The German air force is seriously interested in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as the central node of its future networked strike complex, which includes unmanned surrogates. Germany is considering starting a new development program or buying an off-the-shelf, next-generation warplane as a future replacement for the Cold War-era Tornado.
Called “Command Fighter Advanced” (CFX), the future fighter would replace the Tornado around 2030. It must be tightly interoperable with unmanned assets, specifically disposable, reconfigurable “remote carriers” and reusable unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) that can return to base after missions.
Lt. Gen. Helmut Schutz, commanding general of the Luftwaffe’s Air Forces Command, said May 24 at a close-air-support summit in Washington that a request for information is about to be sent to the U.S. capital for information about the F-35.
He says Germany is looking at what advanced fighter aircraft are available on the market today and if any meet the Luftwaffe’s vision for future combat operations. The F-35 is being seriously considered because of its advanced sensing and networking capabilities, and because it finally would allow the Luftwaffe to be more interoperable with its NATO allies, such as F-35 operators Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey. Germany now sees Russia as a serious threat, and possible NATO Article 5 collective defense operations are very much back on Berlin’s defense agenda.
By buying the F-35, Germany could also take advantage of the work being done in the U.S. on so-called “loyal wingman” technologies.
Schutz says a decision will be made next year on how long the Tornado will remain in operational service. Future fighter concepts and off-the-shelf options are now being studied.
The F-35A is classified as dual-capable, meaning it can carry conventional and nuclear weapons, specifically NATO-based B61s provided by the U.S. Going with the F-35 would allow the Luftwaffe to retain this mission capability for collective defense.
Schutz says the future command fighter also must be tightly linked with fourth-generation fighter aircraft, specifically Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoons, which will remain in service for decades.
Schutz says two crucial factors are “maturity and availability,” but Berlin also wants workshare and technology transfer. The government is strongly considering a brand-new development program, but that presents significant technological risk due to platform complexity and may take too long to deliver. A ready-made aircraft like the F-35 would have an installed support base.
“Regarding technical solutions, there are options to develop a new system or to procure an existing platform,” Schutz says. “The F-35 would be one currently available system that could fulfill our needs. The Luftwaffe is very much in favor of this approach. I’d be happy to rejoin a huge community of warfighters in a very, very capable system.”
Schutz expects a decision on whether to develop a new aircraft or buy an already developed model “within the next year.”
In terms of developing the complementary unmanned aircraft, Schutz says Germany would be in favor of partnering with other nations in developing UCAV technology. “I’d not expect we’d do that internally. That would be a partnership approach,” he says.
Most major U.S. defense companies are heavily invested in high-performance unmanned aircraft capable of surveillance and strike operations. Most would raise their hands to support Germany.
Two programs of interest are the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Low-Cost Attritable Strike UAS, which was won by Kratos’s 3,000 mi.-range XQ-222 “Valkyrie.” Flight testing of the armed, reusable combat aircraft is expected in early 2018.
The second program of interest is DARPA’s Gremlins, recently won by Dynetics and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, to demonstrate new multimissile air vehicles that can be launched and recovered from a C-130 cargo airplane or bomber.
The Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office is also developing an “Arsenal Plane” that would essentially be a flying “bomb truck” for front-line stealth fighters such as the F-35 and F-22 Raptor.
U.S. Air Force F-35As from Hill AFB, Utah, recently were deployed to Europe as part of the conventional model’s first overseas deployment to support training missions with NATO partners.
