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

[Air Force Brat]

Well, thunder...those are your opinions...and I have to say, not surprising opinions. but that's fine., you are entitled to them..

But the nations making these purchases are not foolish and they are not making blunders to somehow benefit the US "Industrial Military Complex."

They are smart people. I have known some of them over the years. They are also very much interested in the best interest of their nations,

And yet they are moving forward.

I bet they know some things that we do not know.

My own opinion is this. The F-35 family of aircraft are going to be the most prolific 5th generation strike aircraft on the planet. And they are going to be a game changer for conventional strike aircraft, for carrier launched strike aircraft, and for STOVL strike aircraft.

Time will tell...but they are moving towards that reality as we speak.

Get ready kids, F-35 and F-22 will appear at EAAs Air Venture July 20-26th, probably just a two ship flight in, static display, and a two ship outbound, the F-22 will "Fly during heritage flight and hopefully during the afternoon air-show???"

 

[FORBIN]

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

But surprising don' t have new F-35 delivered for him ! we see 2 on the videos possible 61nd loaned them for begin training mission and in more 61nd is not full, almost, in may have 21 + 2 RAAF.

Confirmed

The 62nd FS is scheduled to begin accepting jets in July and will be joined by two partner nations, including Norway and Italy.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Logic for this month 61th full, 24 F-35A then 62nd can receive

 

[Brumby]

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

PARIS AIR SHOW: Pratt & Whitney has refused to disclose the price of its F135 engines for the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

for quite a while, even while Lockheed Martin boasted it would bring down

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

to $80 million a copy — including engine.

Now we know why. At a Monday briefing here, the head of Pratt’s

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

program,

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, told reporters the company didn’t want to release the information because the Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program’s engines were being tested for dimensions that matched those of the F-35. A more fuel-efficient AETD engine could overcome one of

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

in an era of ever deeper

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, its

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

of a bit more than 600 nautical miles.

Then General Electric put out a release late yesterday about testing for its

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

(ADVENT) project, which achieved the highest combined compressor and turbine temperature operation “in the history of jet engine propulsion.”


That release included this sentence: “It is now being applied to the next step – an engine that could fit an F-35-like aircraft.”

You could almost hear the pin drop. Years after former Defense Secretary

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

pushed hard to kill the so-called second engine program — GE’s F136 — it looks as if GE may be poised to come back with what could be either a second engine for the F-35, a replacement for Pratt’s F135, or the next-generation power plant.

 

[Broccoli]

I really wish they can drop the price to 80 million per F-35 since it means that Finland could replace all 62 Hornets with equal amount of F-35's or perhaps even more depending how much all the extra stuff costs.

 

[FORBIN]

F135 want btw 10/20 millions dollars, one F-119 10 max.

 

[thunderchief]

I really wish they can drop the price to 80 million per F-35 since it means that Finland could replace all 62 Hornets with equal amount of F-35's or perhaps even more depending how much all the extra stuff costs.

If wishes had wings, F-35 would be best fighter in the world

Unfortunately, without cost of R/D , in FY2016 price for 13 F-35 for USN and Marine Corps is $ 2957.3 Million , therefore price of single unit is $ 227.48 Million

For USAF for 44 aircraft, price is $ 5,790.6 Million or $131.6 Million per unit .

Price doesn't include spares, and I don't know if it includes engines . But considering the inflation and other associated costs , I doubt that F-35 would ever go below $100 Million per unit , even using all accounting gimmicks available .

You could find this report at

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

somewhere around page 14

 

[Jura The idiot]

... on orders, pricing etc.:

... related:
Lockheed Seeks Savings to Land 3-Year F-35 Block Buy by U.S.

Lockheed Martin officials said at the Paris Air Show the company is working with suppliers and engineers to find savings to land a block buy of up to 500 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to convince U.S. and international lawmakers to approve the deal.

Lorraine Martin, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program manager, said the company is aiming for about a 10 percent savings in exchange for a three-year order of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The U.S. has been making orders on an annual basis.

