F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

[BON PLAN]

360/22 is BS and you know that.
1 sec by roll is very optimistic
You (and I !) can't estimate the time spent during the roll, because the plane didn't turn so high at this moment.
But we are near the target. Something like that with the flying stealthy turkey?

Let me some more time.

From 1.30 to 1.36 : 150° in 6 secondes....

From 2.25 to 2.32 : more than 180° in ... 7 secondes.

 

[BON PLAN]

ALL IS RUNNING ACCORDING TO THE PLAN (... but what plan exactly ? )


"The committee notes that for the F–35 program’s international partners and foreign military sales customers who are participating in the program, the F–35 will become a cornerstone for future coalition operations. The committee believes that the F–35 will help to close a crucial capability gap that will enhance the strength of our security alliances. The committee, therefore, continues its strong support of this essential aircraft development and procurement program. "

"Accordingly, the committee strongly urges the Secretary of the Air Force and the Secretary of the Navy, in concert with the F–35 Joint Program Office, to undertake the necessary actions to reduce F–35 sustainment costs. The committee believes that those actions should include, but not be limited to, addressing spare part shortages, addressing technical data requirements, accelerating both land- and sea-based intermediate maintenance capabilities, and modernization of the autonomic logistics information system.

Additionally, the committee believes that increased F–35 production rates and larger F–35 economies of scale could also help lower unit procurement and sustainment costs. Moreover, the committee also believes that advances in potential adversary aircraft and surface-to-air missile defense systems necessitate a combat fighter force with a higher percentage of fifth generation aircraft. Accordingly, the committee strongly encourages the Department to increase future F–35 production rates. "

Consistent with its support of the F–35 program and oversight responsibilities, the committee notes that at a hearing held by the House Committee on Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces on March 7, 2018, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force witnesses all expressed a concern about the autonomic logistics information system (ALIS). The Air Force witness testified that the ALIS is currently labor-intensive for maintainers and support personnel, negatively affecting flight line operations and workforce development. During a subcommittee visit to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in April 2018, subcommittee members met with Air Force F–35 maintenance personnel who reported that they are still very disappointed in the autonomic logistics information system, and continue to have to use manual workarounds that take time and effort, resulting in lower aircraft availability and mission capable rates. Given these ongoing problems, the committee will continue to conduct a detailed review of the ALIS program.

"The committee continues to believe that sustainment of the 281- aircraft A–10 fleet helps to meet Air Force fighter aircraft capacity requirements. The committee notes that A–10 force structure consists of five Air Reserve Component and four Active Duty squadrons, and that any fewer than nine squadrons will not meet future combatant commander demand for A–10 aircraft. Consequently, subsequent to the test and evaluation of the F–35A and A–10C required by section 134 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328), the Department should not take any action to reduce the number of A–10 squadrons. Accordingly, the committee believes the Department of the Air Force should accelerate the A–10 wing replacement program.

The committee notes that the F– 35 program uses a sole-source contract to procure F–35 canopy transparencies.

Section 151—Buy-to-Budget Acquisition of F–35 Aircraft This section would authorize the Secretary of Defense, subject to section 2308 of title 10, United States Code, to procure a higher quantity of F–35 aircraft than authorized by this Act if such additional procurement does not require additional funds.

The committee notes that the aircraft carrier air wing has been optimized for striking power and sortie generation and believes that it may not be configured to support the long-range strike required by current and future threat systems. While the introduction of the F–35C will significantly expand stealth capabilities, the F–35C could require increased range to address necessary targets. The committee believes that several options could be used to address this issue to include developing a stealth tanker capability, improved engine technology or to develop and procure a strike capability that is purposely built to strike at increased range. The committee further notes that the Navy previously desired to significantly increase the carrier air wing range with the development of the A–12 aircraft. The committee understands that the A–12 would have included a 5,000-pound internal carriage payload, stealth, and a range of 800 nautical miles. While the committee believes that requirements to support this capability remain relevant and the technology available, the development of the A–12 aircraft was mired in acquisition challenges that eventually resulted in the cancellation of the program. While the committee further believes that the Department of Defense has successfully developed a suite of long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, the committee also believes that it is vital that the Navy develop a carrier-based long-range strike capability. Therefore, the committee directs the Secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing to the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Armed Services by January 25, 2019, on options to expand the strike range of a carrier air wing in a contested environment, including manned and unmanned capabilities, and, Department of the Navy capabilities it plans to pursue in the Next Generation Air Dominance capability.

During a visit to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in April 2018, F–35A pilots briefed committee members that current training ranges are not equipped with the threat radars necessary to provide the most effective training for F–35 pilots, and the committee believes that the ARTS emitter programs should be accelerated.

