F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

[asianobserve]

Who will protect these light carriers? Will they have their own carrier strike groups.
And what is thr approx number of total A/Cs on all the carriers???

They can either operate on their own in low risk theaters or they can also be part of a task force. What they are are force multipliers. While the supercarriers knocks down gates, lightning carriers operate in places that either have no formidable gates or whose gates have already been knocked down.

 

[BON PLAN]

8 by 2020,
20 by 2021,
78 by 2025, total expected 144(Replacing two legacy eagle wings)
Integration will be extremely quick as 80% components are common with Strike Eagle. Infact this is the main reason they are going ahead with it, so that the same infrastructure can be used to maintain it

we are in 2019. So zero on duty.

 

[BON PLAN]

So we're all retarded then for you're are also quoting figures from websites.

RCS real datas were never released. or maybe for some old junk...

 

[BON PLAN]

$34B for 478 F-35s

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/ca6e8106-fa45-11e9-98fd-4d6c20050229

That's $71M F-35 on average! That's definitely below $80M and the F-35 is not even on full-blown production yet!

strange....
For 2020 order :
The real price to be paid by USAF is 101 $millions
F35C of the navy 123 $millions
F35B for the marines 166 $millions.

http://psk.blog.24heures.ch/archive/2019/11/04/que-se-cache-t-il-derriere-la-reduction-des-couts-du-f-35 -868211.html

"According to Lockheed-Martin's estimates, the F-35A cost per aircraft target is expected to be $ 80 million with lot 13. There should also be a unit cost reduction for each variant of the approximately 12.7% on average when comparing purchases from Lot 14 to Lot 11 purchases.

Variables that increase the price:
Yes, but there is a "catch"! The current estimate of the aircraft lot currently in production is $ 89.2 million each. This figure represents the unit cost ie the price for the airplane and the engine. But this price does not take into account the related equipment necessary for the operation of the aircraft.

This $ 89.2 million does not include purchase expenditures on initial spare parts, flight training simulators, and the expensive and inefficient ALIS support system. Beside that, we have to take into account the costs at the time of flight which, we know it is exorbitant for the F-35.
But there is another variable that will raise the initial price of the F-35. These are the modifications necessary to correct both the known and potential design defects of the aircraft. According to the DOD, it is estimated at nearly 44,000 US dollars per hour of flight.

In fact, when we take a closer look at the Pentagon's budget documents, they indicate that the cost of purchasing these 48 aircraft for the year 2020 is over $ 101 million, which is close to 12 million more than the amount indicated by the aircraft manufacturer. Using the Navy charts and the same calculations, we see that the actual costs of each F-35C exceed $ 123 million, while each F-35B costs more than $ 166 million.

None of this takes into account the research and development costs of the program. Ellen Lord, head of acquisitions at the Pentagon, announced on Oct. 29 that the program needed more money to complete the development and testing phase of the program. The latest figures available to the public show that taxpayers will have spent about $ 55.5 billion on F-35 research and development. If the Pentagon buys the 2,470 F-35s from the current plan, the actual cost of each aircraft will increase by nearly $ 22.5 million."

 

[asianobserve]

RCS real datas were never released. or maybe for some old junk...

Same for Rafale. These are all estimates.

 

[asianobserve]

strange....
For 2020 order :
The real price to be paid by USAF is 101 $millions
F35C of the navy 123 $millions
F35B for the marines 166 $millions.

http://psk.blog.24heures.ch/archive/2019/11/04/que-se-cache-t-il-derriere-la-reduction-des-couts-du-f-35 -868211.html

"According to Lockheed-Martin's estimates, the F-35A cost per aircraft target is expected to be $ 80 million with lot 13. There should also be a unit cost reduction for each variant of the approximately 12.7% on average when comparing purchases from Lot 14 to Lot 11 purchases.

Variables that increase the price:
Yes, but there is a "catch"! The current estimate of the aircraft lot currently in production is $ 89.2 million each. This figure represents the unit cost ie the price for the airplane and the engine. But this price does not take into account the related equipment necessary for the operation of the aircraft.

This $ 89.2 million does not include purchase expenditures on initial spare parts, flight training simulators, and the expensive and inefficient ALIS support system. Beside that, we have to take into account the costs at the time of flight which, we know it is exorbitant for the F-35.
But there is another variable that will raise the initial price of the F-35. These are the modifications necessary to correct both the known and potential design defects of the aircraft. According to the DOD, it is estimated at nearly 44,000 US dollars per hour of flight.