Frank Kendall, the U.S. defense acquisition chief, said last month in Norway that the U.S. is interested in a three-year purchase of F-35s numbering about 460 aircraft starting in 2018. Canada and Denmark could join the block buy strategy and push the total order up to 500.

Marin explained that she understood the need to show savings in exchange for the three-year investment and she felt confident Lockheed Martin and its suppliers could deliver.

Kendall, who commended improvements of the F-35 program when he announced the potential block buy, will need the additional savings in order to sell it to Congress. Many lawmakers to include Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain remain critical of the $391 billion acquisition program following years of missed deadlines and cost over runs.

Kendall didn’t put a figure to the discount he will need to convince Congress, but he did mention “double digit” savings in Oslo, Norway.

Martin said Monday that Lockheed Martin hopes to give the Pentagon a cost estimate by the end of the summer.

Suppliers of the F-35 program would be able to pass off savings they receive when ordering larger quantities of materials to fill a great order. Without the longer and richer contracts, the suppliers would not be able to make the same orders, defense analysts have said.

source:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Jeff Head]

Unfortunately, without cost of R/D , in FY2016 price for 13 F-35 for USN and Marine Corps is $ 2957.3 Million , therefore price of single unit is $ 227.48 Million

For USAF for 44 aircraft, price is $ 5,790.6 Million or $131.6 Million per unit .

Price doesn't include spares, and I don't know if it includes engines . But considering the inflation and other associated costs , I doubt that F-35 would ever go below $100 Million per unit , even using all accounting gimmicks available .

You could find this report at

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

somewhere around page 14

Sorry Thunder, you are simply wrong, and the article itself states it.

When speaking of the 2016 F-35 Program, which these costs will pay for, it specifically states that it includes:

Continues development of the air system, F135 single engine propulsion system, and conducts systems engineering, development and operational testing, and supports Follow-on Development. Procures a total of 57 aircraft: 44 CTOL for the Air Force, 9 STOVL for the Marine Corps, and 4 CV for the Navy in FY 2016.

So the costs you attempted to average for the individual aircraft include:

- Continued Development of the aircraft.
- The F135 engine costs.
- System Engineering costs.
- Development Testing costs.
- Operational Testing costs.
- Follow on development costs.
- 44 F-35A for the USAF
- 9 F-35B for the USMC
- 4 F-35C for the USN

Clearly your average includes all of those costs. That is not the number just for the aircraft.

 

[Air Force Brat]

... related:
Lockheed Seeks Savings to Land 3-Year F-35 Block Buy by U.S.

source:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

and there is no doubt with our F-15s,16s, and 18s getting a few hours on them, that we should do a block buy, the F-35 is coming along nicely and if we are in fact able to bring the expense down to 80 million??? by the way I do agree with Thunder on this, but every little bit helps, if we get them down to 100 million, I will be much happier? and I have no doubt that we will sweeten the deal for our European, UK, and Aussie partners, we need these allies to have a strong A2A capability, as well as awesome inter-operability given the threat at hand.

what I agree with Chief on is that development and LRIP aircraft are way to expensive, but as Master Head has made more clear those expenses do come down with "volume", especially on this project, as cost is a driving factor in sales, they must come down, if we are to get our partners all "jetted out", their increased capability will be a force multiplier par excellence.

 

[Jeff Head]

while I agree with Chief on is that development and LRIP aircraft are way to expensive, but as Master Head has made more clear those expenses do come down with "volume", especially on this project, as cost is a driving factor in sales, they must come down, if we are to get our partners all "jetted out", their increased capability will be a force multiplier par excellence.

The F-35 is bringing to the table a lot of new capabilities. That is ALWAYS expensive.

Will they get the fly away costs of individual aircraft down to a total of $80 million...not terribly likely. But they are working on it, and that price continues to drop steadily.

My major contention was that Thunder's post stated some average costs for the 2016 F-35 program that were not at all an average "per aircraft" cost as he contended. They included all of those other items which I listed, which he had indicated that they did not include.

You have to include them all when averaging the costs and speaking of the program. The fact is, engine costs, development costs, system engineering costs, development testing costs, and operational testing costs are all included with the actual cost of the aircraft in those 2016 numbers.