The F-35C is the first and only long-range stealth strike fighter made explicitly for Navy carrier operations, which revolutionizes naval air warfare. Its VLO stealth performance achieved through its configuration, embedded sensors, internal fuel, and weapon capacity, and aligned edges by using state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, enables pilots to avoid enemy detection and dominant execution in mission roles in a contested environment by significantly furthering their lethality and survivability.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is in itself an example of stealthy performance. It is also equipped with great mission flexibility: carrying 5,700 pounds of internal ordnance in its basic stealthy form. However, air dominance brings Total Weapon Carry to “Beast Mode,” with a combined 22,000 pounds of internal and external weapons. This results in effective employment in various combat situations and an asymmetric advantage against 4th-generation adversaries.
The F-35 is designed to fly into any battlespace, clear threats in the air and on the ground, and provide critical intelligence to commanders—all on day one of a campaign. Its reconfigurability means it can come back with the right mix of weapons for the next battle, in whatever reconfiguration—stealth, semi-stealth, or full beast mode. Add in its range and payload capacity, and it changes the game in sustained combat operations.
Compared to the F-35A, the fuel efficiency of the F-15E is relatively poor. It uses around 9,200 pounds more fuel than the F-35A with the same heavy weapon load. This increased efficiency will translate into more missions per fuel allocation, and hence to enhanced operational effectiveness. An F-15E can carry heavy weapons; an F-35A can deliver 33 percent more of those munitions with the same fuel. What is more, the former can finally bring stealth to environments where others cannot.
“Beast Mode” is credited as one of the major reasons for the success of F-35 aircraft. Designed for the internal carriage of weapons most stealthily and already with an internal carriage of 5,700 pounds of ordnance, it can go into “Beast Mode” for extreme firepower and cram in up to 22,000 pounds of ordnance. This means the F-35 can work well in contested airspaces, where they pave the way for more permissive environments in airspaces.
The maximum it can carry in stealth mode will be only 5,700 pounds of ordnance. For instance, it could carry loads including four AIM 120 AMRAAM missiles for air-to-air tasks, or incorporate two AMRAAMs in addition to two GBU-31 JDAM bombs for a hybrid load. In Beast Mode configuration, the F-35 can hold four times as much ordnance, such as 14 AMRAAMs and two AIM-3x Sidewinder missiles for air-to-air missions, or a hybrid load of two AMRAAMs, two Sidewinders, and six JDAM 2,000-pound bombs.
With advanced technology and stealth ability, the F-35 is highly versatile and can be able to execute missions from the very basic aim of air supremacy to a bomb carrier role. This capacity for adaptability to different missions facilitates realizing the highest value from the expensive F-35 program in modern combat scenarios.
The F-35C and its variants make up a leap ahead in military aviation: one with range, versatility, and stealth that are unrivaled; operational efficiency that will assure the United States and its allies of maintaining a margin of dominant aerial excellence, with evolving threats.