While the SDD required flight test is now complete, the committee further notes that flight testing continues in support of phased capability improvements and modernization of the F–35 air system in an effort formerly known as block four and now known as continuous capability development and delivery (C2D2). The C2D2 program will provide timely, affordable incremental warfighting capability improvements to maintain joint air dominance against evolving threats to the United States and its allies. Section 224(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328) directed the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to the congressional defense committees that contains the basic elements of an acquisition baseline for the F–35 block four program. However, the report delivered in January 2018 provided only an initial insight into the basic elements of the F–35 C2D2 program. The committee understands that a complete report is planned to be submitted in March 2019, and believes that the basic elements of an acquisition baseline are vital to the ability of the committee to conduct its oversight responsibilities of a significant F–35 modernization budget. Therefore, elsewhere in this Act, the committee recommends a provision that would limit the obligation of funds for the F–35 C2D2 program until the Secretary of Defense submits the complete report required by section 224(b) of Public Law 114–328. The committee also notes that in its annual report on the F–35 program, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation assessed that the F–35 C2D2 schedule was not executable due to insufficient test resources, including an inadequate number of test aircraft configured to conduct C2D2 test flight activity. Accordingly, the committee believes the Department should procure an additional six new test aircraft, two in each of the F–35A, F–35B, and F–35C configuration, to support the C2D2 program so that capability improvements and modernization can be more rapidly developed and procured to meet evolving threats.

Section 215—Limitation on Availability of Funds for F–35 Continuous Capability Development and Delivery This section would limit the obligation or expenditure of 25 percent of the funds for the F–35 continuous capability development and delivery program until 15 days after the Secretary of Defense provides the congressional defense committees a detailed cost estimate and baseline schedule for the program. This section does not apply to any funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act for the development of F–35 dual capable aircraft capability.

Section 216—Limitation on Availability of Funds Pending Report on Agile Software Development and Software Operations This section would temporarily restrict funding for software development efforts that use agile development and operations methodology until the Secretary of the Air Force provides a report to the congressional defense committees that describes the cost-estimation tools, the types of contracts, and the mitigation efforts to avoid duplicative development related to the strategy for modernizing and upgrading existing software at worldwide Air Force Air Operations Centers.

Section 223—Report on Efforts of the Air Force to Mitigate Physiological Episodes Affecting Aircraft Crewmembers This section would require the Secretary of the Air Force to submit a report to the congressional defense committees by March 1, 2019, on all efforts of the Air Force to reduce the occurrence of, and mitigate the risk posed by, physiological episodes affecting crewmembers of covered aircraft and would require the inclusion of certain elements in such report. In this section, the term ‘‘covered aircraft’’ would mean F–35A aircraft of the Air Force, T–6A aircraft of the Air Force, and any other aircraft of the Air Force as determined by the Secretary of the Air Force.



https://www.congress.gov/115/crpt/hrpt676/CRPT-115hrpt676.pdf

 

[asianobserve]

Here's An Israeli F-35 Just Hanging Out Over Lebanon, No Big Deal

https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/heres-an-israeli-f-35-just-hanging-out-over-lebanon-no-1826273130

 

[StealthFlanker]

I only know it by its avatar, and it's not Picard. But why not?
He gave us some very precise data about some french intervention during Lybia war, so he seemed very well informed

Your paragraph word by word literally traced back to defenseissues blog (which the infamous a blog made by Picard),I didn't follow his writing about the French intervention during Lybia war and I don't know what you consider precise data. But in aerodynamic and radar field, he demonstrated a lack of understanding, his numbers are baseless, sourceless and in most case outright laughable. It takes me less than 20 seconds to pull out data from the manual, i would expect a self-proclaimed "general" at least able to do the same thing and not put up some numbers that are so obviously wrong.

FA18 or SH18?
F16 is harder to fight in WVR, so it's very surprising !

F/A-18
In a cannon style dogfight, F-16 is harder to fight because it can accelerate very fast, and it can also roll very fast, which mean you will be able to disengage easier when the enemy is at your six. STR optimized at higher speed regime will let F-16 fight in the vertical and take advantage of boom-zoom tactic better. On the other hand, F-18 ITR is good, but its acceleration is terrible so it can't recover energy quickly after a fast instantaneous turn. STR is optimized at low-speed regime also mean its vertical fight capability is not as good.Think about how F6F defeat Zero in WWII.
However, when WVR missiles and HMD are in the equation, the advantage will start to swing back in favor of F-18, because you can't really out accelerate or out climb or out dive a missile at close range. The quick ITR and nose authority of F-18 will give its missiles a more direct path toward F-16.

Better ITR maybe. Better STR no.

