F-35 Joint Strike Fighter News, Videos and pics Thread

[Air Force Brat]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Jeff you think is not bored than the F-35, especialy C variant get only one reactor for operations over the sea, less safe maybe all the latest fighter/bomber also AEW, EW, Trp... use by USN get two engines ?

The mainly fault of the F-35 is her maniability only about 5G, several reports and USAF have confirm officially, no doubt for it, all others fighters can evolve up to 9G. This is one clear handicap for two things particularly for evasive maneuvers against missiles and close air to air combat. Fortunately this bad maniability is offset by the AN/AAQ-37 which warns faster the pilot to explain simply.

Well Forbin, I did initially share some of your concerns, those have been alleviated by a better understanding of physics, all airplanes have a higher "instantaneous turn rate" than a sustained turn rate, and you are picking up on the fact that the 9 g instantaneous turn rate of the A model, eventually bleeds down to the 5 g range, in tru.5th lots of fighter aircraft are lower than that, but the A is rated at 9, the C is rated at 7.5, and the B is rated at 7gs, they all end up in the same neighborhood. The Raptor will kill ya, literally, it starts some where around 9gs, and it will hang there a long time, far longer than you or I would care to, the Raptor is able to maintain 6gs at 50,000 feet, that my friend is way better than anything going, take a Rafeal or Eurofighter up there to tangle with the Raptor, and you are on a one way trip, same for your competition.

In contrast the F-18 also starts with a max g in the 7+ range, and bleeds down as well, and as Col Kloos noted the F-16, which is much lighter, will maintain a slightly higher rate at "medium altitudes. Off to school, but I hope this helps, the F-35 will do the do, really!

 

[FORBIN]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

I udapte my F-35 data with the latest decisions for US budget, orders for FY 2014 : 17A, 3C and 6C.

This orders will be lower than expected 2 A and 1 C but it is not as bad as expected he was raised only 14 A.

Normaly planned for FY 2015 42 F-35 : 30A and 12 B/C but i have read some rumors for only 36.

I have the impression the number of orders that were planned in 2012 will be lower by about 10/20%.

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[thunderchief]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Report: F-35 Cracks in Tests, Isn’t Reliable

The U.S. Defense Department’s newest and most advanced fighter jet has cracked during testing and isn’t yet reliable for combat operations, the Pentagon’s top weapons tester said in new report.

The entire F-35 fleet was grounded last February after a crack was discovered in a turbine blade of an F-35A. While the order was subsequently lifted, more cracks have been discovered in other areas and variants of the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made plane, according to the latest annual report by J. Michael Gilmore, director of Operational Test and Evaluation.

Durability testing of the F-35A, the Air Force’s version of the plane designed to take off and land on conventional runways, and the F-35B, the Marine Corps’ model that can take off like a plane and land like a helicopter, revealed “significant findings” of cracking in engine mounts, fuselage stiffeners, and bulkhead and wing flanges, according to the document. A bulkhead actually severed at one point, it states.

“All of these discoveries will require mitigation plans and may include redesigning parts and additional weight,” Gilmore wrote in the report.

The F-35C, the Navy’s version of the plane designed to take off and land on aircraft carriers, has also had cracks in the floor of the avionics bay and power distribution center and, like the F-35B, in the so-called jack point stiffener, according to the document.............................................

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Below is report itself . You could find details about cracks and other stuff on page 43 of document :

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[Franklin]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

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Below is report itself . You could find details about cracks and other stuff on page 43 of document :

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Is it possible that Lockheed Martin is intentionally lengthening the R&D phase to get more money out of the US government ?

 

[thunderchief]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Is it possible that Lockheed Martin is intentionally lengthening the R&D phase to get more money out of the US government ?

Everything is possible, but I don't think they would benefit financially from doing that . In current situation, with constant delays and escalating costs , more and more countries are cutting their planed numbers of F-35s . Therefore , temporarily benefit they would get from prolonging R&D phase would be erased by significant loss of revenue in the future .

 

[Equation]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

If that's the case, than the Air Force might have no choice but to go back to building the F-22 with EOTS this time. I think I can hear AF Brat is putting the Champagne on ice waiting to hear the official words.

