F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

[asianobserve]

F-35B preparing fro airshow demo:

 

[asianobserve]

Picture of actual F-35B cockpit

 

[asianobserve]

F-35B flypast HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth Naval Dockyard in Scotland

 

[asianobserve]

Lockheed explains how the British F-35B ski jump take off works

“The performance of the jet has been great. As the pilot, I have to do very little to accomplish a perfect ski jump takeoff,” commented Edgell. “I push the STOVL [short take off vertical landing] button to convert to Mode 4, push throttle to mil and use the pedals for minor directional inputs to remain on centerline.”

The F-35B automatically positions the control surfaces and nozzles for takeoff, a unique capability compared with previous STOVL aircraft. Such automation frees up pilot capacity and provides an added safety enhancement.

The aircraft treats the take off just like a regular short take off until it recognizes the six-degree per-second pitch rate and six-degree pitch angle about half way up the ramp. The horizontal tails and nozzle then automatically maneuver downward, and the vane box does not budge. The vane box sits directly under the lift fan and directs the airflow to allow for the proper lift off the surface.

“As the jet travels up the ski jump it automatically makes the necessary adjustments to the nozzle and control surface deflections. With the F-35 automatically adjusting for the optimum takeoff, the pilot is free to adopt more of a supervisory role, monitoring for any off-nominal behavior and ready to immediately take full control, if necessary,” said Edgell. “Virtue of the superb F-35 STOVL handling qualities, the low pilot workload during launch and recovery from an aircraft carrier enables the pilot to focus more on the operational task at hand and less on the administrative aspects of the flight.”

https://navaltoday.com/2016/07/05/lockheed-explains-how-the-british-f-35b-ski-jump-take-off-works/

 

[asianobserve]

F-35B Lightning II: Flight, Hover and Vertical Landing in 4K

 

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F-35A Practicing for RIAT

F-35B Practicing for Farnborough

 

[asianobserve]

RAF hints that UK could still opt for mixed F-35 fleet

Speaking at the Royal International Air Tattoo on 8 July, where a British F-35B flew, along with US Marine Corps aircraft and US Air Force F-35As, Air Cdre Linc Taylor, assistant chief of staff for capability delivery, combat air said the UK’s commitment to a full acquisition of 138 aircraft may leave room for discussions on also operating the conventional take-off and landing variant.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...uk-could-still-opt-for-mixed-f-35-fle-427136/

 

[asianobserve]

Closer look at actual F-35 cockpit from RIAT 2016:

 

[WolfPack86]

F-35 Unit To Go Below $ 100, Million Makers Says

Negotiations to finalize the contract for the next 160 F-35 Lightning II airframes are still not concluded, although a deal concluding the supply of their F135 engines was announced by the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) today. However, Lockheed Martin (LM) F-35 program general manager Jeff Babione told reporters attending a briefing at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in the UK that the unit recurring flyaway cost (URFC) of the F-35A version is now heading below $100 million.
This will be the price paid by U.S. and international customers for jets delivered within Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 10, he said. That lot is being negotiated together with LRIP Lot 9, a process that is taking much longer than predicted. Explaining the delay, Babione said that estimating the cost of building aircraft in two years’ time is complicated, and that there had also been “some changes along the way.” Lockheed Martin has been funding long-lead items for the aircraft itself; “We’re building them anyway,” he said.
The affordability of the F-35 has exercised budget planners in the Pentagon and caused some international customers (such as Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands) to significantly reduce their total planned buy. Babione said that LM’s target URFC for an F-35A produced in 2019 was $85 million, $5 million more than the previous predictions for full-rate production. There are no specific targets for the F-35B STOVL and F-35C carrier versions, he added. They are considerably more expensive.
According to Babione, the possibility of block buys to assure lower unit costs still exists. Advice from the Pentagon’s own weapons tester against concluding such a contract seems to have postponed any prospect of the U.S. services committing to this before Lot 13. However, the JPO was discussing a “hybrid block buy” from Lot 12 with some of the international partners, the LM manager said. Almost half of the F-35s planned to be built over the next five years are international, he noted.
Pratt & Whitney received a second and final contract covering the production of 99 F135 engines for LRIP 10 worth $1.95 billion. Last April, the engine maker received a contract worth about $1.4 billion for the 66 engines in LRIP Lot 9. “The propulsion system team has kept its word in delivering on its price reduction commitments,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer. Pratt & Whitney said it has reduced the cost of the common F135s for F-35A/C models by half since 2009. Over the same time, the cost of the F-35B propulsion system (including the shaft-driven lift fan) had come down by 35 percent, it said.
http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2016/07/f-35-unit-cost-to-go-below-100-million.html

 

[Yumdoot]

"99 F135 engines for LRIP 10 worth $1.95 billion. Last April, the engine maker received a contract worth about $1.4 billion for the 66 engines in LRIP Lot 9"

So a 20 million USD engine, ultimately. And this is actually the reduced cost, reduced by some 35% !!??

And the aircraft is going to use 3.5 of those in a typical lifetime.

Ok probably 3 in your case.

