The F-35 Lightning II is the most advanced fighter jet in the skies today. The fifth-generation stealth aircraft is designed to take on adversaries in the air, on the ground, and in the seas with equal effectiveness.
However, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has not been without its challenges. Estimated to cost the U.S. military over $2 trillion over its lifetime, and with frequent delays, the F-35 program has been under close scrutiny. Yet for the time being, the progress is good.
The F-35 Program Continues to Make New Advancements
In April, the F-35 program achieved several important successes. After a painful pause in deliveries due to software issues, Lockheed Martin has resumed distribution—delivering its 1,170th completed aircraft. That means that approximately one-third of the total global order of F-35s has been delivered. While many of these deliveries took place outside the United States, the U.S. military remains overwhelmingly the plane’s largest customer, with a total order of 2,456 aircraft.
To date, more than 2,910 pilots from 20 countries have been trained to fly the aircraft. Over 18,100 maintainers from dozens of countries are capable of servicing it. And F-35s around the world have flown almost 630,000 sorties altogether, racking up more than one million total flight hours.
In April 2025, the global F-35 fleet participated in several interesting missions. The stealth fighter jet also achieved a major milestone, highlighting its unique contribution to the modern battlefield.
What Has the F-35 Done Lately?
In April, during the funeral of Pope Francis, Italian F-35 fighter jets secured the airspace over Rome and the Vatican. In addition, British F-35Bs embarked on a global deployment on board the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier that will take them to numerous hotspots around the world. Significantly, Norway became the first country to receive all of the F-35s of its order—now with 52 F-35As in total.
But perhaps the F-35’s most interesting feat in the past month was a remarkable demonstration of its interoperability with friendly assets.
During the large-scale “Ramstein Flag” exercise among NATO nations, a Dutch F-35A Lightning II simulated an operation in a non-permissive, Anti-Access, Aerial Denial (A2/AD) environment. At some point during its flight, the F-35A spotted enemy assets and used a classified multifunction advanced datalink pathway to distribute targeting data to multiple simulated friendly ground assets, enabling them to strike at the simulated adversary.
It is exactly this ability of the F-35 that has earned it the nickname of “Quarterback of the Skies.” The ability to “see” the battlefield like no other asset—and not only “talk” to friendly air, ground, and naval assets, but coordinate with them, enabling them to strike at adversary positions that otherwise they would not be able to locate. This capability makes the F-35 a force multiplier on the battlefield, and a tremendous headache to adversaries like China and Russia. Modern conflict is all about how fast, efficient, and sustainable a “kill chain” is; the more assets that can participate and communicate smoothly, the more successful a kill chain can be. In that regard, the F-35 is an outstanding addition to any military force.
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.