 

[Jeff Head]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

If that's the case, than the Air Force might have no choice but to go back to building the F-22 with EOTS this time. I think I can hear AF Brat is putting the Champagne on ice waiting to hear the official words.

Nah...it's just relatively normal findings of testing. They will fix the problems and continue on. There may well be some delays. and they will have to back fix aircraft.

If they were truly serious structural flaws, they would be grounding aircraft...but they are not. These are relatively minor component issues and are not uncommon when you are bringing together so many parts, particularly on new technology aircraft.

Unless something much worse is brought forward, I do not expect any significant, or major hold ups from this.

But in a program that is under such a microscope and being made so political, it is bound to be blown out of proportion.

As I say, if they start grounding the fleet over these sorts of structural issues, then there are serious problem going on. But to date, there has been no discussion of that of which I am aware.

Too much is riding on the F-35 all around. They will perhaps even double down on it to keep it on schedule. We shall see.

 

[Air Force Brat]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Is it possible that Lockheed Martin is intentionally lengthening the R&D phase to get more money out of the US government ?

absolutely NOT, Lockmart is very good at what they do, the impossible costs more and takes a little longer, really, they have pushed the envelope wide open so many times, that they may be a little cocky, but they are well above average, check out the Raptor. In truth Lockmart has changed management so often, just so those things are not allowed to take seed, the kind of corruption and graft found in many country's is simply against the law here, and the law is allowed to pursue law breakers,,,, all the way to the top?????

and law enforcement just loves to "bite" someone at the top, now lots of people are crooked in America, but the ones who get by with it on a daily basis are the ones who hide behind their "supposed victim status", but they have a righteous judge, and there will be "hell to pay"! brat

 

[Air Force Brat]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

If that's the case, than the Air Force might have no choice but to go back to building the F-22 with EOTS this time. I think I can hear AF Brat is putting the Champagne on ice waiting to hear the official words.

Well Equation, nothing would make the AFB happier than to see my little "alien bird" back in production, but almost all hope of that died when BHO defeated Mr. Romney, now the whole country seems destined to join the Raptor in "out of production" status, let us hope not, but in the mean time our little pork laden Thunderhogge II, is well on the way to becoming a grown up USA success story, she has all the equipement she needs to be the Raptor's equally vicious little sister, please step away from the ThunderHogge, those fangs are REAL! Heh, Heh, Heh! brat

but thanks for thinking about me, I am looking forward to the Raptor A+. the new sixth gen opening up the distance once again on our competitors, Roger that! I am also rather certain that the head master agrees about the Raptor, the ThunderHogge II, and the coming sixth gen.....

 

[Pointblank]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Nah...it's just relatively normal findings of testing. They will fix the problems and continue on. There may well be some delays. and they will have to back fix aircraft.

If they were truly serious structural flaws, they would be grounding aircraft...but they are not. These are relatively minor component issues and are not uncommon when you are bringing together so many parts, particularly on new technology aircraft.

Unless something much worse is brought forward, I do not expect any significant, or major hold ups from this.

But in a program that is under such a microscope and being made so political, it is bound to be blown out of proportion.

As I say, if they start grounding the fleet over these sorts of structural issues, then there are serious problem going on. But to date, there has been no discussion of that of which I am aware.

Too much is riding on the F-35 all around. They will perhaps even double down on it to keep it on schedule. We shall see.

What's making the issue seem more overblown than usual is that all variants of the F-35 are being built to Navy fatigue standards. The USAF will accept some minor cracking in the airframe over time from use. The USN doesn't accept any cracking in the airframe period, and will ground an airframe that the USAF would very likely keep flying otherwise.

Otherwise, you will expect to see cracking in airframes that have flown a lot. In this instance, they found minor cracking around the engine mounts in an airframe that had flown the equivalent of 7,000hrs +. That's at the upper edge of the expected airframe life of a F-35.

With the F-35A's weight is coming down (latest weight was actually 29,030 lbs which is 270lbs lighter than the figure usually used for the Empty A model), they could very easily reinforce the areas affected without any major penalties.