F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

[Bhartiya Sainik]

Oh! look! Chinese media reported that they signed friendship treaty with USA & flew side by side

 

[The Shrike]

Canada (finally) picks the F-35 (as expected).

Lockheed Martin takes big step toward winning Canada jet race

Canada has picked Lockheed Martin Corp as the preferred bidder to supply 88 new fighter jets, Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said Monday, in a clear sign the U.S. company is set to win the multibillion-dollar contract.

www.reuters.com

 

[Fonck83]

Mark these words :
I leave you this anthology of quotes from very high US officials:

To summarize, the Pentagon will systematically ask for a reduced number of F-35s as long as the Block 4 is not completed. Block 4" is a variable geometry concept. Sometimes it includes the TR3 implemented since 2018, sometimes it refers to part of the 60 software modules that must be delivered. But in the discourse of all these managers, I think that block4 should be understood in the "complete" sense, i.e. according to the new definition which includes the three new engines. The reason for this is simple, it is the under-powering of block 3F and therefore even more so of block 4.



Lieutenant General Eric Fick, executive officer of the F-35 joint program

With the 3F block systems, the F-35 draws 30 kW of power from the engine, more than double the system's design power of 14 kW. This reduces engine life and the time between engine overhauls, Fick says.



AND so all the rest:

Kendall undersecretary of state for the Air Force:

"The numbers go back up after 2023," Kendall said. "We're not changing our focus." He said the Air Force is "15 years into production and we will build F-35s probably another 15 years."

Kendall says the service will increase its annual purchases of F-35s in the future, but adds that the prospects for obtaining adequate funding will become "more difficult" in the coming years.

"We expect Lockheed to make more progress" on the F-35's Block 4 software upgrade, which "has not met our expectations."

the current situation "bears some resemblance" that earlier period


David S. Nahom the service's deputy chief of staff for plans and programs.

"The threat says we have to achieve [future] capability," he said. "In a perfect world, I would like to have the capability and a lot more F-35s and EXs? Absolutely. But right now, we need to focus on getting the F-35s we need. We continue to develop, and then we buy as many as we can."

the Air Force needs to quickly retire the worn-out F-15Cs in favor of the new F-15EXs, and that while the plane is not as stealthy as the F-35, it does have advantages: It can carry large external weapons, more weapons in general, and more fuel, which means it can travel farther.



Rear Admiral John Gumbleton, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget.

and it just reflects the balance of that budget request when you consider that our portfolios are increasing for shipbuilding and [research and development] while focusing on readiness," said the

"We simply chose to reduce those numbers."



Navy Vice Admiral Ron Boxall, director of force structure, resources and assessment at the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"There have been delays in the F-35, and again, those delays have also delayed that capability that we want."

"When we look at the F-35, what do we need? Most of the time it's the Block 4 capability."

the Pentagon "has taken this opportunity" to shape its broader "strike aircraft portfolio," including buying more F-15EXs, a non-stealth jet better suited for some low-end missions than the F-35.


Ortiz Jones. Under Secretary of the Air Force

"But the focus is on modernization and the need to have the Block 4 available as soon as we need it."

"We remain committed to the F-35"

"no change in the final purchase"


Senator Jack Reed

"These aircraft are very capable, but the question we have to ask - and I think the Air Force is asking - is whether they are viable and sustainable."

. "Until they answer those questions, I don't think they're going to rush into acquiring a significant number of them"

"I think once we get to the point of validation, and especially looking at what they're doing in Europe, we can be more confident going forward.

 

[Wisemarko]

Amid Russian aggression, Fort Worth leaders say the F-35 fighter jet’s value is now on display in Europe
Abby LivingstonMarch 28, 2022
Source- Texas Tribune

WASHINGTON — In the storied history of the factory known as Air Force Plant 4 on Fort Worth’s western edge, there has never been a fighter jet to roll off the assembly line quite like the F-35: It’s an aeronautical marvel, a fiscal disaster and a North Texas economic linchpin.

Military budget hawks call its development a “boondoggle” and a financial “rathole” and floated the idea of scrapping it. Fort Worth lawmakers have steadfastly defended it, touting its value both to the military and the local economy.

But as Western countries scramble to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine,the pride of Fort Worth — Lockheed Martin’s F-35 — is now at the center of American diplomacy and in demand all over Europe. For those who have fought for the program, it’s a validation of that work.

“What’s happening at the plant matters right now,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, who grew up underneath the screeching planes of Fort Worth during the twilight of the Cold War. “It seems like that we’re back in that same sort of mindset, that same sort of posture now, because it’s just as serious now, if not more serious than, quite honestly, back then.”

