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

[Brumby]

Lockheed prepping Advanced EOTS and Legion Pod for flight tests

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Lockheed Martin is assembling a prototype of its "advanced" electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) that is proposed to replace the baseline version on the F-35 fleet.

The company will complete design and construction of the next evolution of the air-to-air and air-to-ground targeting device this year for carriage on a surrogate Sabreliner test aircraft.

Separately, Lockheed will fly the Legion infrared search-and-track (IRST) pod on a Boeing F-15C in the coming months as the US Air Force looks to fill a long-standing "capability gap” related to passive infrared detection of airborne threats.

Using the same IRST21 infrared receiver that is currently in low-rate initial production for the US Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet, the Legion pod has already been carried on an F-16, and will go up against Northrop Grumman’s OpenPod IRST system in a future competition.

Regarding “Advanced EOTS”, Lockheed director of business development for missiles and fire control Don Bolling says the proposed multispectral sensor will allow Lightning II operators to detect air and ground targets with greater clarity and at longer ranges, via short-wave infrared, high-definition television, infrared marker and image detector resolution enhancements.

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed recently delivered the 200th EOTS sensor, which has been outpaced technologically by Lockheed’s Sniper and Northrop Grumman/Rafael’s Litening targeting pod systems because of delays in fielding, and consequently improving, the F-35. The baseline EOTS hasn't been used in combat yet and is already outdated.

Lockheed’s fire control business has low-rate production contracts for 367 F-35 targeting systems, and is producing them at a rate of six per month, company officials say. Current F-35 plans call for more than 3,000 EOTS sensors through 2030 and production should scale up to one EOTS per business day by 2020.

Bolling told reporters following an EOTS factory tour in Orlando, Florida on 24 February that the next iteration will be cut into the same production line, if chosen by F-35 customers. Advanced EOTS promises better performance “than any pod currently [fielded] or currently envisioned”, he claims.

“By the end of the year, we’ll have a prototype system completed and then hopefully, in the new year, we’ll have identified a path to fly it on a surrogate platform and be able to show that high-fidelity imagery,” Bolling says.

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed announced the new targeting sensor in 2015 and hopes the sensor upgrade will be included on a list of new capabilities being considered by the F-35 Joint Programme Office for the Block 4 project, which starts in 2019.

Advanced EOTS uses high operating temperature mid-wave infrared or “hot mid-wave” technology that has been matured under a US government-sponsored Vital Infrared Sensor Technology Acceleration (VISTA) programme. The technology boosts sensor performance and reliability by replacing expensive “cryocoolers” – according to Lockheed.

The government might compete any EOTS improvement, but Lockheed thinks any competitor "would have a significantly difficult time and would be risked-up".

Legion Pod

Lockheed Martin

On Legion Pod, Lockheed expects the air force to announce an acquisition strategy in the coming months, pending a report to Congress on its IRST requirements that was due on 1 March.

The air force still hasn’t decided if it wants extra space, weight, power and cooling for radios in the 40cm (16in) pod for communication between various fighter types or to seek a dedicated IRST sensor pod.

“When the acquisition comes out, it will probably be just an IRST system but with volume in there for other payloads, whether that’s radios or other sensors,” says Bolling.

IRST is seen as complementary detection option to radar for finding and targeting airborne threats, since radar emissions can be detected and countered by electronic jamming. “This is out-of-band,” Bolling says of IRST. “They don’t see they’re being detected and tracked."

 

[strehl]

F-35 airshow participation is being expanded but very slowly. No full blown aerobatic display yet but they have signed up for numerous heritage flights for 2016.

 

[strehl]

Pre-testing for IOC by the Air Force. I'm wondering when the Marine F-35B's will make their first overseas deployment.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Pre-testing for IOC by the Air Force. I'm wondering when the Marine F-35B's will make their first overseas deployment.

I believe they will deploy next year to Japan

 

[FORBIN]

Yes Bro planned actual Sqn on F-35B to Yuma moved to Iwakuni replacing F/A-18D Sqn.

 

[Brumby]

The plan is to forward deploy the F-35B to Japan on 1/1/2017 (source : Marine aviation plan 2016)

 

[Brumby]

F-35 chief expects P&W's bomber work to reduce F135 cost

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The head of the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme expects Pratt & Whitney to significantly reduce the cost of the F135 now that it has been named as the propulsion system supplier for the Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber.

Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan would not confirm if the F135 engine core is common with the B-21 powerplant but says there are enough “benefits” to warrant price reductions for the F-35 programme.

The F-35 joint programme office (JPO) has already reached a “handshake” agreement for 167 of the high-thrust military turbofan engines under low-rate production lots nine and 10, but price reductions might come with production of 100 B-21 bombers ramps up in the 2020s. The air force has not said if the stealthy B-21 is powered by two or four engines.

“I think some things we learnt on the F-35 engine with Pratt & Whitney will greatly benefit the long-range strike airplane, and at the same time, I think Pratt & Whitney ought to be looking to drive the cost of the F-35 engine down now that they have that extra business,” Bogdan said at a defence programmes forum in Washington DC on 10 March. “We expect them to.”