In fact, when we take a closer look at the Pentagon's budget documents, they indicate that the cost of purchasing these 48 aircraft for the year 2020 is over $ 101 million, which is close to 12 million more than the amount indicated by the aircraft manufacturer. Using the Navy charts and the same calculations, we see that the actual costs of each F-35C exceed $ 123 million, while each F-35B costs more than $ 166 million.

None of this takes into account the research and development costs of the program. Ellen Lord, head of acquisitions at the Pentagon, announced on Oct. 29 that the program needed more money to complete the development and testing phase of the program. The latest figures available to the public show that taxpayers will have spent about $ 55.5 billion on F-35 research and development. If the Pentagon buys the 2,470 F-35s from the current plan, the actual cost of each aircraft will increase by nearly $ 22.5 million."

You average the whole 3 Lots and you get the average price.

In newly inked deal, F-35 price falls to $78 million a copy

https://www.defensenews.com/air/201...d-deal-f-35-prices-fall-to-78-million-a-copy/

 

[BON PLAN]

You average the whole 3 Lots and you get the average price.

In newly inked deal, F-35 price falls to $78 million a copy

https://www.defensenews.com/air/201...d-deal-f-35-prices-fall-to-78-million-a-copy/

.

 

[Megalomaniac]

America Is Stuck With a $400 Billion Stealth Fighter That Can’t Fight
The planes have had several previously unreported ‘category 1’ flaws—military parlance for issues that can prevent a pilot from accomplishing their mission.


David Axe
Updated 06.14.19 5:25PM ET Published 06.13.19 7:27AM ET

Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero/The Daily Beast/Alamy
Here’s something the public didn’t know until today: If one of the U.S. military’s new F-35 stealth fighters has to climb at a steep angle in order to dodge an enemy attack, design flaws mean the plane might suddenly tumble out of control and crash.

Also, some versions of the F-35 can’t accelerate to supersonic speed without melting their own tails or shedding the expensive coating that helps to give the planes their radar-evading qualities.

The Pentagon’s $400-billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, one of the biggest and most expensive weapons programs in history, has come under fire, so to speak, over more than a decade for delays, rising costs, design problems and technical glitches.

But startling reports by trade publication Defense News on Wednesday revealed flaws that previously only builder Lockheed Martin, the military, and the plane’s foreign buyers knew about.

The newly-exposed problems underscore the potential fragility of American air power as the armed services work to replace more and more old fighters with as many as 2,300 F-35s while also reconfiguring to confront the increasingly deadly Chinese and Russian air forces.

The problems might also help to explain why acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan reportedly described the F-35 program as “fucked up.”

Defense News obtained military documents detailing a wide range of serious problems with two of the three versions of the F-35. The Air Force’s F-35A appears to be exempt from the latest flaws, but the Marine Corps’ vertical-landing F-35B and the Navy’s carrier-compatible F-35C both suffer what the services call “category 1” deficiencies. (In military parlance, a category 1 flaw in a plane can prevent a pilot from accomplishing their mission.)

The F-35 program and the office of the secretary of defense did not respond to requests for comment.

One problem cropped up during test flights in 2011, Defense News reported, citing the trove of military documents. In the 2011 tests, at least one F-35B and F-35C both flew at speeds of Mach 1.3 and Mach 1.4. A post-flight inspection in November 2011 revealed the F-35B sustained “bubbling [and] blistering” of its stealth coating.

Further supersonic tests in December 2011 revealed structural damage on an F-35C resulting from the extreme heat coming from the plane’s single Pratt & Whitney engine, one of the most powerful fighter engines ever made.

To avoid similar damage, the military has limited F-35B and F-35C pilots to flying at supersonic speed for less than a minute at a time.

But that could make it impossible for aviators to keep up with, or avoid, Russian and Chinese fighters flying faster than the speed of sound without any restrictions. “It is infeasible for the Navy or Marine Corps to operate the F-35 against a near-peer threat under such restrictions,” Defense News paraphrased the documents as saying.

The test reports Defense News obtained also reveal a second, previously little-known category 1 deficiency in the F-35B and F-35C aircraft. If during a steep climb the fighters exceed a 20-degree “angle of attack”—the angle created by the wing and the oncoming air—they could become unstable and potentially uncontrollable.

