F-35A combat radius and cruise altitude

There is an interesting reminder of combat radius and cruise altitude to and from the target in a U.S. F-35A briefing to Norway some years back.

It points to the true requirement of the aircraft. That is to be a low to medium altitude interdiction-role aircraft (after the F-22 has done its work to kill the high-end threats).

The design of the F-35A shows this.

When the F-35A was first briefed to Norway, cruise to and from a hypothetical target was at much higher altitude.

After they flew the F-35 a bit, this is what they came up with:

"The range of altitudes during the cruise is 5,000ft to 25,000ft."

The high end of that is in the territory of a Tornado strike version or B-1 bomber when loaded.

To put it in perspective, IF the F-35 was to ever work as designed, here is a summary of how it fits into a 1990s, early-2000's kind of DOD thinking.