F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

[average american]

If an enemy ever sees and F22 or F35 some one make a bad mistake.

 

[average american]

Boeing had secretly continued work on a new version of the X-45, fighter-style killer drones. As a matter of fact they could be being built right now. My understanding these are autonomous, that in combat they wont even be controlled by humans because humans are too slow to react.. That they can handle more then 25 Gs and of course are smaller and more stealthy even then the F22 and F35. It is said they can work together and coordinate attacks.

 

[LurkerBaba]

Canada seeking alternatives to troubled F-35 fighter jet

The Conservative government will signal it is serious about buying an alternative to the F-35 fighter jet by asking rival manufacturers about the cost and availability of their planes, according to defence industry sources.

The formal request for information will be issued to rivals like Boeing, which produces the Superhornet, and the consortium that makes the Eurofighter Typhoon, asking them what jets are available, and at what cost, if the Canadian government decides to ditch the trouble-plagued F-35 purchase.

The pricing and availability information request falls short of a formal tender but government sources said the "market analysis" will send a signal to voters and industry that it is taking seriously the Auditor-General's spring report that was heavily critical of the F-35 procurement process.

Conservatives seeking alternatives to troubled F-35 fighter jet: sources | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post

 

[average american]

Why the development cost is so high for JSF ?
F-22 is better aircraft . So did US spent more $ to develop F-22 ? and that is by it's own , no partners .
I think the partners of JSF , got ripped off by US in JSF project , in the name of high development costs .

You do understand the US congress passed a law that the F22 could not be sold to other countries, there was never any question of any other country being involved in its development.

 

[average american]

The USA has a new air to air missile for the F22 and F35, that will triple the number of air to air missiles called CUDA. It has a number of guidance systems including it can be fired to a predetermined point and the activates an optical system immune to jamming. This further protects the stealth of the F22 and F35.

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Magazine Documents/2012/November 2012/1112expo.pdf

Long range air to air missiles are also being installed on AWACs and Tankers.

 

[average american]

We had no casualties in Libya, you had 33,000 plus 4,500 dead in Iraq. Was it worth that and a $1 trillion? Hell no... The best nation building which is to let them do it themselves.

In poker their are the hand odds, pot odds, implied odds. Takeing Saddam out might be like calling with the hope of what you might gain in the future if you hit your hand and can make another bet. Or perhaps compare it to surgery to get rid of a cancer. At this point its hard to tell if it was worth it or not. I for one am glad to see him and his sons dead,

 

[asianobserve]

We had no casualties in Libya, you had 33,000 plus 4,500 dead in Iraq. Was it worth that and a $1 trillion? Hell no... The best nation building which is to let them do it themselves.

In Lybia my dear the Americans carried you on their shoulders while you stood on top smiling for the cameras. You cannot even start smiling for the cameras without the go ahead from Uncle...

 

[average american]

Problems With Motor Slow U.S. AMRAAM Buys

"They're behind on the delivery of the missile," David Van Buren said Feb. 14 of the Raytheon-produced system. "There are problems with the motor"... the weapons can't be produced in quantity due to a high rejection rate for the rocket motors being built.

Problems With Motor Slow U.S. AMRAAM Buys | Defense News | defensenews.com

I wonder if that really was a problem or they were converting a new system like CRUD. After building AMRAAMs for 30 years it kind of strange a problem like that would prop up, dont believe every thing you read.

http://www.defensenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012311250003

 

[Singh]

Cuda Missile Source: AFM

Until a photo with an interesting caption appeared on the November 2012 issue of Air Force Magazine, few people had noticed that an F-35 display model at the Air Force Association Technology Expo 2012, had its weapon bays loaded with a brand new type of air-to-air missile: the Lockheed Martin "Cuda".


"A Lockheed Martin model shows how its "'Cuda" concept for a small AMRAAM-class radar guided dogfight missile could triple the air-to-air internal loadout on an F-35. The missile is about the size of a Small Diameter Bomb and fits on an SDB-style rack."

Photo caption aside, almost nothing is known about the "Cuda" missile.

