As of August 2025, Lockheed Martin, the aircraft’s manufacturer, has delivered more than 1,215 F-35 stealth fighter jets of all types.
Today, the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet is the most advanced combat aircraft in the world. Although America’s newer fighter projects, including the F-47 NGAD, are slowly coming into fruition, the F-35 remains for the time being an unparalleled asset in the hands of US and allied air forces.
In many ways, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is unprecedented. Instead of one or a handful of countries manufacturing the stealth fighter jet, dozens of countries are contributing to the process. As one might expect for a jet of the F-35’s complexity and advanced technology, the program’s cost is also unprecedented; the US military estimates that its F-35 fleet will cost more than $2 trillion over the span of its lifetime.
About the F-35’s Three Specialized Variants
A fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter jet, the F-35 Lightning II comes in three versions: F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C.
The F-35 is often referred to as the “quarterback of the skies” due to its ability to scan the battlefield for strike opportunities and direct friendly air, naval, and ground assets towards them. But the F-35 is capable of more than just directing other aircraft to targets and enabling the kill chain. Specifically, the stealth fighter jet can conduct credibly Air Superiority, Close Air Support, Strategic Attack, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), Destruction of Enemy Air Defense (DEAD), and Electronic Warfare missions.
The three different versions of the aircraft are closely related, with their main difference being how they operate:
- The “A” variant is the conventional iteration of the F-35 that operates from traditional runways.
- The “B” is the Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) version that can land and take off like a helicopter but still fly like fixed-wing aircraft.
- Finally, the “C” is the aircraft carrier version.
As far as the maintenance required for each type of the F-35, the F-35A is the easiest to maintain, requiring an average of 5.3 man hours of maintenance for every flight hour. The F-35C comes next, with approximately 10.1 man-hours of maintenance per flight hour. Finally, the F-35B requires around 11.5 man-hours of attention for every hour in the skies.
With deliveries back on track after some delays and the global F-35 fleet growing, the US military and NATO can feel more confident about their capabilities in a near-peer conflict.
The F-35’s Specifications
Each of the three F-35 variants has slightly different characteristics, optimized for their varying mission profiles. The F-35A, the base model of the warplane, has the following specifications:
- Length: 51.4 ft
- Wingspan: 35 ft
- Weight: 29,300 lb empty; 49,540 lb standard takeoff weight; 65,918 lb maximum takeoff weight
- Top speed: Mach 1.6 (1,190 mph) at high altitude, Mach 1.06 (800 mph) at sea level
- Range: 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 miles)
- Engines: 1x Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 afterburning turbofan
- Armaments: 25 mm GAU-22A 4-barrel rotary cannon; 6 external hardpoints; 4 internal hardpoints; 18,000 lb maximum total weapons payload
How Many F-35s Are There Today?
As of August 2025, Lockheed Martin, the aircraft’s manufacturer, has delivered more than 1,215 F-35 stealth fighter jets of all types around the world. The global F-35 fleet has exceeded the 1 million flight hours mark. More than 3,070 pilots and 18,855 maintainers are qualified to operate and maintain the cutting-edge aircraft. In addition, the global F-35 fleet has completed more than 685 deployments and approximately 660,000 operational and training sorties.
The more than 1,200 F-35s around the world require specialized bases to operate from. Although during wartime F-35s and other aircraft could in principle operate from any air base, the stealth fighter jet has particular maintenance requirements, making it more convenient to establish air bases specifically to address its needs. Currently, there are approximately 37 such bases around the world—while 12 warships, all in American service, are also equipped to carry F-35s.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