To prevent a possible crash, pilots must avoid steeply climbing and other hard maneuvers. “Fleet pilots agreed it is very difficult to max perform the aircraft” in those circumstances, Defense News quoted the documents as saying.

The implications are chilling. In a dogfight with a Russian or Chinese jet that can exceed a 20-degree angle of attack, an American flying and F-35 could be at a serious disadvantage.

The revelation of the two performance flaws comes at a critical time for the 18-year-old F-35 program. Pentagon officials plan to declare an end to the testing phase of the F-35’s development sometime in late 2019 and clear the fighter for mass production.

The stealth fighter enjoys strong support from Congress, owing in part to the thousands of jobs the JSF program sustains, albeit at a cost of around $10 billion a year to U.S. taxpayers. In anticipation of a green light for mass production, the Pentagon and Lockheed in early June reached an informal agreement on a $34-billion deal for 470 F-35s.

The Air Force told The Daily Beast it is confident in its own version of the F-35. “Fielding and deployment plans for the F-35 have not changed,” the Air Force’s Air Combat Command said in a statement. “The F-35 plays an essential role in U.S. air combat superiority and we are highly confident in its capabilities and performance.”

The military and Lockheed have identified possible fixes to all the problems Defense News revealed. A new coating could minimize heat damage. Better flight-control software could mitigate the risk of a crash during hard maneuvers. “We expect this item to be resolved or downgraded,” Greg Ulmer, a Lockheed vice president, told Defense News in reference to crash risk.

But if the program doesn’t apply the fixes before F-35 production picks up, it’s possible the deficiencies will become “baked in” on scores or even hundreds of F-35s. Retroactively fixing deficient jets could cost billions of dollars.

To a great extent, the damage is done. Owing to the Pentagon’s controversial decision to manufacture F-35s while still testing them, Lockheed has delivered around 400 early-model F-35s to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and to U.S. allies such as the United Kingdom and Israel.

The Air Force, Marines, and Israel have already deployed their F-35s in combat against lightly-armed militant groups.

More than 100 of those early F-35s are B-models that cannot safely fly fast or maneuver hard. They’ll need fixing. It won’t be cheap. The military was already spending billions of dollars modifying older F-35s. That bill could grow to cover the flaws Defense News revealed.

Fixes could take a while. “The services will have to wait five years or more to get a fully functional aircraft, if they ever do,” Dan Grazier, an analyst with the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, D.C., told The Daily Beast.

In the meantime, the armed services possess scores of F-35s they cannot safely send into high-tech combat, according to Grazier. “The program is definitely not ready for active service.”

Source: thedailybeast

 

[Megalomaniac]

Easy-to-hack combat systems, years-old flaws and a massive bill – yup, that's America's F-35
POGO says no-go on money-pit jet fighter
By Shaun Nichols in San Francisco 28 Mar 2019 at 23:37

The F-35 aircraft remains woefully unprepared against malware infections and other cyber-attacks, according to POGO – the respected non-profit watchdog Project on Government Oversight.

Dubbed the most expensive weapon system in history, the beleaguered fighter jet is plagued with problems, including a lack of protection against software nasties that would cripple its critical systems, it is claimed. Cybersecurity protections are particularly important because the aircraft relies so heavily on a network of automated systems to operate properly, we're told.

"The fully integrated nature of all F-35 systems makes cybersecurity more essential than for any other aircraft," POGO's Dan Grazier noted this month, having obtained documentation that the jet has low "fully mission capable" rates. That's military jargon meaning it's rarely fully ready for combat.

"Legacy aircraft already in service are equipped with software-enabled subsystems, and while a hacker could penetrate the GPS system in a legacy system, because the subsystems are not fully integrated, a hacker could not also access the communications system, for example," Grazier continued. "The F-35 is inherently far more vulnerable."


F-35 'incomparable' to Harrier jump jet, top test pilot tells El Reg
READ MORE
Most worryingly, a report in October from the US government's General Accountability Office found the Department of Defense had failed to protect the software used to control the F-35's weapons systems. Testers could take control of weapons with "relatively simple tools and techniques."

To give you an idea of how the interconnected nature of the F-35's computer systems is a massive vulnerability in of itself: separate subsystems, such as the Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, Distributed Aperture System, and the Communications, Navigation, and Identification Avionics System, all share data. Thus, the GAO's auditors warned, just compromising one of these components could bring down the others.

“A successful attack on one of the systems the weapon depends on can potentially limit the weapon’s effectiveness, prevent it from achieving its mission, or even cause physical damage and loss of life,” said the GAO team.