"We are having some challenges getting information on Cuda cleared for public release," Cheryl Amerine, Cuda POC at the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, told The Aviationist.

"Cuda is a Lockheed Martin multi-role Hit-to-Kill (HTK) missile concept. Lockheed Martin has discussed the missile concept with the United States Air Force. The Cuda concept significantly increases the internal carriage capacity for 5th generation fighters (provides 2X to 3X capacity). Combat proven HTK technology has been in the US Army for over a decade. Bringing this proven HTK technology to the USAF will provide potentially transformational new capabilities and options for new CONOPS."

The Hit-to-Kill missile technology Lockheed is designing for the USAF is still classified and some of the capabilities of the Cuda missile are being reviewed for public release. Still, something can be said based on the few details available.

First of all, the F-35 will carry kinetic energy interceptors: "hit-to-kill" weapons rely on the kinetic energy of the impact to destroy their target. That's why some HTK missiles don't carry any warhead (others use a lethality enhancer warhead).

HTK technologies can be used for missile defense (Scuds, rockets or even ballistic missiles). Is someone at the Pentagon studying the possibilty to use F-35s carrying clusters of Cudas as aerial anti-missile systems to intercept small rockets, SAMs (surface-to-air missiles)?

Second, that unlike Sidewinders, Cuda missiles, rather than being equipped with an IIR (Imaging Infra Red) seeker, will be radar-guided. This means they will be ejected from the internal bays in such a way the exposure of the stealth plane is reduced.

Third, the possible integration of the Cuda with the F-22: since a Raptor can carry eight SDB, it can theoretically carry up to eight Cuda, even if the perfect air-to-air loadout could be mix of AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-9X and Cuda missiles.


The Aviationist » New (still quite secret) Hit-to-Kill missile for the F-35 unveiled: the Lockheed Martin “Cuda”

 

[SpArK]

Joint Strike Fighter aims to be three aircraft in one
​

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter got a boost last month when the Pentagon established the first operational squadron of the stealthy, supersonic jet under development by Lockheed Martin.

The rollout in Yuma of the most technologically challenging of three versions in initial production — one for the Marine Corps that lands like a helicopter — may muffle criticism about the Defense Department's largest and most costly weapons procurement. Critics argue that the Pentagon should curtail purchases or bow out of the program.

At the dedication ceremony for the new squadron, one of the most strident critics of the long-delayed, budget-busting F-35 program, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said it is finally gathering momentum.

More than a decade into development, however, lawmakers and analysts are divided about whether the F-35 will eventually deliver on its promise of advanced "fifth generation" capabilities at an affordable price tag.

Before the jet is ready for full production, much depends on the next few years of flight testing and refinements in millions of lines of software code that control everything from weapons systems to maintenance diagnostics.

In the interim, "there are people who are prepared to believe this is the worst aircraft yet designed. And then there are people who think that this is still the most promising aircraft in the world," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with Teal Group. "It brings out extremes, and a lot of passion on both sides. The reality is there are some good things and there are some bad things."

Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute think tank, is an adviser to Lockheed Martin as well as other companies competing for Pentagon funding. He said the F-35, also known as Lightning II, is shaping up to be the most capable, cost-effective tactical aircraft in history.

"The F-35 program is making steady progress in reducing the cost of each aircraft and meeting its testing goals. The learning curve the program is on should reduce the price tag for the most common version of the F-35 to what Cold War fighters cost by 2017, while delivering huge gains in performance," he said.

The Joint Strike Fighter was conceived as a family of tactical aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps with sophisticated sensors, radar evasion and other "next generation" capabilities. Sharing a production line and at least 70 percent of airframe components, propulsion and avionics would limit costs. Computer modeling would shorten the timeline from design to test models and full production.

A team led by Lockheed Martin was awarded the development contract in 2001 after a five-year design competition. Eight international partners pitched in more than $5 billion in development costs and pledged to buy hundreds of the jets: the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. Others now involved are Israel, Japan and Singapore.

The program soon bogged down and costs ballooned, because of a weighty airframe and other design do-overs for the complicated trio of jets. Frank Kendall, now the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, has called the rush to initial production so early into flight testing "acquisition malpractice."

