Lockheed’s F-35 Could Be Deployed for Combat This Year If Needed
- Fighter very close to receiving combat-ready declaration
- Air Combat Command’s General Hawk Carlisle outlines F-35
$100 Million F-35B Is Almost Combat Ready... or Is It?
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Lockheed Martin Corp.’s next-generation F-35 jet could be deployed on combat missions this year if requested by regional commanders, according to the U.S. general responsible for declaring the system war-ready.
“The minute I declare initial operational capability, if the combatant commander calls me up and says they needed F-35s, I would send them,” General Herb ‘Hawk’ Carlisle, head of the Air Combat Command, told reporters Wednesday after a congressional hearing.