ALIS in crazyland
POGO's Grazier also noted the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) – a network of on-board gear, and ground-based web-browser-accessed systems, that serve as the primary remote diagnostics and management tools for the planes – continues to harbor a number of security vulnerabilities that have been known of for years, and not yet resolved.

Should one of those ALIS flaws be exploited by miscreants, Grazier warned, the tech-heavy F-35s could end up crippled by deliberately falsified instrument readings as a result of that exploitation, or grounded for bogus repairs – ALIS is used to schedule maintenance and order spare parts. One flaw, identified in 2012, would incorrectly report aircraft as unfit for service, and has yet to be fixed over six years later.

"As in previous years, cybersecurity testing shows that many previously confirmed F-35 vulnerabilities have not been fixed, meaning that enemy hackers could potentially shut down the ALIS network, steal secret data from the network and onboard computers, and perhaps prevent the F-35 from flying or from accomplishing its missions," Grazier wrote.

As for penetration testing of the ALIS system, Uncle Sam dropped the ball, the independent watchdog suggested. Rather than unleash a DoD red team of hackers on the code, the US government paid F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to do it, and just accepted the results. Such hands-off regulation didn't work out so great for Boeing and America's aviator regulator, the FAA.

ALIS, right now on software version 27, has other problems, too. The code is basically supposed to automatically detect any problems developing in the fighter jets well ahead of time, and arrange for repairs and spare parts so the planes can be fixed up before they have to be grounded for substantial work. Lockheed designed it this way to save time and money, with constantly updated databases of spare parts, logistics plans, and aircraft testing records – yet a report from the Pentagon last year said inputting information about repairs into ALIS often took longer than the repairs themselves.


Britain's new F-35s arrive in UK as US.gov auditor sounds reliability warning klaxon
READ MORE
POGO's findings are the latest bit of bad news for an F-35 program that has fallen hopelessly behind schedule thanks to a parade of delays, glitches, and manufacturing nightmares that have driven what was once supposed to be a low-cost next-generation fighter into a $122m per unit expense. That's just the per-plane price tag: each one costs $30,000 an hour to fly, plus upgrade costs, and other expenditures.

In addition to the US, UK, and Australia, the militaries of Israel, Japan, Canada, and Italy have all been named as customers for the final toys.

This isn't the first time software problems have been reported in the F-35. Last year reports surfaced that the onboard code for a number of the various systems on the plane had become so incompatible with one another that they hampered the ability for manufacturers to perform flight tests.

Source: TheRegister

 

[Bhurki]

This $ 89.2 million does not include purchase expenditures on initial spare parts, flight training simulators, and the expensive and inefficient ALIS support system.

How stupid does one have to be to include opex items such as spare parts, flight training and support systems in the unit costs.
By that measure India paid $9B for only 36 rafale, thats $250M per copy..

Per unit cost of F35A as of today is $89.8M
It'll drop to $77.8M in 2022 as per contract.

Per unit cost of Rafale today (paid by India) is $102M(Eur91.5M) and it'll only increase with the F4 baseline.

 

[asianobserve]

Easy-to-hack combat systems, years-old flaws and a massive bill – yup, that's America's F-35
POGO says no-go on money-pit jet fighter
By Shaun Nichols in San Francisco 28 Mar 2019 at 23:37

The F-35 aircraft remains woefully unprepared against malware infections and other cyber-attacks, according to POGO – the respected non-profit watchdog Project on Government Oversight.

Dubbed the most expensive weapon system in history, the beleaguered fighter jet is plagued with problems, including a lack of protection against software nasties that would cripple its critical systems, it is claimed. Cybersecurity protections are particularly important because the aircraft relies so heavily on a network of automated systems to operate properly, we're told.

"The fully integrated nature of all F-35 systems makes cybersecurity more essential than for any other aircraft," POGO's Dan Grazier noted this month, having obtained documentation that the jet has low "fully mission capable" rates. That's military jargon meaning it's rarely fully ready for combat.

"Legacy aircraft already in service are equipped with software-enabled subsystems, and while a hacker could penetrate the GPS system in a legacy system, because the subsystems are not fully integrated, a hacker could not also access the communications system, for example," Grazier continued. "The F-35 is inherently far more vulnerable."