There is almost no conceivable scenario in which the United States would give the Ukrainian military an F-35, according to interviews with several defense policymakers and observers. It’s not even remotely a topic of open discussion because such an action would likely escalate the Ukrainian conflict and pilots would have to be trained on the complex aircraft.

Even so, the F-35 is having an indirect impact in Europe, as countries reconsider their defense readiness in the wake of Russia’s aggression.

Beginning earlier this year, western officials publicized eastward F-35 deployments into and around Europe, announced via tweets, press releases and confirmed news reports. There is likely more classified F-35 activity, and aviation experts regularly track online other F-35 sightings in Eastern Europe.


Get the latest coverage from our Washington bureau, delivered weekly
Sign up here
What is known in published news reports is that American F-35s have migrated to Europe. And Western European countries are deploying their own F-35s into allied countries and airspace in proximity to Russia, in places like Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania. Some are American military planes and others are owned by allies, like the Netherlands.

Aaron Stein, the director of research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told The Texas Tribune that American F-35 European air patrols offer “reassurance to the eastern [NATO] members, a symbol of U.S. support for the alliance and also as a signal to the Russians to stay out.”

Other allies are on buying binges of a fighter jet with a price tag in the ballpark of $100 million.

Just prior to the invasion, Finland formalized the purchase of 64 F-35s on Feb. 4, that country’s largest military procurement ever. Earlier this month, American military officials welcomed Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen for a tour of a Florida F-35 training facility, an occasion military officials detailed in a news release. Finland is not a member of NATO.

Most dramatically, German leaders announced three weeks after the Russian invasion their own purchase of 35 F-35 jets. Germany has had a historical reluctance to engage in a military build-up after the horrors of World War II, and that announcement was part of a major shift in policy.

And on Monday, the Canadian government announced that it would buy 88 of the fighter jets, a purchase for which it has reportedly budgeted about $15 billion. These fresh foreign purchases will help offset recent announcements from American military leaders about cutsto their own F-35 orders.

An economic boon
The F-35 is manufactured in several places, but Air Force Plant 4 is at the heart of the operation.

The midsection is built in a Northrop Grumman plant in California, and the plane’s tail is built in the United Kingdom, which is the United States’ closest F-35 partner. These pieces come together for final assembly in Fort Worth, where the front section is manufactured. There are also final F-35 assembly facilities in Italy and Japan.

Many people in the city know someone who works on the F-35, or at the very least, within the plant. Local pride in the aircraft abounds, so much so that it is beginning to compete with the steer and the oil derrick as a civic symbol. Every Christmas season, the city hosts a Lockheed Martin-sponsored college football bowl game. F-35s fly above the Amon G. Carter Stadium on game day. In the lead-up to the 2016 bowl game, locals waited in long lines in downtown Fort Worth for a chance to climb into the cockpit of an F-35 model.

The facility is the third-largest employer in Fort Worth and claims to directly or indirectly employs about 55,500 Texans, according to Lockheed Martin.

The jet was proposed in 1990s, after a rocky time for Fort Worth.

The local congressman, Jim Wright, had recently fallen from power as the U.S. speaker of the House, diminishing the area’s political clout. And then came the drawdown of the Cold War defense spending after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Fort Worth, with its air base and local defense contractors, was hit particularly hard.

In 1991, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney recommended the closure of Carswell Air Force Base and months later, canceled another Fort Worth plane project, the A-12, at the next-door plant.

But a few years later, the base was repurposed and military planners announced the need for a new generation of fighter planes. American leaders decided to replace various models of planes with a single plane that functioned almost like a Swiss Army knife.

The result was the F-35, a plane that can dogfight, drop bombs, shoot missiles, conduct reconnaissance, fly stealth and supersonic and offers its single pilot a situational awareness that was inconceivable a generation ago. There are three different versions of the plane, to accommodate the different types of landings and take offs: land-based runways, aircraft carriers and vertical hovering.

But its many competing goals meant the plane was overweight, over-budget and late, incurring the wrath of those worried about military spending. A Congressional Research Service analysis earlier this year of the plane estimated the plane’s production and maintenance will eventually cost $1 trillion.

In 2016, the F-35 ran into serious trouble after President Donald Trump won the presidential election. That December, a briefing for the president-elect included a chart noting a history of trouble, cataloging lapsed deadlines, design flaws and including the language, “Difficult to Overcome a Troubled Past, but Program is Improving.”

“The F-35 program and cost is out of control,” Trump tweeted that month. “Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.”

The comments set off panic in Fort Worth.

