Although the F-35 has the capability to jam enemy radars, the commander of Air Combat Command does not want the fifth generation fighter doing broad electronic jamming during a strike into contested air space. With its low radar signature, the stealthy F-35 could use “small and focused” jamming as needed to clear its way through enemy air defenses, said ACC boss Gen. Mike Hostage during a July 29 AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va. The F-35’s active electronically scanned array radar can focus narrow beams of energy at a specific area. But Hostage added, “I’m happy there still are fourth generation platforms out there that would bring high-powered jamming” that would “raise the noise level so I don’t have to. I just don’t want that too close to me,” Hostage said. With the synergistic effect of the active jamming by allies, the F-35 “will disappear in the noise,” he said.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.