OT:US Fighter Aircraft Readiness

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
1

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week found the military’s F-35 fighter jets are only fully mission capable — meaning they can perform all assigned missions — about 25% of the time. That is a steep drop from 2021, when the jets were fully mission capable about 38% of the time.

The F-35’s mission capable rate, which measures how often the jet can accomplish one of its assigned missions, likewise fell from 67% to 44% in the same time frame.

Indeed, the aircraft’s paltry mission capable rates underscore the program’s debilitating sustainment issues. These include a lack of spare parts, software problems, excessive repair backlogs, and unmitigated issues with corrosion on some jets.

The U.S. Air Force’s decision to prematurely halt F-22 Raptor production at just 186 aircraft was a “strategic blunder” that has created a dangerous “air superiority gap.”

-While the F-22 remains the world’s most dominant air-to-air fighter, the small fleet size, with only about 150 combat-ready jets, is a significant vulnerability in a potential conflict with near-peer adversaries like China and Russia.

-The high cost of maintaining and upgrading these few aircraft further strains resources, leaving the U.S. quantitatively outmatched in the skies until the next-generation F-47 fighter becomes operational.

2 Likes
2

Any idea how mission capable the Israeli F-35 fleet is?

The Captain

3

My readiness to fund this is 0.025%, maybe less.

2 Likes
4

Unfortunately, it’s the carrier fighter of the future. The F22 can’t operate on carriers. It’s restricted to land bases. It was almost certainly a mistake to put all our eggs in the F35 basket, but that’s it for now. Until the F47, which is (hopefully) going to be more mission capable.

And we have sold a good number of F35s to other countries (roughly 20), which is good for jobs here. Spare parts for decades. Good for us.

1 Like
5

Captain,

The US is keeping China in the Pacific on edge and in the dark. Propaganda does not have to make you powerful to stop a war.

This AI report made me laugh. I would think the US is in the same boat.

The F 35 would survive the beginnings of a war with China. The rest of the air craft we have would not. China knows that. We need some intrique to keep them guessing.

But the truth? Here…
The Israeli Air Force maintains a remarkably high mission-capable (MC) rate for its F-35I “Adir” fleet, frequently hovering near or exceeding 90%. This starkly contrasts with readiness levels seen in other allied militaries, due in large part to Israel’s continuous combat operations and sovereign permission to locally modify software and maintenance procedures. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Several specific factors explain this exceptional readiness:

  • Sustained Real-World Maintenance: Because Israeli F-35s fly daily combat missions over the Middle East, ground crews operate on a highly accelerated learning curve. This real-world tempo allows them to streamline repairs and anticipate mechanical issues much faster than peacetime training cycles.
  • Sovereign Modifications: Israel is the only operator permitted by the Pentagon to deeply integrate its own proprietary electronic warfare systems and custom indigenous weapons into the F-35. They even maintain a dedicated test jet (AS-01) at their home base for indigenous testing.
  • Streamlined Logistics: Unlike the United States—which relies heavily on a centralized global logistics and sustainment software system (ALIS/ODIN) that often causes spare parts shortages—Israel manages much of its own fleet sustainment in-house, preventing localized bottlenecks. [2, 8]

The success of their maintenance and combat operations has even prompted the U.S. military to look at Israel’s operational procedures as a blueprint to improve readiness metrics. [2]

If you’d like to dive deeper, let me know if you want to explore:

  • Specific combat deployments and what they’ve targeted.
  • The differences between the Israeli F-35I and the standard American F-35A.
  • The logistics of their ongoing fleet expansion. [9, 10]

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7fCQUHHqoY

[2] Israel's F-35I Combat Experience Is Providing Lessons For Future Pacific Fight

[3] A Tale of Two Air Forces: Why Israel's F-35 Fleet Outperforms the US Air Force | Defense.info

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/1opup13/why_did_israel_get_a_custom_f35i_while_tier_1/