Two Texas leaders most closely identified with the F-35 were junior members when military planners dreamed up the plane. As criticism mounted over the years, U.S. Reps. Mac Thornberry of Clarendon and Kay Granger, the former Fort Worth mayor, matured in power, and successfully pursued Congressional assignments that allowed them to protect the plane.

From these perches, Thornberry, who retired last year, and Granger delicately defended the F-35, amid the rancor around its spending.

Veasey, the Fort Worth congressman, has lived with the plane’s development his entire career. As a Congressional staffer in 1996, he attended the announcement that Lockheed Martin would compete for the government contract. Now in Congress himself, he oversees the F-35 also as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Other Texas officeholders like U.S. Sen. John Cornyn have kept up the drumbeat of support, signaling their support for the F-35, including via letters to Congressional leaders.

Feels “like the ’80s all over again”
Not every country can purchase an F-35 from Lockheed. A group of eight countries joined together early on to share the costs and take part in the production of the plane. Since then, other countries have earned approval to buy the plane through a government program called Foreign Military Sales.

In the international community, there are defense and economic alliances, like NATO and the European Union. But there is also something of an F-35 club, and American officials who support the plane’s development argue that the draw of membership is part of the power of the plane.

“Look at the countries that want to buy it, and those countries want to be a part of this generation of aircraft,” said U.S. Rep. August Pfluger of San Angelo, who is a retired Air Force fighter pilot and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He added: “It strengthens our bonds with those countries. It strengthens our relationships by saying, ‘We trust you. We want to have closer relationships with you. We want to deter the same enemies that you want to deter.’”

It is such an advanced tool that maintenance — particularly in the realm of software development — is likely to keep countries closer to Lockheed and the United States.

“At the operational level, it allows our pilots and our war planners and our military professionals to have a platform and a common language, a common weapons system to fight with,” Pfluger said.

“Diplomatically, it’s very, very important,” he added.

Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said those alliances extend beyond NATO, pointing to the Finland purchase. The F-35 “tightens our [bonds] with certain non-NATO countries (esp Finland, in fact) that may complicate any designs Putin would have to attack say the Nordic states,” he wrote in an email to the Tribune.

It’s a sentiment with which Kaikkonen agreed in a U.S. Air Force news release.

“Building on our great F-18 cooperation since the 1990’s, the F-35 program will be a solid foundation for the Finland and United States defense relationship in the coming decades,” he said.

O’Hanlon noted the F-35’s other diplomatic play: Putin deterrence.

By loading up the western side of the Russian border with F-35s, it’s a near constant reminder to Russian President Vladimir Putin of American military strength.

“It helps reinforce deterrence of Putin should he consider any moves against NATO states,” O’Hanlon wrote to the Tribune. “The geography of Europe, with lots of airfields within combat range of Russia, makes the F-35 especially relevant to that theater.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed of Rhode Island suggested last week that policymakers will keep a close eye on how the F-35 performs in Europe.

“Once we have reached the point of validation, and particularly observing what they do in Europe, we can be more confident going forward with the system,” he said, according to Air Force Magazine.

Veasey, the Fort Worth congressman, grew up near the Fort Worth defense plant and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, which was once Carswell Air Force Base. Throughout his boyhood, planes roared overhead, taking part in test flights and exercises. The racket above is known colloquially as “the sound of freedom.”

The exercises continue to this day, but Cold War intrigue and paranoia long ago faded in Cowtown. Veasey said last week the future is back in his hometown.

“I’ve seen the ups and downs, and it is really crazy because of what’s happening in Europe right now,” he said. “It really does feel like the ’80s all over again.”

 

[Bhartiya Sainik]

Amid Russian aggression, Fort Worth leaders say the F-35 fighter jet’s value is now on display in Europe
Abby LivingstonMarch 28, 2022
Source- Texas Tribune

WASHINGTON — In the storied history of the factory known as Air Force Plant 4 on Fort Worth’s western edge, there has never been a fighter jet to roll off the assembly line quite like the F-35: It’s an aeronautical marvel, a fiscal disaster and a North Texas economic linchpin.

Military budget hawks call its development a “boondoggle” and a financial “rathole” and floated the idea of scrapping it. Fort Worth lawmakers have steadfastly defended it, touting its value both to the military and the local economy.

But as Western countries scramble to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine,the pride of Fort Worth — Lockheed Martin’s F-35 — is now at the center of American diplomacy and in demand all over Europe. For those who have fought for the program, it’s a validation of that work.

“What’s happening at the plant matters right now,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, who grew up underneath the screeching planes of Fort Worth during the twilight of the Cold War. “It seems like that we’re back in that same sort of mindset, that same sort of posture now, because it’s just as serious now, if not more serious than, quite honestly, back then.”