And it's not because you have a greater AoA than you have a best STR.
AoA 90° = you fall.
AoA 30°, you lose your energy in a few seconds.

Did i said higher AoA lead to higher STR?, no i didn't. The post was strictly about CLmax and ITR. STR is impossible to calculate without knowing the Cl, Cd curve as well as the dynamic thrust

F35 subsonic acc is better? NO !
Roll performer at high AoA is useless in air combat. You can't use that to argue the plane is agile.
It's like the Pugatchev Cobra : nice in aero show, but a motionless plane in the sky is peace of cake

No, subsonic acceleration of F-35 is better, this has been noted by many pilot, after a hard turn F-35 can gain speed as fast as a diving F-16, whereas F-16 acceleration starts to be better in the transonic (after Mach 0.8) and supersonic regime, and roll performer(and yaw) at high AoA is very useful in dogfight. Of course, that doesn't mean it is a silver bullet.
Article translated from Norwegian

F-35 pilot Morten “Dolby” Hanche has been dealt a bad starting point before the air battle begins. He's being hunted by his opponents at he edge of visual range. Far enough away that he must use his planes sensors, but near enough to force the “ninja-technique” necessary to win a WVR (within visual range) fight.
The target is to stay hidden and attack from a concealed position. The other F-35's plays the role of aggressors. They have to mimic potential enemy planes. The sensor package on the planes is so advanced that they have to take measures to limit them. The enemy has gotten a hint as to where Hanche is, but they don't follow him with their sensors.
The “ninja-technique” Hanche chooses is brutal and seems almost wreckless to an outsider, and in stark contrast to the critique that the F-35 can't dogfight.
-When we begin I'm “only” doing 400kts, says Hanche.
-I purposely make a hard turn towards “Red Air” in full afterburner, so hard I loose speed. Such a hard turn can be felt physically, because the high AOA (angle of attack) makes the plane shake somewhat – a bit like driving fast on an old gravel road.
It's still easy to control and it's no problem getting back up to speed. After just a short time the plane is supesonic so that I can fire the missile at about mach 1,2. It's important to have speed and altitude when firing missiles, for the same reason a spear thrower would never try a throw without a run up.


Angular
Far away from home (Norway), in a base in the desert on the outskirts of Phoneix in Arizona, the two first Norwegian F-35 is based. They're not slim and slender like their predecessor the F-16. The shape is angular like a big 4wd car. The belly is bulbous to be able to carry the weapon load internally, and the whole machine looks aggressive like a guard dog even when the tires are tied down between the blocks.
The pilot inspecting the airframe before he climbs up the built in ladder to the cockpit is somewhat of a contrast to the plane. Lieutenant Colonel Martin “Tintin” Tesli is by no means big, but a soberly guy who always has a smile lurking. He got his call sign because his “helmet hair” gave him the same hairstyle as the cartoon character.Now he's in charge of the Norwegian unit at Luke AFB. His job is to find out what the F-35 can do in a fight, and teach it to the rest of the RNoAF's pilots as the F-16 is phased out.
The plane is the most sophisticated fighter ever built so far. According to several sources the plane is as visible to radar as a golf ball and impossible to detect from far away. Top speed is mach 1,6 and in addition to it's 25mm machine gun, it can carry radar guided missiles that can shoot down enemy airplanes long before they know someone is in the air with them. Also it can carry two GPS guided 2000 pound bombs in it's weapon bays and 4 laser guided bombs under it's wings if stealth is not needed.
Even so, it's the sensor capability, the ability to analyze all the data and share the information with air and ground units that impresses the most. From the future QRA-base at Evenes planes on standby can fly all the way to Svalbard and back without refueling. They can watch the whole electromagnetic spectrum to get full control of what's going on oveer and on the Norwegian sea without being detected. And use force or relay targeting data to e.g. a frigate if necessary.