The first operational models are not expected to deploy until 2015. Full-rate production originally estimated to begin this year has slipped to 2018 or beyond.

The cost of developing and purchasing the jets for the three services rose from an original estimate of $233 billion to more than $395 billion under the current plan to build 2,443 by the late 2030s, with a per-unit cost about double the initial $69 million price tag.

Lockheed Martin officials said they have dropped the unit cost by almost 50 percent over the first four years of production and it will drop further as they ramp up from about 32 planes a year now to one a day. By that time the company expects improved efficiency and economies of scale to bring the price in line with an F-16 Fighting Falcon, or about $70 million.:what:

"We're down that initial learning curve," said Eric Van Camp, Lockheed's liaison to the Marine Corps. "We have only rolled out about 65 airplanes today. We have a program of record exceeding 3,100 airplanes. We are just getting started."

Some question why the U.S. needs another, less capable, stealth jet in addition to the pricey F-22 Raptor, since no other countries deploy such technology and radar advances could make it obsolete.

Stealth gives the F-35 a superior ability to survive in combat, Lockheed Martin officials said. "Short of the F-22, the F-35 is the best air-to-air machine that will be in the sky in the future," said Steve O'Bryan, vice president of F-35 program integration. "If it is a stealth airplane and you can't see it, that allows you to have a first look, first shot, first kill before an adversary airplane even knows you're there."

The debate over stealth and affordability will continue, but the F-35 program has probably crossed into "too big to fail" territory, analysts said. What are the services getting for the money invested so far?

All three versions of the radar-evading jet are single-seaters with a single engine that will travel as fast as Mach 1.6, or faster than 1,200 mph and the speed of sound.

The Air Force ordered a model that lands on conventional runways and can maneuver under the most g forces, 9.

The F-35A was the first version of the Joint Strike Fighter to fly, in December 2006. It is scheduled to have the largest production run, accounting for most overseas purchases and a planned U.S. buy of 1,763.

Lockheed Martin officials say the F-35A is demonstrating the maturing design and capabilities of the new jet — it has flown at its maximum speed and g-rating, above 40,000 feet and at the extreme 50-degree angle of attack. Critical systems they've been exercising on the A model include electronic warfare to track enemy forces and jam their radio frequencies, and a 360-degree distributed aperture that warns the pilot of incoming missiles and other threats.

The Navy's version of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C, made its maiden flight in June 2010. It is designed as a heavier, sturdier jet with a tailhook mechanism enabling it to land on an aircraft carrier. When it reportedly failed to catch the arresting wire during land tests, Lockheed Martin said it would redesign the part.

The C model has a wider wing span, by about 8 feet, to allow it to land at slower speeds on the carrier. That's important to put less stress on the metal flight deck, said Capt. Paul Overstreet, F-35 weapon systems program manager at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.

It has two tires on the nose gear to better withstand the launch off ships by a steam-driven "catapult" device. And it will be compatible with the upcoming electromagnetic launch system, EMALS, which the Navy wants to use on the coming Ford class of aircraft carriers.

The Navy will be the last military branch to introduce the new jet into service. Operational evaluations required before it can enter the fleet are anticipated in 2018, officials said.

In February, the first production jet is expected at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base, where the Navy is standing up the first F-35C training squadron.

The service intends to purchase 260 carrier variants of the F-35. In addition, the Marine Corps plans to buy 67 for its pilots assigned to carriers, a Marine spokesman said.

The Marines ordered the world's first stealth jet that can land vertically. The Corps wants to maintain its ability to fly from small Navy ships and austere areas lacking full-length runways.

It also wants to replace all of its F/A-18 Hornets, EA-6B Prowlers, and the vertical landing jet it has now, the AV-8 Harrier, with one aircraft — the F-35.

Lockheed Martin was awarded the coveted Collier Trophy for the greatest aeronautic achievement in America in 2001 for the innovative clutch fan that makes the B model a short-takeoff, vertical-landing jet.