There is almost no conceivable scenario in which the United States would give the Ukrainian military an F-35, according to interviews with several defense policymakers and observers. It’s not even remotely a topic of open discussion because such an action would likely escalate the Ukrainian conflict and pilots would have to be trained on the complex aircraft.

Even so, the F-35 is having an indirect impact in Europe, as countries reconsider their defense readiness in the wake of Russia’s aggression.

Beginning earlier this year, western officials publicized eastward F-35 deployments into and around Europe, announced via tweets, press releases and confirmed news reports. There is likely more classified F-35 activity, and aviation experts regularly track online other F-35 sightings in Eastern Europe.


Get the latest coverage from our Washington bureau, delivered weekly
Sign up here
What is known in published news reports is that American F-35s have migrated to Europe. And Western European countries are deploying their own F-35s into allied countries and airspace in proximity to Russia, in places like Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania. Some are American military planes and others are owned by allies, like the Netherlands.

Aaron Stein, the director of research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told The Texas Tribune that American F-35 European air patrols offer “reassurance to the eastern [NATO] members, a symbol of U.S. support for the alliance and also as a signal to the Russians to stay out.”

Other allies are on buying binges of a fighter jet with a price tag in the ballpark of $100 million.

Just prior to the invasion, Finland formalized the purchase of 64 F-35s on Feb. 4, that country’s largest military procurement ever. Earlier this month, American military officials welcomed Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Kaikkonen for a tour of a Florida F-35 training facility, an occasion military officials detailed in a news release. Finland is not a member of NATO.

Most dramatically, German leaders announced three weeks after the Russian invasion their own purchase of 35 F-35 jets. Germany has had a historical reluctance to engage in a military build-up after the horrors of World War II, and that announcement was part of a major shift in policy.

And on Monday, the Canadian government announced that it would buy 88 of the fighter jets, a purchase for which it has reportedly budgeted about $15 billion. These fresh foreign purchases will help offset recent announcements from American military leaders about cutsto their own F-35 orders.

An economic boon
The F-35 is manufactured in several places, but Air Force Plant 4 is at the heart of the operation.

The midsection is built in a Northrop Grumman plant in California, and the plane’s tail is built in the United Kingdom, which is the United States’ closest F-35 partner. These pieces come together for final assembly in Fort Worth, where the front section is manufactured. There are also final F-35 assembly facilities in Italy and Japan.

Many people in the city know someone who works on the F-35, or at the very least, within the plant. Local pride in the aircraft abounds, so much so that it is beginning to compete with the steer and the oil derrick as a civic symbol. Every Christmas season, the city hosts a Lockheed Martin-sponsored college football bowl game. F-35s fly above the Amon G. Carter Stadium on game day. In the lead-up to the 2016 bowl game, locals waited in long lines in downtown Fort Worth for a chance to climb into the cockpit of an F-35 model.

The facility is the third-largest employer in Fort Worth and claims to directly or indirectly employs about 55,500 Texans, according to Lockheed Martin.

The jet was proposed in 1990s, after a rocky time for Fort Worth.

The local congressman, Jim Wright, had recently fallen from power as the U.S. speaker of the House, diminishing the area’s political clout. And then came the drawdown of the Cold War defense spending after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Fort Worth, with its air base and local defense contractors, was hit particularly hard.

In 1991, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney recommended the closure of Carswell Air Force Base and months later, canceled another Fort Worth plane project, the A-12, at the next-door plant.

But a few years later, the base was repurposed and military planners announced the need for a new generation of fighter planes. American leaders decided to replace various models of planes with a single plane that functioned almost like a Swiss Army knife.

The result was the F-35, a plane that can dogfight, drop bombs, shoot missiles, conduct reconnaissance, fly stealth and supersonic and offers its single pilot a situational awareness that was inconceivable a generation ago. There are three different versions of the plane, to accommodate the different types of landings and take offs: land-based runways, aircraft carriers and vertical hovering.

But its many competing goals meant the plane was overweight, over-budget and late, incurring the wrath of those worried about military spending. A Congressional Research Service analysis earlier this year of the plane estimated the plane’s production and maintenance will eventually cost $1 trillion.

In 2016, the F-35 ran into serious trouble after President Donald Trump won the presidential election. That December, a briefing for the president-elect included a chart noting a history of trouble, cataloging lapsed deadlines, design flaws and including the language, “Difficult to Overcome a Troubled Past, but Program is Improving.”

“The F-35 program and cost is out of control,” Trump tweeted that month. “Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.”