The 100th mission
With 25 and 50 hours between them, “Tintin” and his partner “Dolby” is relatively new in the fighters which is Norway's most expensive weapons buy ever. But they are also the country's most experienced. With a background as fighter pilots they are a part of writing the new handbook on tactics for modern air combat based on own experience with the plane. According to them it's superior to the F-16 in every way.
-Everything I miss from the F-16 is for nostalgic reasons. The more I fly, the more privileged I feel, says “Dolby”, who's going up to fly air combat with “Tintin” and two american pilots. Before Christmas he was the first norwegian who flew the F-35, and this is a new milestone with the 100th mission for the first Norwegian F-35.
“Tintin” has arranged it so that this happens as we are visiting. Norwegian, american and australian pilots share the planes as they are available, so this time it's important that he gets the “right” plane. The fact that it's “dolby”'s name on the plane “tintin”'s flying dosn't matter as much.
“We train the World's best F-35 and F-16 fighter pilots” it says modestly on one of the signs at the base entry. On the walls of the brand new squadron building with a deck overlooking a line of parked planes protected from the sun, it says “357 kills and counting”
62nd Fighter Squadron got it's baptism of fire over Europe in 1944, and continued to shoot down enemies in both Korea and Vietnam. Now the 144 F-16 planes on the base is gradually replaced with the same number of F-35's. For RNoAF 2017 will be a milestone when the first F-35s is flown home for operational testing under Norwegian conditions. In 2019 the first planes will take over after the workhorse F-16 at Ørland.
“Tintin” has already patted “Spike” ceremoniously on the head before he gets out on the warm concrete outside the squadron building. The squadron mascot - a bulldog drawn by Walt Disney – is everywhere. On the walls, the shoulder patches and engine covers. The miniature mascot sitting on the counter where the pilots are leaving the building is to make sure they return with undamaged planes. All squadron meetings is started and ended with a forceful “SPIKE!” to keep up with traditions and build unity.

Classified
-No pictures head on without the engine covers on. No pictures of the cockpit, demands the base PR lady. Her task is to protect the top secret parts of the plane against curious eyes. -And don't go closer than five meters, she adds.
The grey machine with Norwegian emblems symbolizes not only a US guarantee of supremacy in the air, it's also our most expensive defence investment ever. For the full package of 52 planes and equipment, the average prize is about a billion Nok per plane.
While “Tintin” fires up the engine and the plane's computer systems, I recall the conversation we had the day before. Morten Hanche, who had the first flight, said he had some thoughts in the beginning about how expensive the plane was. -But you just have to rationalize that away. The plane is so expensive that you can't think about it. If you do you won't dare to fly it, he explains.
But the F-35 is not perfect. While the four pilots that are going up together are doing their checklists, Hanche turns off the engine, exits the plane and fires up the reserve. Probably a bug in the software. But the serious critique of the F-35's dogfighting capabillities has been put to shame lately. Especially the claim that it is inferior to the 4th generation F-16. According to the norwegian pilots, the critique is wrongly based on an evaluation of a single test flight where tactics were being developed. As the plane is designed to deliver weapons at a distance it's not especially developed to dogfight.
-Still, everybody is surprised at how good it manouvers. I hadn't expected it to be so aggressive in dogfights, “Tintin” says.

Superior in dogfights
They elaborate on the experience after one and a half hour of dogfight-training, one on one over White Tank Mountains, the training are west of the base.
The roar of the engines is unmistakable as they return. It's the most powerful engine in any fighter ever and will be noticed well when stationed at Ørland in Norway. “Tintin” is sweating after the maneuvers, and his helmet-hair gets damper when he comes out of the plane into 35 degrees C desert air.
So far the plane is cleared for up to 7g. When the next software update comes alog it will be 9g like the F-16. Even now the F-35 has maneuvering capabilities that makes “Tintin” and “Dolby” rewrite the manual for dogfights. Traditionally, the one with the highest speed has the advantage in dogfights. The F-35 gives the pilots the possibility to maneuver with much higher AOA. In comparison to the F-16 it has much better nose pointing capabilities.
-The ability to point towards my opponent makes me able to deliver a weapon sooner than I'm used to. It forces my opponent to react more defensive and gives me the ability to slow down fast, Hanche says. -Since I can slow down fast I can point my plane at my enemy for longer before the roles are reversed. The backside is that you loose energy, but it's not really a problem. The plane has so much engine power and low drag that the acceleration is awesome. With a F-16 I would have had to dive to gain as much speed after a hard turn.
Hanche has earlier put words to his experience of flying the F-35 in several post on “The combat aircraft blog” Here he describes how the aggressive F-35 gives him the ability to stick to an opponent and keep him in his sights:

“To sum it up, my experience so far is that the F-35 makes it easier for me to maintain the offensive role, and it provides me more opportunities to effectively employ weapons at my opponent.
In the defensive role the same characteristics are valuable. I can «whip» the airplane around in a reactive maneuver while slowing down. The F-35 can actually slow down quicker than you´d be able to emergency brake your car. This is important because my opponent has to react to me «stopping, or risk ending up in a role-reversal where he flies past me.”

