{"id":62858,"date":"2026-01-13T21:55:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=62858"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T21:32:53","slug":"the-figures-for-the-active-f-35-fleet-already-dwarf-those-of-the-eurofighter-typhoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/13\/the-figures-for-the-active-f-35-fleet-already-dwarf-those-of-the-eurofighter-typhoon\/","title":{"rendered":"The figures for the active F-35 fleet already dwarf those of the Eurofighter Typhoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and the Eurofighter Typhoon are two excellent fighter jets and two great rivals in the market.<\/p>\n

The rivalry between the F-35 and the Eurofighter analyzed by their operators and their sales<\/a><\/rel>
\nEurofighter vs F-35: the opinions of professional pilots on these advanced fighters<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

In April 2023, I already reviewed some pilots' opinions on both aircraft<\/a>, which make it clear that despite not being a stealth aircraft (its main disadvantage compared to the American fighter), the Eurofighter has excellent performance that in some cases surpasses that of the F-35<\/strong>, such as its weapons payload capacity and thrust-to-weight ratio. However, the F-35's very low radar signature and more modern technology are making it a sales success<\/strong>, in some cases at the expense of its main European rival.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
A German Luftwaffe Eurofighter flying over Romania on October 2, 2025 (Photo: Airbus<\/a>).<\/div>\n

As you may recall, at the end of December 2024 I analyzed the fleet figures for both aircraft here<\/a>. At that time the Eurofighter already had 680 orders<\/strong>, including aircraft already delivered and those pending delivery. Airbus data from July 30, 2024<\/a> reflects that same figure and indicates that by then 607 aircraft had already been delivered to 8 nations<\/strong>, with a total of 10 customers (two of them awaiting their first deliveries). At that time, Germany was already the largest operator of the Eurofighter, with 181 units ordered and 143 delivered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
A USAF F-35A (Photo: Lockheed Martin<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In that article, I linked to an F-35 program document<\/a> published on December 4, 2024, noting that more than 1,080 Lightning IIs had already been delivered to 10 nations<\/strong>. The F-35 fleet had accumulated a total of 957,000 flight hours at that time. Furthermore, the F-35 program already had committed sales to a total of 20 countries<\/strong>, twice as many as the Eurofighter.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
A Eurofighter from the 14th Wing of the Spanish Air Force, the C.16-36 14-36 (Photo: Airbus<\/a>).<\/div>\n

On December 31, 2025, Airbus published a document<\/a> indicating that the Eurofighter has now accumulated 761 orders, of which 617 aircraft have already been delivered to 10 nations<\/strong>. This is the same number of customers as in December 2024. The number of orders has increased by 81 aircraft, but deliveries were only 10 aircraft in one year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
Two US Marine Corps F-35Bs embarked on the amphibious aircraft carrier USS America (LHA-6) in November 2016 (Photo: Lochkeed Martin<\/a>).<\/div>\n

A week later, on January 7, the F-35 program released its latest figures<\/a>: it has already delivered more than 1,290 aircraft, with 191 delivered in a year<\/strong>. The number of customers remains at 20. That same day, Lockheed Martin noted that this delivery figure sets a new record for the F-35<\/a>, surpassing a previous mark of 142 aircraft delivered in a single year. The F-35 fleet has now exceeded one million flight hours. Lockheed Martin took the opportunity to tease its competitors: \"Annual F-35 production is now running at a pace five times faster than any other allied fighter currently in production<\/strong>, underscoring the program's scale and maturity.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The central section of the 1,500th F-35 (Photo: Northrop Grumman<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Thus, the fleet of F-35s delivered is already more than double the Eurofighter fleet.<\/strong> This figure reflects, of course, the enormous production capacity of an aerospace industry giant like Lockheed Martin, but also the sales success the F-35 is enjoying, despite its high cost. To this we must add another fact: Yesterday Northrop Grumman announced that it has already delivered 1,500 F-35 center fuselage parts<\/a>, from which it can be deduced that orders for this stealth fighter are on track to double those of the Eurofighter.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
A British Eurofighter armed with Brimstone and AIM-132 ASRAAM air-to-air missiles, Meteor air-to-surface missiles, and Paveway IV laser-guided bombs (Photo: Jamie Hunter \/ Royal Air Force<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The F-35's figures dwarf those of the Eurofighter<\/strong> and show a growing trend for the stealth fighter against its European competitor. This is understandable: the F-35 is a more modern fighter, with stealth capabilities, and manufactured by a country with enormous industrial potential<\/strong>. In fact, of the four countries in the Eurofighter program, three (Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom) have also decided to purchase the F-35, and the latter two are already operating it. Spain is the exception, for strictly political reasons:<\/strong> the current government dislikes the United States and prefers to leave the Spanish Navy without carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft rather than buy the F-35B<\/a>, the only option to replace the Harrier II.<\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Main photo: U.S. Air Force<\/a>. A USAF F-35A flying over Poland on November 19, 2025.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and the Eurofighter Typhoon are two excellent fighter jets and two great rivals in the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19534,11546],"tags":[1248,7072],"class_list":["post-62858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-portada-eng","category-military-aviation","tag-eurofighter-typhoon","tag-lockheed-martin-f-35-lightning-ii"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-15 14:10:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}