2024-03-24 09:30:47
Washington: America’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) has made a shocking revelation on the F-35 fighter aircraft. GAO has explained in its report how the fleet of F-35, the world’s most expensive fighter aircraft, is not completely prepared for real war. The report states that only 15% to 30% of F-35 fighter planes are ready to participate in actual combat. American media reports claim that about 55 percent of F-35 fighter planes are combat-capable. However, this claim is technically incorrect.
Attempt to manipulate the report by adding technical terms
When a layman sees the report declaring that 55 percent of F-35 combat aircraft are mission-capable, they assume that mission-capable equals combat readiness. But by doing this they are being cheated. The F-35 Program Office and the US Department of Defense have carefully defined the definition of mission capable combat aircraft. Indeed, the US Department of Defense’s definition of mission capable does not mean combat capable. This means that an aircraft can fly and carry out at least one mission.
F-35 not capable of carrying out war
In such a situation, an aircraft designated as mission capable may be capable of performing certain types of missions, but may not perform its full capability. Instead, the missions it may be able to execute may be testing or training or any other mission that does not involve combat. Even if an aircraft is deemed capable for testing or training, it may not be able to perform the full range of tasks you would expect from a fully functional aircraft. As such, it can still be classified as mission capable, even if it is capable of performing only a small number of tasks on the battlefield.
Air Force and Marine Corps far from target
It is also important to know that at 55 percent mission capable rate, the F-35 fleet is far behind its readiness target. The US Air Force has set a target of 90 percent combat readiness for the F-35A and the Marine Corps has set a target of 85 percent combat readiness for the F-35B. In other words, the F-35 fleet as a whole is not even close to meeting its mission capability goal of being able to do anything. Another parameter to check is the readiness of the aircraft to be considered fully mission capable. Full mission capable F-35s are considered capable of performing all the missions for which they are designed. This information is given at the time of handing over the aircraft for operation. However, in the case of the F-35, the US does not release data on full mission capable fighters.