US F-35C stealth fighter at risk of being useless due to Russian and Chinese anti-ship missiles
The F-35C does not have enough range to launch an effective strike when US aircraft carriers have to move away from enemy shores to avoid anti-ship missiles.
| F-35C fighter tested on aircraft carrier in 2017. Video:US Navy |
In a more than 600-page report on the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the US House Armed Services Committee concluded: The carrier-based variant of the F-35 fighter jet would have difficulty reaching many targets without refueling in future wars.
The reason is that US aircraft carriers may have to keep a distance from enemy territory, avoiding entering the range of anti-ship missiles in service with China and Russia.
"The problem with anti-ship cruise missiles is not new. A series of difficulties in the development of the F-35 line has caused its design to lag behind by nearly 20 years, unable to keep up with emerging threats," said Dan Grazier, a scholar at the Project on Government Oversight.
Nearly 10 years ago, China developed the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, a weapon likened to an "aircraft carrier killer" with a range of 1,500 km, and is perfecting the target guidance system for this missile.
Russia also fielded the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic anti-ship missile with a maximum range of 2,000 km. Advances by Russia and China mean that US aircraft carriers will have to operate more than 1,800 km from the battlefield if a future conflict between major powers breaks out.
If this scenario occurs, the F-35C carrier-based fighter, with a combat radius of only 1,240 km, will have to refuel in the air to be able to attack the target. This refueling operation could cause the F-35C to lose its stealth advantage, because the enemy has the ability to track the large and slow tanker aircraft.
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F-35C fighter on the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in 2014. Photo:US Navy. |
Even when refueling operations take place far from the battlefield, enemy air defense radar systems and aircraft can still detect US aircraft within a radius of hundreds of kilometers, said expert Bryan Clark from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CBSA).
The US Navy could send aircraft carriers close to enemy territory and use defense systems to intercept anti-ship cruise missiles, but this could put the multi-billion dollar warship and its 6,000 crew members at risk.
The Pentagon plans to buy 2,456 F-35 fighters in all three variants for the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, of which the US Navy plans to deploy 273 F-35Cs.
