WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force will deploy the F-35A to fight the Islamic State group in the Middle East in the “not too distant future,” potentially a few years down the road, the outgoing head of Air Combat Command said Friday.
“The Middle East deployment isn’t imminent, it’s planned for a few years out,” Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle told reporters, noting that the service expects to send small detachments of F-35s to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region first, maybe as soon as this spring.
But the Air Force is already discussing the aircraft’s first deployment to Central Command, where its situational awareness and sensor fusion capabilities could greatly help U.S. air assets conducting strikes in Iraq and Syria, he said. Specifically, the F-35s could prove beneficial in and decreasing the risk of collisions with Russian aircraft and spotting surface-to-air threats.
“If you look at portions of Syria, it's a pretty dense surface-to-air threat inside that arena,” he said. Both the Russian and Syrian militaries have stationed active surface-to-air missile systems inside the country to protect important facilities and assets.
“We try to deconflict. We try to make sure that they know that they need to not, certainly, illuminate our aircraft, but those systems are operating in that environment,” he said. “They’re not illuminating our aircraft with any type of target tracking radars or anything like that in large numbers or to any great extent that I know of. … But their radars are active.”
Other F-35 capabilities, such as stealth and electronic attack, could also prove beneficial, said Carlisle, who is set to retire in March.
The F-35 is still undergoing its development phase, with full combat capability slated for 2018 when its Block 3F software becomes available. At that point, the aircraft will be able to carry a full suite of weapons, including external stores, and have greater functionality with its logistics system. However, Carlisle said the Air Force has not decided whether the Middle East deployment will consist of 3F jets or 3I, the F-35 iteration currently in use.
The F-35 would be the second stealth fighter sent to battle ISIS. The F-22 has conducted periodic deployments to the Middle East for airstrikes against the militant group, dynamic targeting and enhanced situational awareness. Carlisle imagines the F-35 would eventually play a similar role.
