One of the costliest fighter planes in the world is the F-35. The cost of the plane had been adversely commented upon by President Donald Trump and the manufacturers had agreed to scale down the cost. despite a slight reduction in cost, the plane is plagued by accidents and other snags. At least 3 accidents have taken place. The plane is bought by the Israeli defense force out of the defense grant given by the USA and the first plane is inducted.
The U.S. military think tank is also thinking along these lines. A plan is being mooted to induct the F-35 to fight the ISIS.
As the F-35 is not a carrier plane, it stands to reason that it will operate from static bases. The plane given the general political atmosphere can operate only from air bases in Saudi Arabia or Qatar.
The deployment of these planes in the "Not too distant future" is indicated by general Herbert J Carlisle, the outgoing head of Air Combat Command' he said " It would deploy as an asset for the (combined air component commander) at Al Udeid in Qatar so he would use it as he saw fit and I would certainly expect it to participate in operations just like the F-22 today". This has been reported by Military.com
The deployment of these planes in the 'not too distant future" is indicated by general Herbert J Carlisle, the outgoing head of Air Combat Command' he said " It would deploy as an asset for the (combined air component commander) at Al Udeid in Qatar so he would use it as he saw fit and I would certainly expect it to participate in operations just like the F-22 today," as reported by Military.com.
Induction of F-35
The F-35 has not yet been used in a combat role and before it is inducted into the Middle East small numbers of these planes would be tested operationally in Europe and Japan. The F-22 is presently being used successfully in the Middle East against the ISIS. No plane has been lost in combat. The bombing has been pretty accurate and has helped the Iraqi army greatly in fighting the ISIS.
The assault on Mosul could not have been mounted without active bombing by the USAF.
A long war
The general has indicated that the induction of the planes for full combat duties may take 2/3 years. This shows that the USA has a long range plan for the Middle East and defeating ISIS is not going to be easy. This also means the cost of fighting the war will escalate.
The failure to win decisively on the ground is a surprise and the negation of Giulio Douhet's theory of air warfare. The Russians are also operating in the Middle East. Both air forces have agreed on a mutual flight safety memorandum which allows both forces to operate by informing each other of their operations.