Another trait of the F-35 emerges when in defensive situations. At high AOA the F-16 responds slow when moving the stick sideways to roll the plane. A bit like using the rudder on a large ship I think, not that I know what I'm talking about – I'm not a sailor. In the F-35 I can use the rudder-pedals to steer the nose sideways. At high AOA the F-35 still responds quick compared to the F-16. This gives me the opportunity to point the nose where I want and threaten my opponent. I can do this “pedalturning” impressively fast, even at low speeds. As a defensive capability I can neutralize a situation fast or even reverse the roles.
A negative in training one on one has been that the view out of the cockpit is not as good as on the F-16. The visibility in a F-16 is especially good, better than in any other fighter I've flown. I could turn all the way around in my seat and see the opposite wingtip. In the F-35 I can't do that because the seat blocks some of the view. This made me a bit frustrated after the first flights. I had to learn to move different. Now I move forward in the seat before I lean a bit sideways and turn my head to look back. That way I can look around the sides of the seat. In the F-35 you learn to work around the issue and it's not a real disadvantage once you know how to do it.


The computer helmet
The 41 year old fighter pilot Martin “Tintin” Tesli is true enthusiast. At home he has a T-33 training fighter from the 1950s that he uses in airshows. He loves contrasts, the veteran fighter is fully analog unlike the F-35s “brain” that lighten the workload for the pilot.
But in a way the F-35 talks directly to the pilot. Even in the first flight “Dolby” was surprised by the shaking in the fuselage that varied as he was turning harder, almost like driving a car.. For the pilot this means that he gets a feedback as to how much energy the plane has without looking at the instruments. -It gives a real feeling of flying, more so than in the F-16, says “Tintin”.
Regardless, if you get in a dogfight in the F-35 you've probably done something wrong. The ability to see from far away without being seen changes the game completely. The plane is a surveillance- , bomb- and fighter plane all at once, with the ability to move freely in areas with modern anti air defenses. Where you earlier needed a lot of F-16s you now only need four F-35s to do the same job.
-It's not fair being a F-35 pilot. It's unfair how we can sneak in and finish the job at a long distance, “Dolby” says ironically.
The advanced autopilot and the good flying qualities of the plane takes some of the adrenaline out of the flying, making it easier for the pilot to do the mission. One of the most important tools is the helmet which has become an integral part of the plane. It's a bit like having a laptop on your head. “Tintin” let us hold the helmet with its kevlar shell, built in night vision and visor which shows all the projected information to the pilot.. If a missile is fired at the plane, a short tone followed by a woman's voice tell that the missile is coming from the side. When “Tintin” rotates his head in that direction, symbols on the visor will tell him the missiles position, speed and direction. This makes it easier to avoid ground threats and survive in a more modern battlespace. He can also fire his own missile while he accelerates away and lets the computer guide the weapon by just looking at the symbol of his opponent.
Six outside cameras also project a 360 degree field on his visor. If he looks down he will see the ground “through” the bottom of his plane. It comes down to the most important ability a pilot has, to prioritize his tasks instinctively. But I belive the generation of gamers will use the plane even better, says Hanche. In peacetime though, the most important thing is to not drop the helmet so it get damaged. The cost of this wonder is about 3,5 million Nok a piece. The cost of training with the F-35 is also higher than the last generation fighter. According to the DoD the cost for USAF to train one hour in the F-35 is about 120 000 Nok. Multiply that with 150 hours a year it comes to about 18 million Nok per pilot per year for training. To get the most cost effective training, the norwegian pilots will use a simulator for 40% of their training in the new simulator-building at the Ørland base once it's finished. The simulators are so good that the F-35 is only single seater, the pilot does his, or hers, first flight alone after about 30 hours in the simulator.
The plan is also that maintenance will be simplified. In peacetime the hangars will work as a drive-thru system where each plane has its own depot. A two man crew is responsible for avionics and engine systems while ALIS wil tell what needs to be changed instead of regular maintenance intervalls, says Major Bjorn Tommy Eigeland. He is the liaison at Lukes responsible for building the maintenance department in Norway. The radar absorbing coating on the hull will complicate maintenance if you have to break it remove panels.
He and his colleagues has bought bikes to travel the roads in the US while they live there. Pilots are not the only ones allowed to have some fun.

http://www.f-16.net/forum/download/file.php?id=23004

There is many case where nose pointing and yaw in post stall can be usefull, remember not all post stall maneuver is cobra

From 1.30 to 1.36 : 150° in 6 secondes....

From 2.25 to 2.32 : more than 180° in ... 7 secondes.

Ok so basically same as Dutch F-35 demonstration
(turn 180° in 7 seconds between 2:44-2:51) STR around 25.7°/second

 

[BON PLAN]

F/A-18
In a cannon style dogfight, F-16 is harder to fight because it can accelerate very fast, and it can also roll very fast, which mean you will be able to disengage easier when the enemy is at your six. STR optimized at higher speed regime will let F-16 fight in the vertical and take advantage of boom-zoom tactic better. On the other hand, F-18 ITR is good, but its acceleration is terrible so it can't recover energy quickly after a fast instantaneous turn. STR is optimized at low-speed regime also mean its vertical fight capability is not as good.Think about how F6F defeat Zero in WWII.
However, when WVR missiles and HMD are in the equation, the advantage will start to swing back in favor of F-18, because you can't really out accelerate or out climb or out dive a missile at close range. The quick ITR and nose authority of F-18 will give its missiles a more direct path toward F-16.

