Airpower disruption

Australia is building its future air power capabilities around the F-35. What future threats might the fifth-gen fighter face?

As tensions rise over China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, Australian deploys a squadron of F-35A Lightning Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs), to the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth.

This is a location very familiar to many Australian defence personnel from decades of deployments, going back to the dark days of World War 2.
For the Australian Defence Force (ADF), this is the first regional deployment of the F-35s, aircraft far better than anything operated by any regional air force. Initial combat air patrols, out into the South China Sea, though nowhere close to the disputed territory, demonstrate F-35’s knowledge superiority.