An F-35A Lightning II takes off from an undisclosed location in support of Operation Epic Fury. (U.S. Air Force Photo)

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—F-35s participating in combat operations in the Middle East for the past year have been well resourced in terms of spare parts and supporting logistics and the payoff has been the multi-role fighter aircraft are maintaining high mission capable rates, Maj. Gen. Brian Laidlaw, director of operations at Air Combat Command (ACC), said on Monday.

“For those who don’t know, when we send our aircraft into harm’s way and they go downrange, they enjoy a higher priority for spare parts and all the things that the logistics trail can get to them,” Laidlaw said at the Air Force Association’s annual Air-Space-Cyber Conference here. “And what we saw is how remarkably well the F-35 airplane withstood and maintained really high mission capable rates over a long period of time in the toughest of combat situations.”

The Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built F-35s were used in June 2025 as part of the force package against Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer, and more recently during Operation Epic Fury that President Trump launched against Iran in February.

The “number one” lesson from combat operations has been the need to fully fund weapon system sustainment, Laidlaw said during a panel discussion on the F-35 in combat.

Another success, which Laidlaw said is near the top, is the value America’s allies and partners who have F-35s bring to overall power projection. Laidlaw didn’t cite Israel’s use of its F-35s against Iran the past year but highlighted that exercises with Australian and European forces have demonstrated how integrated they are with the U.S.

Versatility and Capability

The F-35 is stealth fighter, and Laidlaw said the aircraft “proved” its survivability in combat. But the aircraft also showcases more versatility and mission capability than expected, he said, highlighting requirements for using new weapons on the F-35 that were certified quickly and expanded flight envelopes to “meet emergent demand.”

Instead of taking months or years to accomplish these things like it typically does in peacetime, “We moved at lightning speed,” Laidlaw said.

Another advantage of the close work with international partners—namely the United Kingdom and Australia—that have been part of operational testing for years was the ability to watch mission tapes the same day as an operation took place and then recommend “things that we could do better to help those that were fighting in harm’s way downrange,” Maj. Gen. David Epperson, commander of the Air Force Warfare Center, said on the panel.

Col. Charles Fallon, commander of the 388^th Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah, which operates the F-35s, said the aircraft is now “battle tested” and trusted by its pilots and other pilots that are part of the force package.

Epperson also highlighted the F-35’s ability to sense and fuse the broader electromagnetic spectrum and give the pilot situational awareness that in turn is share with “the rest of the force that is out there.” Fallon agreed, saying “that sensor fusion afforded new things for the joint force. It afforded new things for our force packaging. And then really what we saw is that made our air crew kind of the premier ideal person to be your airborne mission commanders, based on all the situational awareness that they had.”