The comments set off panic in Fort Worth.

Two Texas leaders most closely identified with the F-35 were junior members when military planners dreamed up the plane. As criticism mounted over the years, U.S. Reps. Mac Thornberry of Clarendon and Kay Granger, the former Fort Worth mayor, matured in power, and successfully pursued Congressional assignments that allowed them to protect the plane.

From these perches, Thornberry, who retired last year, and Granger delicately defended the F-35, amid the rancor around its spending.

Veasey, the Fort Worth congressman, has lived with the plane’s development his entire career. As a Congressional staffer in 1996, he attended the announcement that Lockheed Martin would compete for the government contract. Now in Congress himself, he oversees the F-35 also as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Other Texas officeholders like U.S. Sen. John Cornyn have kept up the drumbeat of support, signaling their support for the F-35, including via letters to Congressional leaders.

Feels “like the ’80s all over again”
Not every country can purchase an F-35 from Lockheed. A group of eight countries joined together early on to share the costs and take part in the production of the plane. Since then, other countries have earned approval to buy the plane through a government program called Foreign Military Sales.

In the international community, there are defense and economic alliances, like NATO and the European Union. But there is also something of an F-35 club, and American officials who support the plane’s development argue that the draw of membership is part of the power of the plane.

“Look at the countries that want to buy it, and those countries want to be a part of this generation of aircraft,” said U.S. Rep. August Pfluger of San Angelo, who is a retired Air Force fighter pilot and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He added: “It strengthens our bonds with those countries. It strengthens our relationships by saying, ‘We trust you. We want to have closer relationships with you. We want to deter the same enemies that you want to deter.’”

It is such an advanced tool that maintenance — particularly in the realm of software development — is likely to keep countries closer to Lockheed and the United States.

“At the operational level, it allows our pilots and our war planners and our military professionals to have a platform and a common language, a common weapons system to fight with,” Pfluger said.

“Diplomatically, it’s very, very important,” he added.

Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said those alliances extend beyond NATO, pointing to the Finland purchase. The F-35 “tightens our [bonds] with certain non-NATO countries (esp Finland, in fact) that may complicate any designs Putin would have to attack say the Nordic states,” he wrote in an email to the Tribune.

It’s a sentiment with which Kaikkonen agreed in a U.S. Air Force news release.

“Building on our great F-18 cooperation since the 1990’s, the F-35 program will be a solid foundation for the Finland and United States defense relationship in the coming decades,” he said.

O’Hanlon noted the F-35’s other diplomatic play: Putin deterrence.

By loading up the western side of the Russian border with F-35s, it’s a near constant reminder to Russian President Vladimir Putin of American military strength.

“It helps reinforce deterrence of Putin should he consider any moves against NATO states,” O’Hanlon wrote to the Tribune. “The geography of Europe, with lots of airfields within combat range of Russia, makes the F-35 especially relevant to that theater.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed of Rhode Island suggested last week that policymakers will keep a close eye on how the F-35 performs in Europe.

“Once we have reached the point of validation, and particularly observing what they do in Europe, we can be more confident going forward with the system,” he said, according to Air Force Magazine.

Veasey, the Fort Worth congressman, grew up near the Fort Worth defense plant and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, which was once Carswell Air Force Base. Throughout his boyhood, planes roared overhead, taking part in test flights and exercises. The racket above is known colloquially as “the sound of freedom.”

The exercises continue to this day, but Cold War intrigue and paranoia long ago faded in Cowtown. Veasey said last week the future is back in his hometown.

“I’ve seen the ups and downs, and it is really crazy because of what’s happening in Europe right now,” he said. “It really does feel like the ’80s all over again.”

YYYYAAAAWWWWNNNN!!!!
Dear American bro, if u can reduce 6-7 pages of thesis to 1 page of text then members would be greatful to you. Material should be like Edutainment.
This is Defence Forum INDIA. Nobody gives a damn about politics, philosophy, names, designations & comments of US & EU officials in unofficial time-pass Indian forum. And Western history, conflicts and geopolitics are very different from ours. Even the name "India" is Greek-Latin, Damn!

Mere pyaare Bhartiya bhaiyon aur beheno, koi isko samjhao please

 

[blackjack]

Using radar to monitor burn victims and babies? It's now possible

www.sydney.edu.au

Declaration: This work was in part funded in part by U.S. Air Force (USAF) (FA2386-16-14036), U.S. Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG) (N62909-18-1-2013), and Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP-200101893).

Hero image: PhD candidate Ziqian Zhang and Professor Benjamin Eggleton with a drone they used in an experiment to demonstrate the high-resolution radar imaging.

guess the US will start fielding photonic radars, awesome and fuck yeah

University of Sydney scientists have achieved a technology breakthrough with potentially life-saving applications - all using an improved version of radar.

