The F-35A is one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, and there are several F-35 variants that all play a critical part in the United States military strategy. The fifth-generation fighter is operated by many of the world’s air forces, and the F-35A variant is specifically intended for stealth and combat missions. While these jets are not exactly designed with long-haul efficiency as a priority, they sometimes fly long missions or cross entire oceans. This begs the question: Just how much fuel would an F-35A burn on a flight from the U.S. to China? 

The answer to this question depends on a few factors, including the flight route. Both China and the U.S. are massive countries, so we need to narrow down a start and end point for the journey. A realistic starting point for the flight could be the Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. This base operates the F-35A and has a Pacific-oriented mission. Let’s also assume that this is a diplomatic mission and the flight is due to land in the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. With that established, we can plan a flight that takes the shortest route between the two points — a distance of 4,334 miles. 

Of course, this is a distance that is far greater than the F-35A’s range, so mid-air refueling would be needed several times in this hypothetical scenario. Using the aircraft’s range and fuel capacity, along with the distance between airports, we can calculate a rough estimate of how much fuel the F-35A would burn through. Even assuming the jet is flying under ideal conditions with no headwinds or other adverse conditions to consider, it would still use thousands of gallons of fuel to make this trip.

The F-35A can carry a maximum of 18,250 pounds of fuel and has a range of 1,200 nautical miles (or 1,350 miles). Dividing the total distance traveled (4,334) by the aircraft’s range (1,350) will tell us how many loads of fuel it would need for the journey (3.21). Multiply that number by the jet’s maximum fuel capacity of 18,250 pounds, and we can determine the plane would burn a total of 58,582 pounds of fuel. That means the aircraft would need to be refueled more than three times.

This is a big figure, but it’s also expressed in pounds. For the layman used to putting a few gallons in the tank of their car, there probably isn’t much context here. Assuming the flight used Jet-1A fuel, which has a density of 6.7 pounds per U.S. gallon, we can establish that such a flight would use a staggering 8,743 gallons of aviation fuel. Of course, we didn’t factor in the speed of the aircraft or air conditions that could affect this number in this back-of-the-napkin approach. We can still certainly tell, however, that this wouldn’t be a flight you’d want to repeat too often given the current price of fuel.