Aircraft
From defence of our country and allies to coalition warfare, from deep strike and interdiction to the establishment of air dominance, the F-35 Lightning II redefines the meaning of a 5th generation multirole fighter. By combining a wealth of advanced technologies in a single platform, the F-35’s platform, the F-35’s weapon system and air vehicle capabilities allow the Lightning II to own the skies and defeat the threats of today – and tomorrow.
The F-35 Lightning II is produced in three variants: conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL), short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) and carrier variant (CV). All versions are 5th generation stealth fighters that introduce profound capability improvements over existing multirole fighters. The three F-35 variants share the same avionics suite – the most powerful and comprehensive ever flown on a fighter aircraft. The different versions are built on the same assembly line, share the same engine and are up to 80 per cent common in their structures and systems.
Decisive Operational Advantage
With all-aspect advanced stealth, the F-35 dramatically reduces the detection and engagement ranges of enemy defence systems or aircraft. Very low observable (VLO) stealth cannot be added on – it must be design-in from the outset. The F-35’s shape, embedded antennas, aligned edges, internal weapons and fuel, and special coatings and materials all contribute to its VLO stealth capability.
Dominating the Skies
The F-35 excels in all air-to-surface and air-to-air combat missions while operating around the clock in any threat environment. The unmatched situational awareness of the F-35, along with extreme agility, acceleration and stealth, provides an asymmetrical advantage over all adversary aircraft.
Unrivaled Situational Awareness
The F-35 features the most powerful and comprehensive integrated sensor package of any fighter aircraft in history. Its unrivalled advanced avionics and sensor fusion give the pilot real-time access to battlefield information with 360-degree spherical coverage and unparalleled capability to dominate the tactical environment.
Joint Force Multiplier and Enabler
Embedded, network-enabled capability allows distribution of fused information to enhance and enable other platforms. Information gathered by F-35 sensors can immediately be uplinked and shared with commanders at sea, in the air or on the ground, providing an instantaneous, high-fidelity view of ongoing operations.
Advanced Sustainment
The F-35 establishes new levels of operational readiness. With simplicity and ease of maintenance designed-in, the aircraft brings unprecedented reliability and maintainability and an inherently smaller deployment footprint. Support-equipment requirements have been reduced, and logistics are streamlined and automated. The F-35s will provide never-before-seen mission capability rates with a fraction of the support required by legacy fighters, reduced numbers of support aircraft and reduced maintenance total life-cycle costs. Upfront design emphasis has been placed on supportable advanced stealth, systems reliability and maintainability, onboard systems diagnostics and health monitoring, reduced support equipment, intelligent support systems, paperless technical support and worldwide supply chain management.