Traditionally, radar is associated with airport control towers or military fighter jets, but a new, highly sensitive radar developed at the University of Sydney takes this technology into the human range.
Called ‘advanced photonic radar’, the ultra-high-resolution device is so sensitive it can detect an object’s location, speed, and/or angle in millimetres as opposed to metres. This could enable usage in hospitals to monitor people’s vital signs such as breathing and heart rate.
In the case of breathing, the radar could continuously detect a person’s chest rising and falling. The usual method of monitoring this is via a strap around a person’s chest. In the case of burn victims with sensitive skin, however, this is impractical. Similarly, infants have insufficient attaching areas for sleep apnea monitoring, so the novel radar technology could be a better alternative.
Privacy is another concern addressed by the new system. Traditional health surveillance methods such as cameras capture a patient’s face, whereas radar, which uses only radio waves, allows patients to remain completely anonymous.

 

[BON PLAN]

Lockheed In A Soup! US Air Force Demands ‘Evidence Of Capability’ Over Block 4 Upgrades For F-35A Jets

Lockheed In A Soup! US Air Force Demands 'Evidence Of Capability' Over Block 4 Upgrades For F-35A Jets

The US Air Force wants evidence that Lockheed Martin will be able to produce Block 4 upgrades for the F-35A fighter jet before boosting the plane’s purchase, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on May 13. Moskva Retaliation? All Russian Submarines Are Now Deployed In The Black Sea As Moscow...

eurasiantimes.com

"He made it clear that the US Air Force is interested in having Block 4 capabilities for the F-35, but the contractor has been slow to provide them thus far. Before expanding production, the service wants to have proof that the manufacturer will be able to do it, so that was a key consideration as well. "

"To “unlock” the F-35 Block 4 updates, the Technical Refresh 3 upgrade is required.

TR3 features a new core processor, upgraded radar, a redesigned cockpit display, and software upgrades to improve electronic warfare capabilities. However, Lockheed Martin has taken longer than projected to produce this.

The L3Harris [LHX] integrated core processor poses a significant issue for TR3, and the Government Accountability Office is concerned about the likelihood of further delays in processor delivery as well as the low software quality for Block 4.

The TR3 upgrade will be available in Lot 15, scheduled for 2023, according to the F-35 Joint Program Office. Kendall started early on in his tenure that he had previously dealt with concerns relating to the Joint Strike Fighter program as the undersecretary of defense for procurement, technology, and logistics."

 

[BON PLAN]

F-35 Software Flaws Prompt Inquiry on DoD s 2022 Budget Requests | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense Infrastructure)

staging.taktikz.com

 

[bhramos]

 

[Fonck83]

When will the U.S. finally have an improved engine for the F-35?

How long will it take to re-engine the F-35s in service or to replace them with each of the new engines (EEP, AETP or the new one for the F-35B) ?

Note that re-engining is necessary, but not for a propulsion problem, much more for a problem of available electrical power. I'm going to correct several errors that we see regularly.

- The current problem of electrical power is not caused by a non-respect of the specifications but by an increase in power needs due to more and more greedy onboard equipment.

- This increased need for electrical power means that the power module is regularly used beyond its operating range and must therefore be changed much more often than expected. Until now, choices have been made to save this module either by flying less or by not operating all the onboard equipment at the same time, which has a significant operational impact. For some time now, therefore, rather than accepting operational constraints, logistical and financial constraints have been accepted. I mean that the number of workshops capable of changing the module (an operation that lasts about a hundred days) have been multiplied by three for the moment. The financial constraint is the investment in these heavy maintenance workshops and the purchase of these modules which represent 40% of the value of an engine about every 1000 flight hours. Now that these workshops and modules have been delivered, the operational constraint is less important, so we are seeing more and more articles talking about omni-purpose missions, and we are also seeing that the FMC criterion is being used more and more. I have also noticed that the number of flight hours per month is increasing again, but not in an extraordinary way.

Why has this happened?

- Mainly because the computer development time has been too long. The consequence is that it was necessary to integrate in the block definitions evolutions that were not foreseen at the beginning, evolutions that often require more energy such as radar, EW systems, optics, screens, computing power, etc., etc. Block 4 pushes the need for electrical power too far. A solution is imperative.

Could the JPO do otherwise?

