this year, the German magazine Focus wrote that thanks to the new S-500 complex, Russia was 15-20 years ahead of the United States and other Western countries in air defense matters. The journalists stressed that even the latest 5th generation fighters using stealth technologies could become easy prey for Prometheus."
How many carry them without certification?
It would be funny if we were sourcing the B61-12 wiring harness from an Israeli firm.
in lightning too... right???
oops
That pilot had to have broken his legs on impact. Yikes!
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