The Inside Story of the F-35 Lightning II
by Tom Burbage, Betsy Clark, Adrian Pitman with David Poyer
Aviation enthusiasts will adore this book for its compelling narrative of the development and fielding of the most advanced combat aircraft in history. The F-35 is dominant in the world today and that dominance will continue for decades. There are slices of history of aviation advances over the decades included in the book to pique the interest of just about anyone interested in either aviation or history.
Science geeks will enjoy the book for its technical details on the most advanced aviation technology flying anywhere. There is just enough high tech talk to acquaint the reader with astonishing advances in aviation technology without having to be an engineer to understand the why’s and how’s of its overwhelming superiority to anything else flying today.
Engineers will revel in the engineering detail across virtually every discipline and the fascinating and complex story of creating a completely new type of aircraft taking the art of creating a new aircraft to a completely new level. Virtually everything about the aircraft, the engine, its stealth, data integration, visibility, ejection seat, flexibility, ease of flying takes technology to a new high.
Little known to the general public is the fact that the F-35 is flying not only with our Navy, Marines and Air Force but it will also eventually be flying with 18 allied nations. This outstanding aircraft with its 3 variants replaces 16 other aircraft. While costing billions to develop and field, the reality is that the scope of the production run and other innovations and partnerships has driven the unit cost down tremendously. The more aircraft are built, huge amounts of money are saved on training and logistics. The US and our allies are experiencing more interoperability than ever before we dreamed was possible.
There is a little something for everyone in this book as it describes not only the technical side of building an all-new advanced aircraft like none ever seen before, but also describes the management, political, logistical, and public relations challenges of a project spanning decades, costing many billions, involving hundreds of thousands of people, dozens of corporations and allied nations and their armed services literally all over the world.
Patriots will appreciate the aircraft for its unmatched superiority over anything flying that our enemies around the world will put up to oppose it. It marks an astonishing technological leap forward that has our enemies’ heads reeling. We all hope that war never comes again like our country experienced during the World Wars. However, if it does come, every citizen will thank Tom Burbage and his entire international team who created this weapon of war. The F-35 Lightning will go down in history as a trail-blazing weapon for national defense on par with the creation of the modern super carrier or the Ballistic Missile Submarine.
Brent Ramsey is a retired Navy CAPT. He was a military advisor to Congressman Mark Meadows 2016-2020. He is the author of dozens of published articles on national defense.