[5] https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/israeli-air-force/what-you-need-to-know-about-our-new-f-35/

[6] Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Israeli procurement - Wikipedia

[7] https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/1opup13/why_did_israel_get_a_custom_f35i_while_tier_1/

[8] https://simpleflying.com/why-f-35-usaf-most-important-fighter-jet/

[9] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PTk4fQDi-kg

[10] https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Israeli-F35i-Adir-better-than-the-American-F-35

2 Likes
6

The F-35 wasmostly a plstform for studying “hive” communications and battle ractics for groups of aircraft, and that has been largely successful (or so my my Military industrial Complex godson tells me. He also tells me that drones (thank you Ukrainians) have changed EVERYTHING, and that never mind what planes to put aircraft carriers as the carriers themselves are now questionable in real warfare.

3 Likes
7

David correct me if wrong, the F35 fights from a greater distance than the rest of them. This means it is harder to take one down.

8

https://simpleflying.com/top-5-longest-range-usaf-fighter-jets-2026/

Boeing F-15EX Eagle II
Combat Radius of 690 nautical miles

McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
Combat radius of 690 nautical miles

Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II
Combat radius of 670 nautical miles

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor
Combat radius of 590 nautical miles

9

Don’t blame the F-35, blame the maintenance protocol.

The Captain

2 Likes
10

Or don’t trust the ingunity of the American liar.

11

How is that achieved?

  1. Israel has priority of spare parts OVER USAF.
    Perhaps most importantly, Israel has received prioritized support from the U.S. government. Since the outbreak of conflict on October 7, 2023, the F-35 Joint Program Office has moved “at breakneck speed” to support Israel by accelerating weapons capabilities and increasing spare parts supply rates. This surge in support has enabled Israel to maintain its remarkable readiness rates even during intensive combat operations.
    2)Maintaining 39 F-35s is an easier chore than maintaining hundreds of F-35s. In other words the Israel method is not likely scalable.
    The Israeli model demonstrates what F-35 readiness can achieve when adequate spare parts and maintenance resources are available. However, the scalability of this approach remains questionable. Surging spare parts to support dozens of aircraft during combat operations is vastly different from sustaining hundreds of F-35s across multiple theaters simultaneously.
    3)Israeli mission range is relatively short range.
    Israel’s combat operations occur close to home bases, reducing the logistical complexity that plagues U.S. operations designed for global power projection.

US logistical organization is designed for reduced cost not mission readiness. Who is to blame? Military leaders or political leaders?
Military leaders are at least aware of the problem. Perhaps a trillion and half defense bill could fix the problem. Or perhaps waste cutting in the current trillion dollar budget could correct the situation. Meanwhile business as usual continues.
The just-in-time logistics model that underpins the F-35 program, designed for efficiency in peacetime, has proven inadequate for sustained operations. As Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, head of the F-35 Joint Program Office, explained: “This program was set up to be very efficient… [a] just-in-time kind of supply chain. I’m not sure that that works always in a contested environment.”
Or during peace time either.

In short, the stark difference in F-35 readiness between the US Air Force and Israeli Air Force represents more than just a maintenance issue—it reflects fundamentally different strategic approaches to aircraft sustainment. Israel’s emphasis on operational independence, combined with prioritized U.S. support, has enabled it to achieve readiness rates that the U.S. Air Force can only aspire to reach.

For American policymakers and military leaders, the lesson is clear: the current F-35 sustainment model is inadequate for the demands of modern warfare. Whether through increased investment in spare parts and depot capacity, adoption of more independent maintenance approaches, or fundamental restructuring of the logistics system, significant changes are needed to ensure America’s most expensive military program can fulfill its intended role in national defense.

12

I have seen this in writing. So have the Chinese. Is it totally true? Or useful to keep the Chinese war machine a little unclear about our preparedness?

Just because something is in writing does not mean it is true. We read the press two different ways. I see too much lying in the press to believe things on face value.