Will USAF Offload Some JSFs?

March 14, 2006

Will USAF Offload Some JSFs?: Speaking with the Dallas Morning News, Gen. Michael Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff, predicts international demand for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be so great that the Air Force may give up a few of its planned 1,763 aircraft. He says that the number of new fighters needed by foreign air forces might well eclipse the production capacity, forcing some of the USAF buy into the international marketplace. There have been rumors that current USAF leadership is backing off the service’s requirement for 1,763 F-35s. In fact, Loren Thompson, knowledgeable defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, told the News that the new number is 1,100. Whether such a move would free up funds to buy more of the F-22A stealth fighter is questionable.

Related Content

General Says Commercial Space Industry is Ready for Golden Dome

May 23, 2025
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....

Deptula, Chilton Earn Historical Foundation Honor

May 23, 2025
The Air Force Historical Foundation honored a pair of storied Airmen with lifetime achievement awards at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center May 22. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute...

It’s Time for the Air Force to Embrace the F-35

May 23, 2025
The United States revolutionized air combat with the invention of stealth technology and the low-observable combat jet. Beginning in the 1980s with the F-117 and continuing in the years that followed with the B-2, F-22, F-35, and now the F-47,...

Memorial Day Remembrance

May 23, 2025
President John F. Kennedy said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men (and women) it produces, but also by the men (and women) … it remembers.” Memorial Day led many of us to cemeteries, memorials, and flag poles...

B-52s Kick Off Bomber Deployment to Spain

May 22, 2025
B-52H Stratofortress bombers have arrived in Spain to kick off a new European deployment as the Air Force looks to make its nuclear-armed fleets more flexible.

Military Spouses Fed Up With PCS Struggles, Survey Says

May 22, 2025
A new survey found that record rates of Active-duty military spouses want to leave the military community, with a large number of them frustrated by the difficulty of finding employment, child care, and reimbursement for moving costs after a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move.

Allvin to Congress: USAF Will Have More Control of New F-47 Fighter

May 22, 2025
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.