FARNBOROUGH, England (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet is arriving in growing numbers in Europe, and is poised to play a much broader role in missile defense and other warfare plans than conventional fighters, according to U.S. and European officials.
FILE PHOTO: A Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet is seen in its hanger at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, U.S., October 28, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron/File Photo - RC1A0CFAC9C0
After years of technical challenges and program delays, the F-35, the world’s most expensive arms program, is rapidly gaining a foothold in the United States and Europe.
The new warplane’s high-end sensors will give it a bigger role across all domains of war than previous fighter planes, including in missile defense, said General Tod Wolters, the top commander of U.S. and NATO air forces in Europe.
Norway, Britain and Italy will have received 40 F-35s in Europe by the end of the year, with the first Dutch jets to arrive next year, and the first U.S. jets in fiscal year 2021.
Israel in May became the first country to use the stealth fighter in combat.
“It’s a game-changing system,” Wolters told Reuters in an interview before the Farnborough Airshow. “We’re in the process of integrating the F-35 into the complete environment, not just the airspace.”
He said buyer countries were working “feverishly” to ensure the jets could communicate with other aircraft and the military commands in charge of operations on land, at sea and in space, to take full advantage of its capabilities.
To aid that process, the U.S. Air Force has set up a new division at its European headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, and senior officials from European user nations will also hold their annual meeting
