With a minor tweak, F-35s could shoot down North Korean missile launches - but there's a catch
- The F-35 could become capable of intercepting ballistic missiles over North Korea with a small tweak to its firmware, but there's a catch.
- The F-35 would have to be right next to the launching missile, which would put it in danger.
- Instead, the F-35 could also use the US Navy's network to guide a ship-launched missile to hit a launched missile.
- According to reports, North Korea is planning to launch a satellite, and the US is planning to give Kim Jong Un a "bloody nose," possibly by stopping one of its launches.
As the US military begins deploying the F-35, which brings with it the promise of revolutionizing aerial combat, it may also be deploying a potential ballistic missile defense asset.
For decades, US jet fighters have attempted to master the air-to-air kill. In the days of "Top Gun" and the F-14 Tomcat, that meant turning dogfights, with a mix of guns and missiles to outfox the other pilot.
But today, a new threat has taken aim at the US, and it's more dangerous than any fighter jet.
As North Korea perfects its ballistic missile technology into a nuclear arsenal that may be able to strike the US homeland, the F-35's new air target may be a missile, not a fighter.
According to Justin Bronk, an expert on aerial combat at the Royal United Services Institute, the missiles already onboard the F-35 just need a slight tweak to start taking on missiles.
"By changing a the firmware a bit, tweaking it a bit, you could gain a theoretical" capability to engage ballistic missiles, Bronk told Business Insider.
A source involved in ballistic missile defense at the Pentagon confirmed Bronk's statement. Basically, the F-35 and its AIM-120 air-to-air missile stand a few wires away from being able to take down North Korea's next missile test, but there's a catch.
Burnout
North Korea often launches from unexpected locations, at strange times, and from mobile launchers. This all ads up to a very unpredictable launch, which an F-35 would have limited time to position itself against.
"You'd have to be impractically close to their launch area," Bronk said. The problem then comes down to the missile itself.
"Given that an AIM-120 burns for 7-9 seconds and then coasts, and a ballistic missile does the opposite, all while climbing," Bronk explained, the F-35 would have to launch at the missile from very close.
As North Korea's ballistic missile blasts upwards, quickly gaining speed, the AIM-120's short burn time only has precious few seconds to catch the missile before it begins to slow down. During those 7-9 seconds, the ballistic missile only gets higher and faster.
F-35 as the quarterback, not a tackle
A more likely ballistic missile defense situation spearheaded by the F-35 could capitalize on what the US military does best, networking complicated systems and getting support from linked assets.
The F-35's AIM-120 is just 12 feet long, undersized for this role. But the US Navy's Arleigh-Berke guided missile destroyers carry several 21 foot long interceptor missiles.
The F-35's designers built it to integrate easily with the Navy's targeting system, so that the F-35 can find, track, and provide targeting info to missiles fired from ships, or even other jets.
"If you had F-35 loitering as close as possible but not in the airspace, with its sensor package is tuned to pick up a ballistic missiles' infrared signature," Bronk said, it could function as a "forward part of the warning chain."
This approach would allow the F-35 to stay out of North Korean airspace, which could be seen as an act of war. Instead, the F-35 simply tracks the ballistic missile, and a US Navy destroyer shoots it down.
Perhaps sooner rather than later
The F-35's deployment to Japan and its involvement in the ballistic missile defense discussion comes at a time of record high tensions between the US and North Korea, and when both sides have reportedly announced intentions to escalate further.
Last week, sources from President Donald Trump's administration reportedly said they were planning a "bloody nose" attack to damage North Korea's missile program and humiliate them.
South Korean media reported on Thursday that North Korea may be planning a satellite launch, which looks very much like a missile launch, but instead deposits a satellite in space.
In North Korea, missile launches are key propaganda events and vital to their research and development. For the US, the F-35 is the most expensive weapons system ever made and one that has yet to deliver on its promise of changing the game in aerial warfare.
As tensions rise between Pyongyang and Washington, we may see the two key weapons programs face off sooner rather than later.