 

[Brumby]

Light F-35 Helmet Tests Begin, DOD Aims To Fix Escape System This Year

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WASHINGTON — The F-35 joint program office will begin testing the first prototype of the new, lightweight Generation III helmet later this month, with the hope of resolving by November issues with the jet’s escape system that have kept some pilots grounded.

The JPO and industry will begin testing Rockwell Collins’ latest version of the F-35 helmet, built to be about 6 ounces lighter than the original Gen III helmet, in late March, said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, director of the F-35 integration office. This will be the first time the JPO has tested the full-up Gen III “Light," although the program office has tested a modified helmet that is about the same weight as the light version, he said.

The new light helmet is one of three solutions the Pentagon and industry hope will allow the military services to lift restrictions on lightweight pilots flying the F-35. Last year, Defense News first reported that pilots under 136 pounds were barred from flying the fifth-generation aircraft after testers discovered an increased risk of neck damage to lightweight pilots ejecting from the plane. The Air Force has also acknowledged an “elevated level of risk” for pilots between 136 and 165 pounds.

All three fixes — the lightweight helmet and two modifications to the F-35 ejection seat — will be finalized and ready for incorporation into the production line by November, said JPO Chief Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan during a March 10 event in Washington. This reflects an acceleration of the schedule since January, when the JPO estimated the services would be able to implement the three parts of the complete solution in October 2017.

“That schedule showed me that the helmet wouldn’t be ready until late 2017. That was not good enough, so I sent the team back,” Bogdan said at the Credit Suisse/McAleese FY2017 Defense Programs Conference. “The good news is the team did a lot of hard work [and] we will have our first Gen III light helmets now aligned with the seat in November 2016 so we can remove the restriction for the pilots under 136 pounds.”

The Fix

The prototype helmet the JPO will test weighs about 4.63 pounds and will help ease some strain on smaller pilots' necks during ejection, Harrigian said during a March 9 interview. Testers have found that the heavier helmet adds risk of neck damage during the first phase of an ejection, after the windscreen canopy is breached. The seat and pilot are launched upward via a rail system at a jarring rate, causing back and neck injuries if the pilot is not in the correct position with his or her head directly centered on the spine. The heavy helmet pushes a pilot’s head down, increasing the risk of injury particularly for lighter pilots.

But the helmet is only part of the problem. Once the pilot and seat reach the top of the rails, a rocket under the seat is ignited to lift the pilot-and-seat package free of the plane. At this point, the seat can begin pitching back and forth, a motion much like that of a rocking chair. This pitching motion is worse with a lightweight pilot, putting him or her in a potentially dangerous position when the main recovery parachute deploys – the pilot could be completely upside down at this moment. The rapid deployment of the parachute snaps the pilot back into an upright position, potentially injuring the head and neck.

To fix the ejection seat itself, the team will install a switch on the seat for lightweight pilots that will delay deployment of the main parachute. The proposed switch will keep the smaller "drogue" chute attached longer to further reduce the speed of the seat before the main parachute deploys, hopefully easing the pilot's motion back into an upright position. In addition, the program office will mount a “head support panel,” or HSP, a fabric panel sewn between the parachute risers that will protect the pilot’s head from moving backwards during the parachute opening. This will prevent the potential hyperextension of the neck and protect the head.

Since November, the JPO, Lockheed Martin and seat-maker Martin Baker have conducted seven tests — three out of an airborne jet and four so-called “sled tests” on the ground — with the latest version of the seat, which included the switch and HSP, according to Harrigian. Although most tests have been done with mannequins in the lightest and heaviest weight classes – under 136 pounds and above 245 pounds – the latest test on March 3 was done with a 150-pound mannequin, which represents “the heart of the envelope,” Harrigian said.

The program office has about another 11 tests planned, which are expected to incorporate the lightweight helmet solution, Harrigian said. The tests will use a mix of low, middle and high-weight mannequins, he said.

All of the test results have been “fairly positive,” so far, although the team is still working through analysis of the latest March 3 test, Harrigian said.

“We’re waiting for a little more feedback, but everything thus far has been positive,” Harrigian said. “As you can imagine we’re going to continue to track this closely and stay very well connected with the JPO and industry to make sure we’re monitoring how this goes as we continue through the test.”

Weapons Tester Weighs In

A spokesman for the Pentagon’s top weapons tester, known for his criticism of development programs across the armed services, said the JPO’s test schedule for the escape system fixes is “aggressive,” but "achievable." However, the spokesman cautioned that the schedule for flight clearance and implementation of the three solutions assumes that no discoveries are made during testing that would require additional modifications.

“If discoveries are made during the testing, the timeline to achieve full qualification of the seat and helmet for ejection will take longer because additional regression testing and analyses would be likely be required,” Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a spokesman for the director of operational test and evaluation, said in a March 7 email.