F-35 'incomparable' to Harrier jump jet, top test pilot tells El Reg
READ MORE
Most worryingly, a report in October from the US government's General Accountability Office found the Department of Defense had failed to protect the software used to control the F-35's weapons systems. Testers could take control of weapons with "relatively simple tools and techniques."

To give you an idea of how the interconnected nature of the F-35's computer systems is a massive vulnerability in of itself: separate subsystems, such as the Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, Distributed Aperture System, and the Communications, Navigation, and Identification Avionics System, all share data. Thus, the GAO's auditors warned, just compromising one of these components could bring down the others.

“A successful attack on one of the systems the weapon depends on can potentially limit the weapon’s effectiveness, prevent it from achieving its mission, or even cause physical damage and loss of life,” said the GAO team.

ALIS in crazyland
POGO's Grazier also noted the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) – a network of on-board gear, and ground-based web-browser-accessed systems, that serve as the primary remote diagnostics and management tools for the planes – continues to harbor a number of security vulnerabilities that have been known of for years, and not yet resolved.

Should one of those ALIS flaws be exploited by miscreants, Grazier warned, the tech-heavy F-35s could end up crippled by deliberately falsified instrument readings as a result of that exploitation, or grounded for bogus repairs – ALIS is used to schedule maintenance and order spare parts. One flaw, identified in 2012, would incorrectly report aircraft as unfit for service, and has yet to be fixed over six years later.

"As in previous years, cybersecurity testing shows that many previously confirmed F-35 vulnerabilities have not been fixed, meaning that enemy hackers could potentially shut down the ALIS network, steal secret data from the network and onboard computers, and perhaps prevent the F-35 from flying or from accomplishing its missions," Grazier wrote.

As for penetration testing of the ALIS system, Uncle Sam dropped the ball, the independent watchdog suggested. Rather than unleash a DoD red team of hackers on the code, the US government paid F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to do it, and just accepted the results. Such hands-off regulation didn't work out so great for Boeing and America's aviator regulator, the FAA.

ALIS, right now on software version 27, has other problems, too. The code is basically supposed to automatically detect any problems developing in the fighter jets well ahead of time, and arrange for repairs and spare parts so the planes can be fixed up before they have to be grounded for substantial work. Lockheed designed it this way to save time and money, with constantly updated databases of spare parts, logistics plans, and aircraft testing records – yet a report from the Pentagon last year said inputting information about repairs into ALIS often took longer than the repairs themselves.


Britain's new F-35s arrive in UK as US.gov auditor sounds reliability warning klaxon
READ MORE
POGO's findings are the latest bit of bad news for an F-35 program that has fallen hopelessly behind schedule thanks to a parade of delays, glitches, and manufacturing nightmares that have driven what was once supposed to be a low-cost next-generation fighter into a $122m per unit expense. That's just the per-plane price tag: each one costs $30,000 an hour to fly, plus upgrade costs, and other expenditures.

In addition to the US, UK, and Australia, the militaries of Israel, Japan, Canada, and Italy have all been named as customers for the final toys.

This isn't the first time software problems have been reported in the F-35. Last year reports surfaced that the onboard code for a number of the various systems on the plane had become so incompatible with one another that they hampered the ability for manufacturers to perform flight tests.

Source: TheRegister

I agree that the intensive digitization and integration of the F-35, it's major strength, is also a potential weakness. But tgere is nonperfect weapons systems and a trade-off is always striked. In the case of the F-35 I'm sure Lockheed, USAF, USN, USMC, RAF, RAAF, and all other users are all aware of the deficiencies of this fighter. But I doubt they are content to just leave these vulnetabilities open. And this is the beauty of the F-35 program, because it's so massive and so many countries and interests are involved there will always be a concerted demand and effort to solve problems and conyinue to upgrade its capabilities. That's why over time the F-35 will only get better.

 

[BON PLAN]

How stupid does one have to be to include opex items such as spare parts, flight training and support systems in the unit costs.
By that measure India paid $9B for only 36 rafale, thats $250M per copy..

Per unit cost of F35A as of today is $89.8M
It'll drop to $77.8M in 2022 as per contract.

Per unit cost of Rafale today (paid by India) is $102M(Eur91.5M) and it'll only increase with the F4 baseline.

You are wrong.
The detail of the indian all incusive Rafale deal is :

It incudes a 7 or 10 years full services support, 2 bases accomodation, some indian dedicated improvements (ask USA such customisation...), weapons.


