Could a Large F-35 Force Ensure U.S. Air Dominance to 2070?

File Special Video Report: Inside Building the F-35 – Where Stealth Begins

*A Top Warrior Maven Story – Republishing for Viewer Interest

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Amid all the debate and political sparring over F-35 funding, sustainment, per aircraft cost and long term modernization, there is another pressing circumstance which tends to get obscured or perhaps at times lost beneath the conceptual and budget-oriented turbulence surrounding the aircraft.

The reality often lost, dismissed or simply buried beneath the ongoing debate is that there is a credible and interesting argument why continued procurement, sustainment and modernization of the F-35 could help establish U.S. air supremacy moving into the coming decades.

F-35s & U.S. Air Supremacy

Why? There are a number of variables which seem to impact this equation. First, the Russians and Chinese simply do not have large numbers of 5th-generation stealth fighters. 

Yes the J-20 and Su-57 could quite realistically present serious threats and challenges to the F-35, however China now operates roughly 50 J-20 fighters and Russian news reports say the current plan is for the country to acquire roughly 76 Su-57s.