The design, considered an elegant and baroque engineering feat, draws power from the main engine to drive a center fan. Other jets lug around an extra turbine or duct air off the engine like the subsonic, short-ranging Harrier.

The F-35B is a quantum leap over the Harrier, but it has a smaller combat radius than the Navy and Air Force versions of the jet.

The first B model took flight in June 2008. After a rough start in flight testing, the jet successfully completed initial shipboard trials in October 2011. In 2010 the jet did about 10 vertical landings; last year it was over 250, Lockheed Martin officials said.

The Corps plans to buy 353 of the F-35B. Critics say the service would do fine without a vertical landing jet, since the Marines had some of their finest moments before they got Harriers in 1975. Supporters say the capability effectively doubles the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet.

In 2000, the Corps passed on buying the "fourth generation" E and F model F/A-18 Super Hornets the Navy flies.

Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, said he still thinks it was a good decision to wait for the Joint Strike Fighter, one that saved billions.

No one expected the F-35 timeline would slide right, the U.S. would fight two long wars and the Pentagon budget would tank.

Today, as the cost of maintaining its aging tactical fleet of aircraft rises, the Marine Corps has no fallback plan without the F-35.

Like its reliance on another revolutionary aircraft, the MV-22 tilt-rotor, "I'm kind of stuck, I've got to do this thing," Amos said in an interview. "I need the airplane."


Joint Strike Fighter aims to be three aircraft in one

 

[SajeevJino]

Joint Strike Missile (JSM) anti-ship and land-attack missile for the F-35 unveiled​

On Nov. 29, the Norwegian company Kongsberg and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence unveiled the first fuselage of the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) that is being developed for the F-35.

The JSM is a multi-role weapon derived from the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), also developed by Kongsberg and already operational with the Royal Norwegian Navy. The new missile, developed in partnership with the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, and in close cooperation with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, is the only powered anti-ship missile that will fit inside the Joint Strike Fighter's weapons bays. The aircraft is believed to be able to carry two such missiles internally, while additional ones could be carried on the external wing pylons (affecting the overall stealthiness of the plane, though).

Although being the possible F-35"²s anti-ship weapon of choice the JSM, featuring long range (up to 280 km), low signature, high manveuverability and accuracy, can be used again ground heavily defended high-value targets "without having to resort to saturating the target with less capable weapons, an option few can rely on in today's environment," Brigadier General Morten Klever with the Norwegian F-35 program said.

Next year the JSM, as it will undergo a Critical Design Review (expected next summer), after which preparations will begin for its final stage of development and full integration on the F-35.



The Aviationist » Joint Strike Missile (JSM) anti-ship and land-attack missile for the F-35 unveiled

 

[SajeevJino]

Double Post .Self Delete

 

[arunpat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/us/in-federal-budget-cutting-f-35-fighter-jet-is-at-risk.html?goback=%2Egde_65111_member_190910966&_r=0
LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — The Marine version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, already more than a decade in the making, was facing a crucial question: Could the jet, which can soar well past the speed of sound, land at sea like a helicopter?On an October day last year, with Lt. Col. Fred Schenk at the controls, the plane glided toward a ship off the Atlantic coast and then, its engine rotating straight down, descended gently to the deck at seven feet a second.

There were cheers from the ship's crew members, who "were all shaking my hands and smiling," Colonel Schenk recalled.

The smooth landing helped save that model and breathed new life into the huge F-35 program, the most expensive weapons system in military history. But while Pentagon officials now say that the program is making progress, it begins its 12th year in development years behind schedule, troubled with technological flaws and facing concerns about its relatively short flight range as possible threats grow from Asia.

With a record price tag — potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars — the jet is likely to become a target for budget cutters. Reining in military spending is on the table as President Obama and Republican leaders in Congress look for ways to avert a fiscal crisis. But no matter what kind of deal is reached in the next few weeks, military analysts expect the Pentagon budget to decline in the next decade as the war in Afghanistan ends and the military is required to do its part to reduce the federal debt.