The real cost of F35 is that one : The 2020 purchase indicates a price of 101 to 166 $ millions depending of the model.
2022 it's Sci FI for F35 !!! At the beginning that plane was promoted by LM as : as cheap than F16, agile as F16, Super cruising, FOC in 2015....
All was wrong. It's just facts.

Facts in one hand, Sci Fi in another one. LM is the next Netflix : they create unbelivable stories.

 

[asianobserve]

The F-35s gen III helmet is another technology that is unsurpassed by all current fighters or HMDs. It is so revolutio ary that there is no need anymore for HUD in the F-35.

 

[Flying Dagger]

The F-35s gen III helmet is another technology that is unsurpassed by all current fighters or HMDs. It is so revolutio ary that there is no need anymore for HUD in the F-35.

I know for Rafale we did paid a lot for many of the stuff that come inbuilt and are better with F 35.

It will be definitely a good system for american allies to replace their ageing platforms.

What is the cost of operation though ?

And maintenance availability rate ?

I doubt F 35 will be able to compete with Rafale in that dept.

 

[asianobserve]

I know for Rafale we did paid a lot for many of the stuff that come inbuilt and are better with F 35.

It will be definitely a good system for american allies to replace their ageing platforms.

What is the cost of operation though ?

And maintenance availability rate ?

I doubt F 35 will be able to compete with Rafale in that dept.

It's too early to tell what's the final cost of operation will be. All we have are estimates. But due to the sheer number of F-35s that will be activated surely there is incentive on the part of LM to find ways to improve the operating cost of F-35s first by improving ALIS and parts availability (from suppliers). Also, as more maintainers gain experience on handling F-36s newer, faster and more cost-effective methods will be devised to maintain F-35s.

But while F-35s will be ordered in thousands by bith US and its allies, the F-35 will have a force multiplier effect in wingman drones.

 

[Wisemarko]

What is the cost of operation though ?

And maintenance availability rate ?

F-35: Current cost is $36000 per hour. Target is $25000. Availability rate for test flights (at Edwards AFB) is dismal at 8%. Strangely the flight worthiness is very high. The low availability rate is mainly due to issues with Distributed Aperture System that doesn’t impact flying but impacts testing. Too early to say operational availability rate.

I do read here some back and forth on RCS. What’s the discussion about?

 

[Flying Dagger]

1m² seems reasonable..
The 2nd table also give FGFA rcs as 0.5m², so its better not to read it.. Unless you want a stealth aircraft to be deemed less 'stealthy' as compared to a 'non stealth' aircraft

The RCS of Su 57 won't increase like it will increase for a weaponized Rafale which will cross 1 sq m .

The second table is giving clean RCS i think

IAF had issues with stealth of Su 57 too. That's why a stealthy derivative FGFA was proposed along with good amount of workshare for India.

May be not 0.5 but around 0.01but we must understand Su 57 ain't stealth yet and it was it's derivative FGFA which was supposed to be more stealthy. Due to several reason Russia went ahead with Su 57 to make some sale and earn some bucks until it matures .

 

[BON PLAN]

The F-35s gen III helmet is another technology that is unsurpassed by all current fighters or HMDs. It is so revolutio ary that there is no need anymore for HUD in the F-35.

The famous helmet that broke the neck of some pilots. Yes, very unsurpassed !

The same helmet that was responsible to some visual effects preventing the Marines to land the Flying brick at night on carrier ? Another exemple of the mastery of all the project !

Congrats LM !

 

[BON PLAN]

F-35: Current cost is $36000 per hour. Target is $25000. Availability rate for test flights (at Edwards AFB) is dismal at 8%. Strangely the flight worthiness is very high. The low availability rate is mainly due to issues with Distributed Aperture System that doesn’t impact flying but impacts testing. Too early to say operational availability rate.

I do read here some back and forth on RCS. What’s the discussion about?

Targets of the F35 was to be as affordable as the F16, to be F16 like agile, to be supercruiser, to embark 2x 2000lbs bombs etc.... all falling targets.

So write 15000$ / hour if you want.

 

[Wisemarko]

Targets of the F35 was to be as affordable as the F16, to be F16 like agile, to be supercruiser, to embark 2x 2000lbs bombs etc.... all falling targets.

So write 15000$ / hour if you want.

More laughable garbage from fake French.. I wish I could understand your incoherent thoughts.

I just read your juvenile understanding of RCS and other stuff, hence you don’t deserve my answers on defense topics. Adios.