Much-maligned F-35B fighter makes combat debut with Afghanistan mission

F-35B A F-35B being prepared for launch from the USS Essex ship | US Marine Corps

The US military announced on Thursday that its F-35B stealth fighter jet had carried out its first combat operation, with a strike mission against Taliban targets in Afghanistan. The fighters were launched by the US Marines from an amphibious assault ship at sea.

The F-35B is one of three variants of the F-35 fighter programme, which is the largest and most expensive weapons programme in US history. Last year, the US government revised the F-35 programme's total cost estimate to nearly $406 billion, after it briefly declined to less than $380 billion. The programme has seen significant criticism over its rising costs and repeated development delays over the past decade.

The F-35B variant is capable of vertical take-off and landing and is primarily meant for the US Marines Corps. The other variants are the F-35A for the US Air Force and the F-35C for the US Navy. All three variants have significant design differences to suit their mission profile. The F-35B is heavier than the other two variants and has a lower range given its need for a complex 'lift-fan' engine layout for vertical take-off and landing, while the F-35C has a larger wing area to suit carrier take-offs.

The F-35B, which is also on order for the British military and Italy, has come in for significant criticism given its weight issues and excessive engine heat issues—which necessitated the use of special deck coatings on amphibious ships carrying the fighter.

However, the F-35B has been considered 'sacrosanct' for the US Marines and British military given the need to replace the venerable Harrier vertical take-off fighter. The F-35B's stealthy design and capability to carry its weapons in internal bays, supersonic performance and cutting-edge sensors make it unquestionably superior to the 50-year-old Harrier design.

The F-35B is not the first F-35 variant to see combat—the Israeli military announced in May that its F-35A fighters had been used in combat over Syria.

Other countries that have hinted at interest in the F-35B are Australia, Japan, South Korea and Israel; the first three nations operate amphibious assault vessels that can carry aircraft capable of short take-off and vertical landing like the F-35B. Interestingly, in 2005, then Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash had said the Indian Navy would be interested in the F-35 given it could take off from an ship equipped with a ski-jump, like how India's own Harrier fighters did and how the British Royal Navy's F-35B fighters will.

Though India has not officially expressed interest in the F-35 family since then, repeated delays in purchase of fighters for the Indian Air Force and Navy means the possibility of an F-35B in Indian colours can't be ruled out!