Mabus standing by his comment that the F-35 is Navy’s last manned strike fighter

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has defended his previous comment that the F-35C will be the last manned strike fighter his service will buy or fly.

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator launches from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) May 14, 2013, in the Atlantic Ocean 130514-N-UZ648-182
By Erik Hildebrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“Unmanned is the future,” Mabus said in a speech at the National Press Club. “If we don’t keep up in this, if we don’t lead on this, we’re very certainly going to be bypassed … because we’re not the only ones working on this.”

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