Although an F-35 flew for 11 minutes in 2023 after a pilot ejected, a fully autonomous fighter would be a game-changer.
When it comes to futuristic uncrewed aircraft, the US Air Force’s progressing Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program perhaps first comes to mind. As part of the “family of systems,” the sixth-generation project will incorporate a highly stealth manned fighter jet in addition to a crew of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles dubbed Collective Combat Aircraft (CCAs). As the service continues to make strides in its efforts to field NGAD, it is not counting out existing platforms. In fact, Lockheed Martin recently suggested that a new variant of the F-35 Lightning II could be optionally manned down the line, in addition to featuring emerging technologies, enhanced stealth coatings, and other improvements.
“We could make the F-35 pilot optional over a relatively modest time frame based on a lot of the development we’ve done” for sixth-generation fighter competitions, Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet said at Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference. In terms of other new and improved capabilities, “we feel like within two to three years, we could have a meaningful increase of capability for the F-35 by porting some of these technologies over.” While the F-35 already proved to possess some autonomous function back in 2023, when a jet flew for 11 minutes after its pilot ejected over South Carolina, a fully autonomous fighter would be a whole new arena for the infamous fighter.
An Overview of the F-35 Lightning II
From stealth and avionics to ordnance load and speed, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is arguably the most advanced jet of its kind to ever fly the skies. In fact, the American-made fighter redefines air dominance and is believed to be unmatched in capability even by near-peers. The F-35 was born from the JSF program, which coalesced in the early 2010s as a merger of previous fighter aircraft conceptions from the Cold War. Perhaps the most influential program that benefitted the F-35 design was the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Advanced Short Take-Off/Vertical Landing. The JSF program quickly grew to include a cohort of nine nations, including Australia, the UK, and Denmark. Turkey was also an initial partner in JSF but was ultimately withdrawn from the program following its procurement of advanced Russian air defense systems which violated US law.
Powered by the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, the Lightning II is able to reach speeds in excess of Mach 1.6 (times the speed of sound). While speed represents a key piece to the fighter’s success in the skies, what truly sets the F-35 apart from other jets is its advanced ability to gather, process, and securely pass along information in real-time to allied forces. The Lightning II’s ability to service data transmission between all Joint Strike Fighters—even those that fly for foreign militaries—is unique and cost-effective. In terms of stealth, the F-35 is extremely difficult for enemy radar to detect due to its reduced radar cross-section and absorbent coating materials.
The Lightning II already represents dominance in its current form, but the potential enhancements under consideration by Lockheed will only make the fifth-generation fighter that much more powerful.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: Karolis Kavolelis / Shutterstock.com
