The Navy's Decision to Solve Its Fighter Shortage Makes No Sense
The problem: There aren't enough F-35s on carrier flight decks. Here's the service's baffling fix.
By Kyle Mizokami
Jul 16, 2021
The U.S. Navy had originally projected a shortfall in the number of its strike fighters in the 2020s.
The Navy’s solution is apparently to simply require fewer fighters to fix the problem.
The service hasn’t explained its decision. It’s weird.
The U.S. Navy is taking an unusual approach to solving an anticipated fighter shortage: Instead of buying more planes, the service has simply decided it will need fewer of them.
The Navy will replace a future requirement for two squadrons of 10 F-35Cs with one squadron of 14. Yes, the result will make the fighter shortfall go away—but it will also shrink the number of fighter jets on each carrier by 15 percent.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a37039440/navy-fighter-jet-shortage/