Yes, perhaps, but in this case it was first necessary to be less ambitious on each of the versions and then it was necessary that the manufacturers systematically deliver better products than expected in order to be able to erase the possible margin overruns of the others. But being less ambitious means putting less powder in the eyes of the buyers, which is out of step with the State Department's wishes. And delivering equipment that performs better than expected is not acceptable from the point of view of a U.S. manufacturer unless the gains are billed in some way, so no investment in excessive performance gains.

Have the US learned any lessons from this?

Yes on the NGAD. No on the F-35.

The NGAD signals the need to return to simpler vectors that a single generation of engineers can follow from A to Z. The notion of version is secondary, if not useless.

The F-35 continues to evolve in line with the logic of the blocks, which continue to see their definition change along the way towards "even more". For the engine, the US can choose between a more generous evolution of an engine that will provide more electrical power but will be quickly caught up by the ever-increasing need for electrical power, or engines that are much more generous in terms of electrical power but whose integration will be a real challenge. the EEP can only be a very temporary engine with this logic.

What are the consequences for the current fleet?

Without new engines: more flight hours since the logistics can follow, but many more scheduled shutdowns and a much higher unit cost of ownership. No switch to block 4.

With EEP: a large part of the "block4 ready" fleet will switch to block4 without any power concerns and without any significant integration risk, but block5 will pose the same problem of power requirements.

With AETP & new f-35B engines : very high integration risks but much more power margin.

 

[BON PLAN]

When will the U.S. finally have an improved engine for the F-35?

How long will it take to re-engine the F-35s in service or to replace them with each of the new engines (EEP, AETP or the new one for the F-35B) ?

Note that re-engining is necessary, but not for a propulsion problem, much more for a problem of available electrical power. I'm going to correct several errors that we see regularly.

- The current problem of electrical power is not caused by a non-respect of the specifications but by an increase in power needs due to more and more greedy onboard equipment.

- This increased need for electrical power means that the power module is regularly used beyond its operating range and must therefore be changed much more often than expected. Until now, choices have been made to save this module either by flying less or by not operating all the onboard equipment at the same time, which has a significant operational impact. For some time now, therefore, rather than accepting operational constraints, logistical and financial constraints have been accepted. I mean that the number of workshops capable of changing the module (an operation that lasts about a hundred days) have been multiplied by three for the moment. The financial constraint is the investment in these heavy maintenance workshops and the purchase of these modules which represent 40% of the value of an engine about every 1000 flight hours. Now that these workshops and modules have been delivered, the operational constraint is less important, so we are seeing more and more articles talking about omni-purpose missions, and we are also seeing that the FMC criterion is being used more and more. I have also noticed that the number of flight hours per month is increasing again, but not in an extraordinary way.

Why has this happened?

- Mainly because the computer development time has been too long. The consequence is that it was necessary to integrate in the block definitions evolutions that were not foreseen at the beginning, evolutions that often require more energy such as radar, EW systems, optics, screens, computing power, etc., etc. Block 4 pushes the need for electrical power too far. A solution is imperative.

Could the JPO do otherwise?

Yes, perhaps, but in this case it was first necessary to be less ambitious on each of the versions and then it was necessary that the manufacturers systematically deliver better products than expected in order to be able to erase the possible margin overruns of the others. But being less ambitious means putting less powder in the eyes of the buyers, which is out of step with the State Department's wishes. And delivering equipment that performs better than expected is not acceptable from the point of view of a U.S. manufacturer unless the gains are billed in some way, so no investment in excessive performance gains.

Have the US learned any lessons from this?

Yes on the NGAD. No on the F-35.

The NGAD signals the need to return to simpler vectors that a single generation of engineers can follow from A to Z. The notion of version is secondary, if not useless.

The F-35 continues to evolve in line with the logic of the blocks, which continue to see their definition change along the way towards "even more". For the engine, the US can choose between a more generous evolution of an engine that will provide more electrical power but will be quickly caught up by the ever-increasing need for electrical power, or engines that are much more generous in terms of electrical power but whose integration will be a real challenge. the EEP can only be a very temporary engine with this logic.

What are the consequences for the current fleet?

Without new engines: more flight hours since the logistics can follow, but many more scheduled shutdowns and a much higher unit cost of ownership. No switch to block 4.

With EEP: a large part of the "block4 ready" fleet will switch to block4 without any power concerns and without any significant integration risk, but block5 will pose the same problem of power requirements.

With AETP & new f-35B engines : very high integration risks but much more power margin.

F35 already has heat dissipation problems. With new engine and higher electrical output, it will be worst.
F35 may be stealthy in X band, not in IR ones.

