Browsing tag
Despite blessed with wealth and abundance of petro-dollar, the air forces of Gulf Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, have yet to be equipped with fifth-generation fighter jets such as the F-35.
A fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet necessitated repair work estimated at US$4 million (RM18 million) due to maintenance crew negligence, as they inadvertently left handheld flashlights in the aircraft’s engine inlet during engine startup.
Recently, French media have expressed concerns about the future of the European aerospace industry due to the “enthusiasm” of European countries themselves to acquire fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets from the United States.
Australia has awarded a contract worth US$75.3 million (RM346 million) to BAE Systems to expand support facilities for fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets at Newcastle Airport in the Hunter Valley region.
The U.S Department of Defense have provided Israel with “special computer files” containing detailed information on targets in the Gaza Strip to assist the Israeli Air Force’s fleet of fifth-generation fighter jets.
Despite their wealth and abundance of petro-dollar, the air forces of Gulf Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, have yet to be equipped with fifth-generation fighter jets such as the F-35.
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last February, the United States deployed its fifth-generation fighter jets, the F-35, to countries like Estonia, Lithuania, and Romania to patrol the borders with Russia and the Baltic countries.
Iran claims that its engineers have successfully developed technology that enables them to detect the “fingerprint” of enemy electronic equipment, including radar waves used by the United States’ fifth-generation fighter aircraft, the F-35.
Although wealthy, the air forces of Gulf Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, are still not equipped with fifth-generation fighter aircraft like the F-35.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has revealed a concerning statistic regarding the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program: only 55 percent of these advanced fighter aircraft are fully capable of executing their assigned missions.