What Do F-35 Advanced Capability Upgrades Bring to 21st Century Security?
April 27, 2022
The F-35 is set to receive its most significant evolution in capabilities to date.
The Big Picture
F-35 advanced capability upgrades will ensure the F-35 maintains a technological edge against growing global threats – without changing the aircraft’s external shape.
What will these upgrades bring to the F-35 and 21st century security?
Bigger Brains
The upcoming capability developments will be enabled by a new computer processor to run the F-35. This new IT backbone provides greater computing power, a larger memory unit, and enables seamless capability upgrades through an open missions systems architecture. This means incremental capabilities can be integrated into the F-35 faster than ever before.
Sharper Vision
F-35 modernization improves pilots battlespace awareness with an enhanced panoramic cockpit display and new navigation updates. This advanced F-35 Pilot Interface displays the work from the automatic sensor fusion engine that stitches multi-spectral information sensed with additional and improved sensors. These new “eyes” improves the ability to “see first and shoot first” resulting in increased survivability and lethality.
More Muscle, More Deterrence
As we integrate new technology, we’re also integrating new weapons and increasing the F-35 total weapons capacity. With modernization updates, the F-35 will be ready to employ 17 additional weapons. This increases operational flexibility, and expands operators’ area of influence with longer-range weapons.
Better Communication Across Domains
The F-35 advanced networking and interoperability improvements will enable the 21st century information requirements to be fused and shared across all domains. The F-35’s battlespace awareness and its ability to share across the joint and coalition force provides an integrated capability that maximizes the networked force.
Why it Matters
By its very presence, the F-35 changes adversaries’ plans and behavior. Advanced capability upgrades ensure the F-35 stays ahead of adversary technological developments and further deters aggression.
