Chairman of the JCS gets behind the F-35

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, swung his weight behind the F-35 recently in a session with the Senate's Armed Services Committee:

A self-described "ground-pounder" (soldier), Dempsey told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that he was "open-minded" on the fate of the F-35 until he talked to a Marine officer running one of the first operational squadrons of F-35s at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Dempsey said that conversation about the plane's performance turned him into an advocate. And then he put his finger on what may be the most important reason for buying the F-35: "We haven't been attacked from the air since April 15, 1953, and I'm not going to be the chairman on whose watch... that's reversed." 

A lot of the critics seem to not understand the importance of that point, especially to America's military.   It is more than a point of pride.  It is a point of critical importance.  What it points to is a military that has been able to establish air dominance and maintain it to the point that enemy aircraft have found it impossible to penetrate our air umbrella and attack our troops on the ground.

That is absolutely critical to victory.  And in modern warfare, the side which is able to do this rarely loses.

Gen. Dempsey understands that point from a very personal perspective.  He's also now convinced that the F-35 is the aircraft of the future that will ensure that record stays intact.

Graff