Interesting ! Thanks .

 

[BON PLAN]

There is many case where nose pointing and yaw in post stall can be usefull, remember not all post stall maneuver is cobra

Very interesting also .

 

[BON PLAN]

Future of F-35 in Italy remains a mystery under new government

Another potential good news....

https://www.defensenews.com/global/...italy-remains-a-mystery-under-new-government/

 

[Armand2REP]

US Senate passes defense bill to ban Turkey from buying F-35 Fighter jets

The U.S. Senate passed a $716 billion defense policy bill on Thursday, including a measure to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets.

The amendment to the National Defense Authorisation Act, from Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, would remove Turkey from the F-35 program over its detention of U.S. citizen Andrew Brunson, Shaheen’s office said.

Brunson, a Christian pastor who may be jailed for up to 35 years, has denied terrorism and spying charges in a Turkish court this month. He has been in pre-trial detention since 2016.

It also faults NATO ally Turkey for its agreement with Russia in December to buy S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries. Ankara wants the system to boost its defense capabilities amid threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants at home and conflicts across its borders in Syria and Iraq.

According to Shaheen’s office, the intention to purchase the Russian system is sanctionable under U.S. law.

“There is tremendous hesitancy (about) transferring sensitive F35 planes and technology to a nation who has purchased a Russian air defense system designed to shoot these very planes down,” said Senator Shaheen.

Relations between Ankara and Washington have been strained over a host of issues in recent months, including U.S. policy in Syria and a number of legal cases against Turkish and U.S. nationals being held in the two countries.

This comes as Congressman Brad Sherman, also called on the US State Department to block the sale of F-35’s to Turkey saying, “As to Turkey, I would hope that the administration would oppose the sale and prevent the sale of the F-35s. They are not a weapon to be used against terrorists, they are a weapon to be used against Greece. And I hope the State Department would at least be neutral should Congress consider, as we are considering, the remembrance of the millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac victims of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the last century.”

Turkey has said it would retaliate if the United States enacted a law halting weapons sales to the country.

Turkey plans to buy more than 100 of the F-35 jets, and has had talks with Washington about the purchase of Patriot missiles.

https://greekcitytimes.com/2018/05/...-to-ban-turkey-from-buying-f-35-fighter-jets/
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-d...-buy-russian-su-57-in-a-nato-nightmare-2018-6

 

[cannonfodder]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/some-f-35s-gathering-dust-waiting-for-repair-parts/

The Marine Corps' F-35B fighters are among the oldest operating aircraft to come out of the Joint Strike Fighter program, and they're beginning to run into some maintenance issues. While many of the repairs being made to the aircraft are upgrades to bring them in line with the latest software releases and accompanying hardware upgrades, a fair share is for typical aircraft maintenance issues—and those issues are leading to an increasing number of aircraft left grounded waiting for parts.

As Defense News' Valerie Insinna reports, that's often because the wait time for delivery on some parts is a month or longer. And according to a GAO report, the lead time for some F-35 replacement parts could be two years or longer. Between waiting for parts and time spent offline for upgrades, F-35s worldwide were unable to fly 22 percent of the time between January and August of 2017. The GAO report, published last October, warned of "sustainment challenges" faced by the F-35 program—many of them because of poor planning and delays in bringing repair parts suppliers and depots onboard.

If anything major goes wrong with an F-35, it could spend a lot more time waiting to be repaired. "DOD does not have enough capacity to repair F-35 aircraft parts because the establishment of repair capabilities at the military depots is six years behind schedule," the GAO report stated. "Repair capabilities at the military depots were originally planned to be completed by 2016, but program officials told us that some capabilities have now been delayed until 2022."

As a result, some maintenance crews have turned to cannibalizing some F-35s for parts to keep others operational. It's not an uncommon practice to borrow a part off one broken aircraft to fix another, especially among fighter aircraft. But that approach, without a logistics channel behind it to deliver parts in a reasonable amount of time, can snowball—as it has with the German Luftwaffe's Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, which are now down to a handful of flyable aircraft because of parts shortages.

