Author: Michael

In a recent interview on his new book on the F-35 program, combat aviation expert Abraham Abrams has evaluated how the aircraft compares to the only other Western fifth generation fighter type, the F-22. The F-22 made its first flight and was first brought into service a decade before the F-35 program achieved these same milestones, and was initially expected to serve as a heavier and longer ranged counterpart to the fighter as part of a high-low combination, much as the F-15 did for the F-16 in the previous generation, and as the Chinese J-20 does for the J-35 fifth generation fighter.

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Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has discussed the development of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) with the program’s CEO, Marco Zoff, stressing that development was “an extremely important project that will determine Japan’s future air capabilities.” Zoff informed the minister that moving the program forward with greater speed was essential. Originating in the United Kingdom as the Tempest program, Japan joined the program in December 2022, while Italy had previously joined as a more minor partner.

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The Polish Air Force has received its first three F-35A fifth generation fighters, which landed at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Lask, making Poland the first former Warsaw Pact state other than Russia itself to field the latest generation of fighter aircraft. Senior Polish political and military leadership figures attended the aircraft’s arrival ceremony, with the F-35 representing the first NATO standard fighter type the country has procured following the U.S. F-16C/D and the South Korean FA-50.

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