F-35 reaches one millionth flying hour milestone
March 7, 2025
Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the F-35’s Program Executive Officer, announced the 3 March 2025 milestone of reaching one million flying hours, saying: “Reaching 1 million flight hours is a monumental achievement for the F-35 programme. It highlights the unwavering dedication of our pilots, maintainers, industry partners and our international partners and foreign military sales customers. This milestone is not just a testament to the F-35’s unmatched capability, but also to the resilience and commitment of everyone involved in this programme. As we continue to expand the fleet and advance the F-35’s capabilities, we are ensuring the warfighters of today and tomorrow have the most advanced, reliable, and effective aircraft to protect our nations.”
The F-35 programme celebrated reaching the milestone of having a global fleet of more than 1,000 F-35s on 6 August 2024. The size of the fleet is already transforming the way allied forces train, operate together, providing a global force of advanced, interoperable aircraft working together to strengthen deterrence and 21st Century Security.
Some believe that this achievement marked the ‘high water mark’ for the F-35 programme, since the Trump administration’s loosening of commitment (and in some cases outright hostility) to its allies has led many to question the wisdom of relying on an aircraft which relies so heavily on US support and even permission to conduct even routine operations. Without the US-controlled ALIS and ODIN support systems, any operator would find their F-35s unable to operate, while routine Mission Data loads cannot be iterated autonomously and must go through the various reprogramming labs at Eglin AFB. The US could easily be withdraw or disrupt the provision of these services. Deployments to new operating sites have to be approved by the JPO, and the aircraft relies on US support and sustainment.
Threatened with takeover, Canada could easily drop its commitment to the F-35, while Denmark, faced with Trump’s stated aim of taking over Greenland, must be questioning its own reliance on the aircraft!