It doesn't help, for example, that the average life of the short take-off, vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B's landing gear tire is less than 10 landings—a problem resulting from the aircraft's heavier weight than its conventional take-off cousins. It's simply difficult to engineer a tire capable of handling both vertical low-speed and conventional high-speed landings. The F-35B has also failed some structural testing, with the first aircraft used in tests literally falling apart. And the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS)—software that combines diagnostics and repair functions with part inventory and verifies that the correct parts have been installed properly—has continued to get poor reviews.

A maintenance sergeant at VMFAT-50, the Marine Corps' F-35B training squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, told Insinna that ALIS was slow for him, though Marines at MCAS Air Station Yuma, Arizona, reported better speeds. “We have a bunch of aircraft… And we have only so many servers,” the sergeant told Insinna. “They have less aircraft, and their servers aren’t booting up as much information.”

But things might be looking up. A Lockheed representative told Defense News that the company is exploring 3D-printing some parts to speed up repair cycles. And some of the lead times for parts provided to repair crews end up being very conservative estimates, with parts arriving in a month instead of the year lead time given to the services.

So, hopefully, things will get better. But the long-term cost of maintaining the F-35 fleet as it ages is still something of a wild guess at the moment. Based on some estimates, that price may be so high that the Air Force will have to eliminate a third of its planned F-35 purchase to stay on budget.

 

[blackhawk_80]

According to "Forecast International" 3243 fighter aircarft with the total amout of $249.3 bln will be produced within the next decade. The forecast figure is 13% higher, than for the previous decade when 280 fighter aircraft were produced annually. The production peak will be reached in 2021 with the production of 380 fighert aircraft. Lokheed Martin F-35 will be the biggest fighter aircraft programme during the next decade. All in all 1466 F-35 aircraft will be produced, which takes 45% of the total share of the market.
European aircraft giants will hold only 11,6% of the market: Eurofighter Typoon (95 aircraft), Dassault Rafale (158 aircraft) and Saab Griphen (125 aircraft).

 

[BON PLAN]

95 EF / 10 years = less than 0,8 per month... on differents assembly lines.

That probably means EF will ceased to be produce before 2030. RIP EF

 

[BON PLAN]

US Navy gives Lockheed Martin 14+ Million to determine if the F-35 can meet future "operational" requirements...

https://www.snafu-solomon.com/2018/06/us-navy-gives-lockheed-martin-14.html

The F-35 is one snake bit airplane. Everyone wants to say that its the Brewster Buffalo but they're wrong. The F-35 is the Cutlass reborn...

 

[Armand2REP]

It took the F-35Bs flying from MCAS Beaufort to RAF Marham eight refuelings to get there in a clean config. The British think they can use this thing as a long range strike platform.

 

[BON PLAN]

It took the F-35Bs flying from MCAS Beaufort to RAF Marham eight refuelings to get there in a clean config. The British think they can use this thing as a long range strike platform.

and only in good weather conditions.

 

[BON PLAN]

When Coventry-born Sir Frank Whittle unveiled the design for his prototype jet engine, experts believed the 1,000-pound thrust it could produce “wouldn’t blow the skin off a rice pudding”.

Luckily, what the Air Ministry first considered “impracticable” became the foundation of the modern Royal Air Force.

But at 8.08pm on June 6, the first four F-35 Lightning II jets used their 40,000 pounds of thrust to land at RAF Marham in Norfolk, having flown across the Atlantic in a 6,440km (4,000 mile) marathon mission.

The cutting-edge single-seat, single-engine aircraft took off from a US Marine Corps Station in South Carolina and were flown by British pilots from the newly reformed 617 Squadron, immortalised by the Dambusters raid in the Second World War.

Britain has committed to buying 138 F-35 fighter aircraft and has so far bought 48 at a cost of £9.1 billion.

Wing Commander John Butcher is welcomed back after piloting the first Britain's F-35B jets to RAF Marham in Norfolk Credit: PA

The jets flew across the Atlantic supported by three RAF Voyager aircraft providing air-to-air refueling. The other five aircraft of 617 Squadron will arrive in August. The remaining six British aircraft will stay in America for sea trials on the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth off the eastern seaboard of the United States in the Autumn.

Group Captain Jim Beck, the Lightning Project Team Programme Director, lauded the fifth-generation technology in the F-35. “You don’t really fly the aircraft,” he said, “you ask it permission”.

The F-35 programme is the world’s largest defence development, worth over $1.3trillion. UK industry provides 15 per cent of each of the 3,000 aircraft currently on the order books and at peak production 25,000 British jobs will be supported throughout the supply chain.

The first 617 Squadron F-35B, Lightning II aircraft make their way across the Atlantic Ocean Credit: PA

The programme has suffered no more than the usual niggles, according to Air Vice Marshal Keith Bethell, Director Combat Air at the MoD’s procurement agency. “I have no major worry beads,” he told the Telegraph, “it should be steady jogging from now on”.

