US Marines Declare F-35 Fighter Jet ‘Ready for Combat’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The head of the US Marine Corps confirmed that 10 of its often-problematic F-35B fighter jets are ready for combat. The branch’s own model can take off from warships and aircraft carriers, and land like a helicopter.
The announcement marks a key milestone for the Department of Defense’s biggest weapons program, said the Pentagon. The program has cost nearly $400 billion and was first kicked off 15 years ago.
The announcement also makes the Marines the first military branch to declare an “initial operational capability” for the stealth F-35 fighter, which is capable of flying at supersonic speed. The branch plans to buy 420 of the F-35B-model and C-model jets.
“The F-35B’s ability to conduct operations from expeditionary airstrips or sea-based carriers provides our nation with its first fifth-generation strike fighter, which will transform the way we fight and win,” Marine Commandant General Joseph Dunford, confirmed this week by the Senate to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement.
The Marine Corps plans to send the first squadron of F-35B jets to Iwakuni, Japan, in January 2017, but Friday’s announcement means the jets could respond to a crisis anywhere in the world.
The 10 stealth fighters have experienced numerous cost overruns and delays over the years, RT reported.
The announcement comes just days after Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the F-35 jet has “taken us too long [and] has cost us way more money than we ever imagined possible.”
James also said there were still challenges left to overcome. “I would sum it up in a word – software,” she said.
Earlier this year, for example, the software system intended to identify maintenance issues was found to give false-positive readings 80 percent of the time. The Marine Corps will be using its ready F-35B jets with an early-version of software called Block 2B. Software is still being tested that will allow the warplanes to carry more weapons and integrate full night-vision capability.