Hindi proverb "asal se zyada soot pyara hota hai"

 

[asianobserve]

Lockheed Martin CEO: Price of F-35 jets down 57 percent

"Now with that many aircraft delivered, we are down 57 percent from the first aircraft that was delivered, and we're on a path to be down to a price of an $85 million jet by 2019, which is comparable to a fourth generation aircraft," Hewson told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange" on the sidelines of the Farnborough International Airshow in England.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/11/lockheed-martin-ceo-price-of-f-35-jets-down-57-percent.html

And that price actually already includes the engine.

 

[asianobserve]

FARNBOROUGH: USAF reopens door for GE to compete for future F-35 engine

Both deals also include priced options that, if exercised, could have GE and P&W run competing adaptive cycle engines in an F-35 after 2021, says Jean Lydon-Rogers, president of GE military engines. P&W also confirms receiving the same priced option in the contract awarded under adaptive engine transition programme (AETP).

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...af-reopens-door-for-ge-to-compete-for-427210/

 

[Yumdoot]

The following is also publicly available info.

https://www.f35.com/about/fast-facts/cost

The F-35 Lightning II was designed to be an affordable 5th Generation fighter, taking advantage of economies of scale and commonalities between the three variants. Since we built the first F-35, production costs have dropped 55 percent.

The most recently contracted unit costs for Low Rate Initial Production lot 7 (not including the engine) are:

• F-35A: $98 million
• F-35B: $104 million
• F-35C: $116 million

An F-35A purchased in 2018 and delivered in 2020 will be $85 million, which is the equivalent of $75 million in today’s dollars.

Thats 98mil + 20 mil for F-35A for most recent contract. Now you want to say that they will give out 118 mil aircraft (with 3 engines its 158 mil) for 85 mil in 2019/2020, then I cannot really comment.

After all I am not privy to the insider info. from JSF program office. Who knows that they do in there. Kaun jaane saale sahi mein bech dein itna sasta .

 

[asianobserve]

You're right. That only goes to show that only rich countries can buy F-35. If you cannot afford an F-35 then you settle for Boeing, French, Swedish or Russian offerings, that also means you're poor.

 

[asianobserve]

Report: F-35 Would Have Saved Italy €100M in Libya

If the F-35 had already been delivered to the Amendola air base in Italy, where it is due to be based, no re-basing would have been required for the aircraft, the report argued. The F-35B STOVL design, due to be ordered by Italy alongside the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A, would have been able to fly from land, doing away with the need to involve the Garibaldi, the report added.

Using the F-35 would also have reduced the need for so many types of jet and cut down on the need for airborne early-warning missions, ISTAR missions and tanking missions, the report said.

The end result would have been a saving of two-thirds on the €150 million cost of the mission, the report stated.

http://www.defensenews.com/story/de...-italy-100m-euros-libya-farnborough/86979062/

 

[Yumdoot]

Italy would have saved every single one of the 150 million Euros had they simply remained outside of it all . F-35 was not necessary for that.

It was already an illegal and immoral raid on Libya.

Now thanks to Italy's own actions they have exposed themselves to ill feelings from the crazed Bedouins and who knows how they will see their own history a few decades down the line.

 

[asianobserve]

Lockheed’s F-35 Could Be Deployed for Combat This Year If Needed

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s next-generation F-35 jet could be deployed on combat missions this year if requested by regional commanders, according to the U.S. general responsible for declaring the system war-ready.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ld-be-deployed-for-combat-this-year-if-needed

 

[asianobserve]

US Marines' F-35Bs Join Red Flag for the First Time

“There is no exercise like this anywhere else in the world, in the history of air power,” Bird said during a media briefing at the Nellis base.

“We’re talking about cyberwarriors. We’re talking about space assets, intelligence personnel,” he said. “We have Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, special operations forces that all get together in extremely challenging scenarios and get a chance to get in the room together and work it out.

“The only other place that’s going to happen is in a real conflict. So I cannot emphasize enough: This is preparation for what we may be called on to do in the future for this country.”

This Red Flag — the third of four this year — includes 3,500 military personnel and nearly 100 aircraft, including F-22 Raptors, B-52 bombers, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets, KC-135 tankers and the Green Knights’ F-35Bs from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/m...in-red-flag-combat-exercise-nellis-first-time

 

[asianobserve]

F-35 Very ‘Raptorish,’ Adversary Pilot Says

An experienced fighter pilot who has flown in mock combat against the Marine Corps’ F-35B Lightning II strike fighter has described the F-35’s performance as similar to that of the Air Force’s F-22A Raptor air superiority fighter.

“I was just flying at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort [S.C.] about three weeks ago against the F-35s,” said Jeff Parker, a former Air Force fighter pilot and now chief executive officer of Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. (ATAC) — a unit of Textron Airborne Solutions — that provides commercially operated adversaries, jet fighters that pose as enemy aircraft to train Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force fighter pilots. “The F-35Bs “are very ‘Raptorish’ in their training and the aircraft is a very capable airplane in the air-to-air arena.”

http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20160719-f35.html

 

[asianobserve]

USAF completes F-35A modifications required for IOC

The US Air Force now has the minimum number of 12 Lockheed Martin F-35A fighters with completed modifications required before the first squadron can be declared initially capable for operations, service officials announced on 13 July.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...-f-35a-modifications-required-for-ioc-427568/