In the lay-bys and parking areas surrounding RAF Marham, excitement built among the hundreds of aircraft enthusiasts that had turned up to watch the arrival of the jets. The Moore family had travelled from Swaffham and, despite the occasional night of broken sleep, supported having fighter jets based nearby. “They’re keeping us safe,” said Mr Moore, of the Tornado jets.

Locals Alana and Stuart Bennett had come the previous evening, only to hear the arrival had been delayed by a day. Surely the date was a closely kept secret; how did they know to come and watch the day before? “Oh, Marham put it out on Twitter,” Alana revealed.

However, there was not unequivocal support for the programme. Between mouthfuls of chips and battered sausage from the enterprising chip van that had arrived to cater for the masses, one man grumbled of the next-generation stealth fighter jet: “shame it’s American, but at least it’s not French ”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/06/f-35-fighter-jet-future/

 

[BON PLAN]

F-35: No production without problem solving!

En janvier 2018, le programme des F-35 comportait 966 lacunes, soit 111 lacunes de première catégorie, qui pourraient compromettre la sécurité, la sûreté ou une autre exigence critique et 855 déficiences de catégorie deux, qui pourraient entraver ou contraindre une mission réussie, selon le GAO. Au moins 25 carences de catégorie 1 et 165 carences de catégorie 2 ne seraient pas résolues avant la production planifiée à plein régime.

Les déficiences de la première catégorie que le Bureau du programme commun avait l'intention de résoudre après le début de la production à plein régime portaient sur le l’avion lui-même, l'avionique, les armes, les logiciels et la propulsion.

Le JPO prévoit maintenant de résoudre toutes les lacunes critiques du F-35 avant d'entrer dans le test opérationnel initial et l'évaluation, qui était prévue pour l'automne 2018, selon le GAO. La conclusion du ministère de la Défense américain dénote que pour l’instant il est impossible de déterminer un calendrier permettant de définir une date à laquelle, il sera possible de produire le F-35 en grand nombre.

=

As of January 2018, the F-35 program contained 966 deficiencies, including 111 first-class deficiencies, which could compromise safety, security or other criticality and 855 category-2 deficiencies that could impede or constrain a successful mission, according to the GAO. At least 25 Tier 1 deficiencies and 165 Tier 2 deficiencies would not be resolved prior to full scheduled production.

The deficiencies of the first category that the Joint Program Office intended to resolve after the start of full-scale production were the aircraft itself, avionics, weapons, software and propulsion.

The JPO now plans to resolve all the critical shortcomings of the F-35 before entering the initial operational test and assessment, which was scheduled for fall 2018, according to the GAO. The conclusion of the US Department of Defense indicates that for the moment it is impossible to determine a timetable to define a date at which it will be possible to produce the F-35 in large numbers.

All that more than ten years after first flight of preserial....

Congrats LM !!!! they are very strong. More for their use of powerpoint instead of Catia.

http://psk.blog.24heures.ch/archive...ion-sans-resolution-des-problemes-865790.html

 

[StealthFlanker]

It took the F-35Bs flying from MCAS Beaufort to RAF Marham eight refuelings to get there in a clean config. The British think they can use this thing as a long range strike platform.

Come on now, don't be stupid, planes aren't refueled when they are out of fuel. The common procedure is to refuel when they are at 50-60% fuel even higher because you need to accounted for unexpected weather condition or situation that make refuel not possible.
http://www.avia-it.com/act/arearise...17/How_Often_Does_The_F_35_Need_To_Refuel.pdf

 

[Armand2REP]

Come on now, don't be stupid, planes aren't refueled when they are out of fuel. The common procedure is to refuel when they are at 50-60% fuel even higher because you need to accounted for unexpected weather condition or situation that make refuel not possible.
http://www.avia-it.com/act/arearise...17/How_Often_Does_The_F_35_Need_To_Refuel.pdf

Even the article states it is not a normal procedure according to Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, Marine Corps commandant for aviation. Are you suggesting he doesn't know what he is talking about?

 

[BON PLAN]

Even the article states it is not a normal procedure according to Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, Marine Corps commandant for aviation. Are you suggesting he doesn't know what he is talking about?

You're right .

 

[BON PLAN]

Come on now, don't be stupid, planes aren't refueled when they are out of fuel. The common procedure is to refuel when they are at 50-60% fuel even higher because you need to accounted for unexpected weather condition or situation that make refuel not possible.
http://www.avia-it.com/act/arearise...17/How_Often_Does_The_F_35_Need_To_Refuel.pdf

These birds were in a clean and empty config....
Not impressive. Absolutely not.