Many are of the view that the fast-modernizing Russian military, complete with 5th-Generation aircraft, tactical nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles, T-14 Armata tank and large standing Army presents an extremely serious threat to the U.S., NATO and Eastern Europe in particular.
If this is already the case:
What would a Russian threat look like should the U.S. and its coalition of allied European partners not have an F-35?
How much would that change the threat equation?
Would the absence of the F-35 catapult Europe into new dimensions of vulnerability?
F-35 Multinational Force
It may seem somewhat self-evident, yet the collective impact of a multinational F-35 force may in and of itself be sufficient to deter potential Russian aggression.
The question seems quite relevant to the threat equation for Europe and may explain why more countries such as Switzerland are acquiring F-35s.
There are many reasons for this, the first and foremost perhaps simply being the networking potential among allied F-35 nations – to include the U.K., Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Poland and now Switzerland.
Russia’s Su-57
Of course the stealth and 5th-generation characteristics of the F-35 present attack possibilities as well as a counterbalance to Russia’s Su-57 5th-generation stealth fighter.
A networked web of European F-35s, integrated through a common Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL) could cover an expansive geographic scope potentially sufficient to thwart any kind of large scale Russian land advance.