 

[bhramos]

 

[Wisemarko]

Greece Requests to Buy 20 Lockheed F-35 Fighter Jets from the US
Tasos KokkinidisJuly 1, 2022

Greece asked the US to approve the sale of at least 20 F-35s. Public Domain
Greece has sent an official request to the United States for the purchase of twenty Lockheed Martin-made F-35 fighter jets, the country’s prime minister said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Madrid during a NATO summit, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece intended to buy a squadron of the Lockheed Martin-made F-35s, with a possible option for a second squadron.

“Part of this procedure is the sending of the Letter of Request, which has occurred in recent days,” Mitsotakis said, stressing this was the start of a lengthy process. Athens estimated it would not receive delivery of the aircraft before 2027 or 2028.

Greek officials said one squadron would consist of twenty planes.

Mitsotakis expressed the desire for Greece to join the F-35 program during his meeting with President Biden at the White House in May.

F-35 is a stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft
In January 2021, Greece publicly revealed for the first time that the country is eyeing the purchase of state-of-the-art F-35 fighter aircraft from the US.

Speaking after Greece and France signed the agreement to buy Rafale fighters, Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said that “sooner or later, a purchase of F-35s will be discussed.”

Greece has already ordered 24 French-made Rafale fighter jets—six new and eighteen previously in service with the French Air Force, as well as three French frigates.

The F-35 is a stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft, designed for ground-attack and air-superiority missions.

It is built by Lockheed Martin and many subcontractors, including Northrup Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and BAE Systems.

By procuring state-of-the-art jets, Greece hopes it will cancel out the threat posed by Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system.

 

[Super falcon]

Germany also put initial order of 35 F 35 with 15 optional deliveries expected 2024

 

[Wisemarko]

Czech Republic selects F-35 as next fighter jet
Jaroslaw AdamowskiJul 20, 11:28 AM

WARSAW, Poland — The Czech government has decided to launch negotiations with the United States to buy 24 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets for the country’s Air Force.

The aircraft are to replace the 14 Saab JAS 39 Gripens currently operated by the Czech military, making the country the second Eastern European ally after Poland to order Lockheed Martin’s fighters.

“I was authorised to form an inter-ministerial negotiating team and commence negotiations with the United States government to procure 24 units of the F-35 Lightning II multirole fighters to equip two squadrons,” Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová said in a statement.

Prague will continue to lease the Gripen C/D jets until the end of 2027 when the contract expires.

“Our decision to select this option is based on the analysis by the Czech Armed Forces, which clearly articulates that only the most advanced 5th-generation fighters will be able to meet mission requirements in future battlefields,” Černochová said.

The value of the potential deal was not disclosed by the Czech ministry.

In January 2020, Polish National Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak signed a contract worth some $4.6 billion under which Poland’s Air Force will acquire 32 F-35A Lightning II jets along with a training and logistics package. Warsaw aims to replace its outdated Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-22 and Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters with the fifth-generation jets. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2024.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

 

[Wisemarko]

Czech Air Force graduating from Gripen to F-35
and Hellenic Air Force from Rafale to F-35.

 

[Wisemarko]

South Korea to buy 20 more F-35s
By Daehan Lee
Jul 20, 07:30 PM
Defense News , Jul 20, 07:30 PM
SEOUL — South Korea will buy 20 more F-35A fighter jets from the United States, as a part of its F-X project focused on acquiring foreign stealth fighter jets from 2023 to 2028.

The nation’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s promotion committee, led by Defense Minister Jong-sup Lee, on July 15 formally decided to buy 20 additional F-35As for 3.9 trillion Korean won (nearly $3 billion). South Korea plans to acquire them by 2028.

KF-21 is good but F-35 is still needed to fill the high-end gap.

 

[Kumaoni]

South Korea to buy 20 more F-35s
By Daehan Lee
Jul 20, 07:30 PM
Defense News , Jul 20, 07:30 PM
SEOUL — South Korea will buy 20 more F-35A fighter jets from the United States, as a part of its F-X project focused on acquiring foreign stealth fighter jets from 2023 to 2028.

The nation’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s promotion committee, led by Defense Minister Jong-sup Lee, on July 15 formally decided to buy 20 additional F-35As for 3.9 trillion Korean won (nearly $3 billion). South Korea plans to acquire them by 2028.

KF-21 is good but F-35 is still needed to fill the high-end gap.

Just wait till AMCA.

 

[DumbPilot]

Just wait till AMCA.

I really hope AMCA is not delayed . From the description it sounds like a one-stop-shop solution to all our problems. And I really like the fact that home-grown elements keep on increasing each iteration, one day we'll have our own, powerful engine too

 

[Trololo]

PAF will get the J35 in this decade. F35s will see service in Indian colors for sure.