Analysis: These Are The World's Top 5 Air Forces Equipped With F-35 Lightning II Fighter Jets

Analysis: These Are The World’s Top 5 Air Forces Equipped With F-35 Lightning II Fighter Jets

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II can trace its origins back to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, a merger of various fighter development programs in the 1980s and 1990s. The eventual winner was Lockheed Matin’s Skunk Works X-35. The aircraft’s development was funded primarily by the United States, with additional funding from members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and close American allies.

With the funding and cooperation of fellow NATO members, we will take a look and see who the top five militaries are that have the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II in their air forces and navies. However, before we get into that, let’s see how the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II came to be and its three variants.

Development of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

In the beginning, the aim was to build an aircraft with Advanced Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) abilities to replace the Harrier jump jet. What Lockheed Martin and its partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems came up with is the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world today.

The American-built Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. The plane is designed to provide the NATO militaries with the following capabilities:

• Air superiority
• Strike missions
• Surveillance and reconnaissance
• Electronic warfare

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is available in three variants, which are:

• The F-35A is a conventional takeoff and landing aircraft designed for the United States Air Force (USAF).
• The F-35B is a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft similar in size to the A variant but with a third of the fuel volume to house a shaft-driven lift fan. The F-35B has no landing hook for aircraft carriers but can take off in a short distance and land vertically.
• The F-35C is a naval version of the aircraft designed to operate from ships. It is configured for catapult-assisted takeoffs and barrier-arrested landings. Compared to the F-35A, it has larger wings, more robust landing gear, and improved low-speed control.

The F-35A made its maiden flight in 2006

The F-35A prototype rolled out of Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant on February 19, 2006, and made its maiden flight on December 16, 2006. The plane was given the name “Lightning II” after the World War Two twin-engine twin-boom Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).

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After flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base in California and Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland and aircraft carrier trials, the F-35B entered service with the United States Marine Corps in 2015. The United States Air Force (USAF) received its first F-35A in 2016, and the United States Navy (USN) got its first F-35C in 2019. When the plane entered service with the US military, it became the second fifth-generation fighter after the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor entered service with the USAF in 2005.

Top five air forces which operate the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

The United States Air Force (USAF)

The United States Air Force (USAF), is the largest operator of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II and has around 302 listed as active, with a further 1,372 on order. When the aircraft first entered service with the USAF in August 2016, it was delivered to the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. In April 2019, the first F-35 aircraft to serve outside the United States went to AlDhafra Airbase, located 20 miles south of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The F35A was used in combat by the USAF for the first time on April 27, 2019, against an Islamic State tunnel network in northern Iraq. On December 15, 2021, two squadrons of 48 F-35s were deployed to be stationed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)

After sending pilots to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona for training, the first two F-35As, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), unveiled its new jet fighters to the public at the biannual Avalon Airshow in Victoria in March 2017. Currently, the RAAF has 63 F35As listed as being active with No 3 Squadron and No 2 Operational Conversion Unit at RAAF Base Williamtown in New South Wales. The RAAF is expecting to receive a further nine F-35As sometime this year.

Republic of South Korea Air Force

The Republic of Korea Air Force has 40 F-35s listed as active, with a further 25 on order with the American planemaker. Since the arrival of South Korea’s first F-35A in March 2018, the Republic of Korea Air Force has only been able to provide maintenance on the plane. When the F-35s need more work, they must go to the Royal Australian Air Force Base in Williamtown, some 5,000 miles away from Seoul. To solve the problem, the South Korean government announced it was building a heavy maintenance, repair, and overhaul depot at Cheongju AB in 2027 and sending 30 technicians to the United States for training.

Israeli Air Force

Calling the F-35 “Adir”, a Hebrew word for “Mighty One,” the Israeli Air Force (IAF) received its first F-35 on June 22, 2016. In the spring of 2018, the head of the IAF, Amikam Norkin, said that the IAF had used the aircraft for the first time in combat, releasing photos of an F-35 flying over the Lebanese capital of Beirut during the daytime. Currently, Israel has 39 F-35As based at Nevatim AFB in the Negev desert.

Royal Air Force (RAF)

The Royal Air Force operates a fleet of 35 F-35Bs together with the Royal Navy Air Fleet Arm. Used to replace the Harrier GR9 and Tornado GR4, the first F-35Bs arrived at RAF Marham in Norfolk, East Anglia, in June 2018. The first RAF F-35Bs to be deployed overseas were sent to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Royal Navy operates its F-35Bs on the aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, where they take off using a ski ramp and land vertically. The Royal Navy also stations 809 Naval Air Squadron and its F-35Bs at RAF Marham.

Earlier this year (2024), the United Kingdom Government reaffirmed its commitment to acquiring a total of 138 F-35Bs for the RAF and Royal Navy.

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