I didn't have a high opinion of the F-35 before, thinking that Loma was becoming a vampire of U.S. military spending, and wished the U.S. military more equipment F-35, which would have a more far-reaching negative impact on the Sino-US military competition. However, it can be seen from the reactions of netizens that many people do not agree with the conclusion that the F-35 is a failed fighter project, and they are full of admiration for the United States. In the past few days, there has been a more exciting news: Biden plans to slash the F-35 combat project, thus proving that the United States is tight on military spending and the F-35 is not welcomed. According to US sources, the US Congress has set a ceiling on the upcoming defense budget to force the government to save on military spending. The Biden administration has made it clear that the number of F-35s it will purchase next year will be reduced by 18%, which has caused Loma's stock to fall by 2.6%. According to the Pentagon, the reduction in the purchase of more than 13 F-35s is not to develop sixth-generation aircraft to free up military spending, but to reduce spending by $1.6 billion.
Biden's demand for a total defense and national security budget of $895 billion would force a spate of project budget cuts, delays in existing programs, and a slowdown in filling weapons stockpiles depleted by the wars in Ukraine and Israel. The U.S. Congress has now agreed to approve $30 billion in cuts, including the U.S. military's Guam Defense Enhancement Program. You can even understand that the U.S. military has even entered the Indo-Pacific strategy because of insufficient military spending.
Going back to the US military's plan to reduce the purchase of F-35s, this is likely to become the norm in the future, and the underlying reasons are as follows:
First, the cost of using the F-35 is too high, even surpassing that of heavy fighters, and the larger the scale of equipment, the more insufficient the US military spending will be in the next few years. The F-35 is a medium-sized fighter with a planned operating cost that should be about the same as the F16, but the actual operating cost is as high as $36,000 per hour, compared to about $18,000 guaranteed by Loma. The U.S. Air Force's military spending is limited, and the larger the scale of the F-35's future equipment, the less money the U.S. military spends will be. At present, a large amount of logistics and maintenance work for the F-35 is directly handled by Loma, and there is uncertainty about whether it can be handed over to the US military in the future.
Second, the TR-3 and TR-4 versions of the F-35 are difficult to deliver, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to solve the problem in recent years. The F-35 currently only has initial air combat and limited ground strike capabilities, and has very few types of weapons that can be used. The TR-3 version also faced software bugs and insufficient engine power generation and cooling capacity, which were difficult to solve until a new engine was installed. And the TR-4 is a fully combat version, which has turned into a castle in the air.
Third, the engine renewal program of the F-35 is at risk, and the larger the equipment in a short period of time, the more additional costs will be incurred in the future. According to the plan of the U.S. military industry, the F-35 in-depth improved version of the F135 engine will not be successfully developed until 2029, and there are certain technical risks, which also means that the U.S. military has installed fewer F-35s in recent years, and the need for replacement in the future will be reduced.
Fourth, the US military does have the possibility of saving costs and leaving room for the development of sixth-generation aircraft. No matter how many F-35s are installed, it is impossible for the US military to gain a qualitative advantage over the PLA in terms of air combat platforms, and the quantitative advantage will also be difficult to maintain because of the mass production of the FC-31. In the long run, the US military must step up the development of sixth-generation aircraft, which requires a large amount of funds to be reserved, otherwise it can only be left behind by China's military industry and eaten in ashes.
Overall, once the U.S. F-35 becomes a priority project to be cut off, it not only proves that the ceiling of U.S. military spending has appeared, but also proves that the project is really a failure. Don't overly worship American Airlines, because they're really starting to fall behind.