The upcoming tests will reveal if any other changes are required to the ejection seat, Rankine-Galloway said. In addition, the tests should show whether the new lightweight helmet is strong enough to withstand the wind blast from high-speed ejections, as well as any impact from pieces of the canopy that have been shattered by the initial blast, he said.

“Until this testing is completed and DOT&E has analyzed the data, we cannot assess whether the fixes work and are ready to field,” he said.

Tests late last year with 103-pound mannequins at various speeds demonstrated the two seat fixes worked as planned, Rankine-Galloway said. In at least one recent test, the HSP successfully prevented a “neck exceedence” during deployment of the main parachute, and the lightweight switch delayed parachute opening, he noted.

However, there is still work to be done to completely eliminate the risk. During Oct. 15's low-speed "proof-of-concept" test at 160 knots, the HSP did not prevent strain on the lightweight pilot’s neck in the early stages of an ejection due to the rocket firing and initial wind blast, according to Rankine-Galloway. During the Nov. 19 test at 450 knots – or high speed – neck strain was still seen during the initial catapult and windblast phases, and during parachute opening.

These tests were done using a surrogate helmet that is not quite as light as the proposed lightweight Gen III helmet, Rankine-Galloway noted. Until the program has completed full testing of the new seat changes and the new helmet, DOT&E will not have adequate data to make a judgment, he cautioned.

DOT&E does not have the final say in when the Pentagon can lift the restriction on lightweight pilots.

Fixing the escape system is not part of the Air Force's criteria to declare its F-35A variants operational this summer, but "it remains a fundamental concern that the Chief and the Secretary have because this is all about the safety of our airmen and that is the bottom line," Harrigian said.

 

[Brumby]

Skunk Works Chief: How To Keep America’s Airborne Advantage

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Regular updates to the F-22 and F-35, says Lockheed’s Weiss, plus a deep commitment to chasing the game-changing tech of the future.

“We still today have a distinct advantage with our fifth-generation airplanes versus the capabilities that our adversaries are developing,” said Rob Weiss, executive vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs — better known as the

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.

The secretive organization that built the famed U-2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird, and F-117 attack jet is now sifting through technologies — whether existing, under development, or barely envisioned — that might be needed to replace today’s fifth-generation F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters. But Weiss says such replacements aren’t needed anytime soon — and perhaps not for another three decades.

“We’ve done this analysis for more than a decade now and it’s clear that the fifth-[generation F-22s and F-35s] are very capable versus a threat and substantially more capable than any fourth-generation airplane,” he told a small group of reporters Tuesday.

Still, today’s warplanes will require incremental modifications over coming years to keep their edge, Weiss said. China and Russia are “going to get better,” he said. “Therefore, we need to be on this modernization roadmap for the F-22 and the F-35 to be able to maintain that capability gap versus the threat systems.”

China has stirred up aviation watchers in recent years by producing two aircraft, the J-20 and the J-31, that

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the F-22 and F-35 respectively. Military experts say the resemblance is merely skin-deep.

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— the sensors and other high-tech electronics, and high-performance engines — are inferior to the U.S. originals.

Still, Weiss said his reaction to the speed at which China and Russia have built fifth-generation planes is “Probably expected, to a little bit surprising.”

“The biggest issue is they’re inside our cycle time of, basically, design-build-test-learn-cycle it back into the next system,” he said. “We used to do that in the United States.”

Weiss pointed to how quickly the military developed planes in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

“We need to get back into that cycle of not necessarily developing airplanes, but testing the technology,” he said.

But the Pentagon should not rush to build a new plane with immature technology, Weiss said.

“There’s, in our view, little point in developing a new airplane that doesn’t do anything more than what you can do as you modernize F-22s and F-35s,” he said.

But the Pentagon should invest in “truly game-changing technologies and capabilities that need to be matured so that a decade or more from now” that will one day be part of a so-called sixth-generation fighter jet.

Although this article is not specifically about the F-35, I thought it would be appropriate to post it here because of a main strength of the F-35 which is often highly unappreciated but emphasized in this article. There is a reason for the millions of line codes needed for the sensors and electronics in the F-35 because it will provide a fifth generation capability unlike anything ever seen in any aerial platform. It is also the reason why it is taking longer than planned to get the software up and running because it is hard to do. China and Russia might have some prototypes out there but it is in the substance and not the form that makes a fifth generation plane.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Skunk Works Chief: How To Keep America’s Airborne Advantage

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Although this article is not specifically about the F-35, I thought it would be appropriate to post it here because of a main strength of the F-35 which is often highly unappreciated but emphasized in this article. There is a reason for the millions of line codes needed for the sensors and electronics in the F-35 because it will provide a fifth generation capability unlike anything ever seen in any aerial platform. It is also the reason why it is taking longer than planned to get the software up and running because it is hard to do. China and Russia might have some prototypes out there but it is in the substance and not the form that makes a fifth generation plane.

Exactly Mr. Brumby, and if you would post this is the sixth gen and F-22 threads, it specifically makes mentions of both of these aircraft. But you are right, and this is why I am such a fan of the F-35 going forward, as well as an F-22 resurrection model pro-ponent!