Behind the scenes, the Pentagon and the F-35's main contractor, Lockheed Martin, are engaged in a conflict of their own over the costs. The relationship "is the worst I've ever seen, and I've been in some bad ones," Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan of the Air Force, a top program official, said in September. "I guarantee you: we will not succeed on this if we do not get past that."

In a battle that is being fought on other military programs as well, the Pentagon has been pushing Lockheed to cut costs much faster while the company is fighting to hold onto a profit. "Lockheed has seemed to be focused on short-term business goals," Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, said this month. "And we'd like to see them focus more on execution of the program and successful delivery of the product." The F-35 was conceived as the Pentagon's silver bullet in the sky — a state-of-the art aircraft that could be adapted to three branches of the military, with advances that would easily overcome the defenses of most foes. The radar-evading jets would not only dodge sophisticated antiaircraft missiles, but they would also give pilots a better picture of enemy threats while enabling allies, who want the planes, too, to fight more closely with American forces.

But the ambitious aircraft instead illustrates how the Pentagon can let huge and complex programs veer out of control and then have a hard time reining them in. The program nearly doubled in cost as Lockheed and the military's own bureaucracy failed to deliver on the most basic promise of a three-in-one jet that would save taxpayers money and be served up speedily.

Lockheed has delivered 41 planes so far for testing and initial training, and Pentagon leaders are slowing purchases of the F-35 to fix the latest technical problems and reduce the immediate costs. A helmet for pilots that projects targeting data onto its visor is too jittery to count on. The tail-hook on the Navy jet has had trouble catching the arresting cable, meaning that version cannot yet land on carriers. And writing and testing the millions of lines of software needed by the jets is so daunting that General Bogdan said, "It scares the heck out of me."

With all the delays — full production is not expected until 2019 — the military has spent billions to extend the lives of older fighters and buy more of them to fill the gap. At the same time, the cost to build each F-35 has risen to an average of $137 million from $69 million in 2001.

The jets would cost taxpayers $396 billion, including research and development, if the Pentagon sticks to its plan to build 2,443 by the late 2030s. That would be nearly four times as much as any other weapons system and two-thirds of the $589 billion the United States has spent on the war in Afghanistan. The military is also desperately trying to figure out how to reduce the long-term costs of operating the planes, now projected at $1.1 trillion.

"The plane is unaffordable," said Winslow T. Wheeler, an analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit group in Washington.Todd Harrison, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a research group in Washington, said Pentagon officials had little choice but to push ahead, especially after already spending $65 billion on the fighter. "It is simultaneously too big to fail and too big to succeed," he said. "The bottom line here is that they've crammed too much into the program. They were asking one fighter to do three different jobs, and they basically ended up with three different fighters."

 

[Broccoli]

Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute think tank, is an adviser to Lockheed Martin as well as other companies competing for Pentagon funding. He said the F-35, also known as Lightning II, is shaping up to be the most capable, cost-effective tactical aircraft in history.
Joint Strike Fighter aims to be three aircraft in one

Loren Thompson is actually paid by the Lockheed Martin... too bad they never remember to mention that fact.

 

[mikhail]

Loren Thompson is actually paid by the Lockheed Martin... too bad they never remember to mention that fact.

whatever we say about the potential failure of F-35 Lightening II project,i must admit that LM has been slowly but surely turning this combat aircraft into one mean 5th generation beast which will be in a true sense the first multi-role fifth generation a/c which will be superior to any of the future combat a/c of the world(maybe other than SU-PAKFA/FGFA)!

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Don't underestimate Russians, Also FGFA will be a hybrid 5th gen of both Eastern and Western Worlds..

 

[Damian]

It is needed to be remember that even if, currently F-35 won't be export success, it will be perfected, inducted in to USAF, US Navy and USMC, and later it might be the same success as F-16 was.

Everything needs time, F-35 will have it's teething problems, but in time as with everything, they will be solved, and it will be reliable machine.

 

[SajeevJino]

Weapon Config

 

[SajeevJino]

F-35 Insane High Angle of Attack Testing


F-35 Insane High Angle of Attack Testing | TakeOffTube.com

 

[SajeevJino]

During Night Mission Refuelling from KC 130