For the first time since the Second World War, US Air Force aircraft flew a combat mission from a foreign aircraft carrier. This was reported by CNN on June 23.
It is noted that the F-35B fighters of the US Marine Corps made combat sorties over the Middle East, taking off from the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth for the first time since 1943. Then American planes also took off from the British ship Victorious in the South Pacific Ocean.
The mission of the fighters was to strike at the positions of the militants of the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS, banned in Russia). British aircraft were also involved in the operation.
In total, 18 American and British F-35Bs were placed on board the Queen Elizabeth, the TV channel indicates.
Earlier, in March, the former head of the General Staff of the country's Armed Forces, General Richard Dannatt, predicted large expenses to the British Ministry of Defense due to the operation of American fifth-generation F-35B stealth fighters.
According to Dannat, one fighter costs £80 million (8.2 billion rubles), and an hour of its operation will cost London £90 thousand (9.2 million rubles). The expert expressed the opinion that such expenses "will distort the defense budget for decades," and the British ground forces will remain the losers.
On March 1, it was reported that the top leadership of the Air Force (Air Force) The United States has started talking about the need to create new light fighters that will combine expensive F-22 and F-35, as well as more budget jet aircraft.
In January, the Pentagon postponed the full-scale production of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter-bombers indefinitely. Combat tests were postponed from 2017.
The F-35 is a family of unobtrusive multi-functional fifth-generation fighter-bombers developed by the American company Lockheed Martin in three versions: a ground fighter for the F-35A Air Force, a short-takeoff and vertical landing fighter F-35B and a carrier-based fighter F-35C for the Navy.
