The F-35’s future: The world’s most advanced stealth fighter and what comes next [Video]

Depending on who you ask, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is either the biggest mistake the Pentagon ever made, one that has wasted billions for no return, or an astounding piece of cutting-edge technology that is making America and its allies safer right at this moment.

But the fifth-generation jet’s story is far from fully written. In the next few years, prime contractor Lockheed Martin will decide how it wants to go forward with major upgrades for power and cooling that will be needed to keep the F-35 relevant for decades to come. And at the same time, geopolitical headwinds and the early development of sixth-generation fighters may put pressure on what has been a 100 percent success rate with sales competitions abroad.

Which is why Breaking Defense decided that now is the time to take stock of where the F-35 has been, where it is now, and where it is going in the future.

Above, you’ll find the first part of our new roundtable series, “Where Stealth Flies from Here: The Future of the F-35.” Over the next month, our panel — Breaking Defense’s Aaron Mehta, Valerie Insinna and Michael Marrow alongside analyst JJ Gertler — will dive into all aspects of the modernization plan for the JSF, as well as the challenges it seems likely to face going forward.

This first episode focuses on the history of the F-35, and how best to fairly judge what the jet is doing for militaries around the world today.