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

[Air Force Brat]

Now, Now, lets not hack on poor old Senator McCain?? LOL my Dad had little use for Senator McCain, as his responses or lack there-of to my Dad's letters were either in-ept or non-existant.

As to your inquiry about my lack of comments, My poor old Blackbird blew a motor, and I have a Pontiac 350, and a Pontiac 400 in several hundred pieces, in and out of my garage, and I'm broke, so having to try to chase parts I cannot afford, and drag stuff to the machine shop, and it is dog-gone depressing. I'm hoping to end up with running Pontiac 400 back in my poor old forlorn, filthy, bedraggled Firebird, its just pitiful to see the engine compartment, with filth and oil, wires hanging every, rust here and there, and generally looking lie a pile of KRAP, so pray for me and it, and my poor wifey and girls???

End off topic:

So, back to Major Morten Hanche, he is the 62nd Fighter Squadron's Assistant Weapons Officer, and also a graduate of the Navy Test Pilot School, with over 2000 hrs in the F-16, he is a Major in the Norwegian Air Force. (on of the most beautiful women I ever met was the daughter on one of my Dad's Norwegian students in the C-130, she was gorgeous, blond, and didn't speak a word of English, and I was in LOVE for a number of years), so back to our boy "Dolby Hanche".

He is the real deal, NO THIS WAS NOT A PR STUNT, he was just doing his job, and he was paired up one on one, one on two, two on four, and 3 on four, F-35s VS A-4 agressors, with radar comparable to Dolby's Norwegian F-16s, flown by very highly experienced operators with each having over 2000 hours, in other words, "the best of the best" and those guys had experience flying everything, including the F-22 Raptor, and were familiar with 5th gen tactics, and new what to expect from the "defensive" F-35, and they had the advantage of vectoring from GCI ground in to the F-35s, which "could see" the F-35's, so the Aggressors had a significant advantage over the F-35s in that regard.

In this scenario, Dolby was "self limited" to the the Radar on the F-35, non of the other systems for advanced situational awareness was available or providing data, only the Radar, get it, RADAR ONLY!

So in each scenario, Dolby and his wingman, sometimes a third ThunderHogge II, were able to "kill" each and all of the aggressors, and at NO time, did one of the highly experienced "Aggressors ever achieve a "weapons lock", they didn't even put eyeballs on Dolby, his wingman, or his #3 aircraft. Very, very impressive, very impressive indeed.

Now that A-4 replicated the very outstanding avionics set-up on the Norwegian F-16s??? had the bad guys also been in F-35s or F-22s, there might not have been any kills, or the Aggressors would have had an advantage with the GCI vectors in to the target??

Oh, and one more pet peeve of the AFB, the prohibition on F-15 VS SU-27 for example leaves everyone "ignorant" of the true capabilities of both aircraft, these discussions are only relevant when we compare these aircraft against their potential adversaries, hence the "Aggressor Squadrons". So if all the Air Forces, Navies etc of the world are doing VS/VS comparos, and they are, we should be able to have a rational discussion along those lines as well??

( I know we can't, as some folks simply are not rational) LOL

 

[Jura The idiot]

Now, Now, lets not hack on poor old Senator McCain?? LOL ...

thanks, let's flip the page, and wait for what your

Major Morten Hanche

announces next OK?

 

[Jura The idiot]

here's the most optimistic article I saw in like months (I of course wonder if it's not too good to be true also the discussion below it is worth reading:

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For much of the last few years when one thought of electronic warfare, one tended to think of Raytheon. After all, they’re building

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right?

BAE Systems would like to change that and is beginning to take a guarded but more public stance. For years, Air Force officials have declined to discuss the

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capabilities of the

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for example, which BAE Systems builds.

Then the head of Air Combat Command,

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at the

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at RAF Fairford last week. He said the F-35’s EW capabilities are “an order of magnitude better than anything we’ve had in the past.” That, I can tell you, put a smile on the face of at least two BAE employees.

Until now, we’ve had little independent insight from the military on the actual performance of the F-35’s EW and cyber capabilities. I know from speaking with a range of Air Force and industry officials over the last two years that a key part of the F-35’s effectiveness derives from the fact it was designed from the get-go to launch both cyber and EW attacks on enemy air defenses, especially the most advanced Russian missile systems such as the S-400. Anything that emits, such as radios, radar and other sources, can be attacked

Here are two marketing statements about the systems by, respectively, Lockheed Martin and BAE:

“

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enable the F-35 to locate and track enemy forces, jam radio frequencies and disrupt attacks with unparalleled precision. All three variants of the F-35 carry active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars with sophisticated electronic attack capabilities, including false targets,

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, advanced jamming and algorithm-packed data streams. This system allows the F-35 to reach well-defended targets and suppress enemy radars that threaten the F-35. In addition, the

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system provides fully integrated radar warning, targeting support, and self-protection, to detect and defeat surface and airborne threats.

“While F-35 is capable of stand-off jamming for other aircraft — providing 10 times the effective radiated power of any legacy fighter — F-35s can also operate in closer proximity to the threat (‘stand-in’) to provide jamming power many multiples that of any legacy fighter.”

From BAE: “

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provides all-aspect, broadband protection, allowing the F-35 to reach well-defended targets and suppress enemy radars. The system stands alone in its ability to operate in signal-dense environments, providing the aircraft with radio-frequency and infrared countermeasures, and rapid response capabilities.”

But as you can see from the graphic above, first-ranked EW is not something new for BAE Systems. The

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and

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both rely on BAE capabilities. What you will hear very little about is

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in the F-35 thanks to the Northrop Grumman-built AESA radar and the plane’s

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, much of which is written by BAE Systems employees. In addition to the

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, BAE writes software for the fuel management system and other unspecified operating systems.

We look forward to hearing more details from BAE.

source:

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[FORBIN]

Soon the good stuff back

 

[Brumby]

here's the most optimistic article I saw in like months (I of course wonder if it's not too good to be true also the discussion below it is worth reading:

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source:

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Regarding the jamming capability of the F-35, it was reported back in Jan 2011 in Aviation Week that the F-35 was able to jam the radar of the F-22 :

In a series of tests at Edwards AFB, Calif., in 2009,

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’s CATbird avionics testbed—a

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that carries the

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Joint Strike Fighter’s entire avionics system—engaged a mixed force of

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and

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and was able to locate and jam F-22 radars, according to researchers.

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[Jura The idiot]

Regarding the jamming capability of the F-35, it was reported back in Jan 2011 in Aviation Week that the F-35 was able to jam the radar of the F-22 :

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I can only repeat

I of course wonder if it's not too good to be true

but that's definitely not news LOL

the amount of hype created by the F-35 Program commensurate with the size of the F-35 Program: the biggest ever

 

[FORBIN]

For qty yet he go for to be close of F-16, 4540 built USA : ~2500 F-35 + surely minimum 1000 export...
but F-4 have do better 5200 the record for a combattant since WWII is for Mig-21 11500 !!! more small rustic but definitely impossible to beat.

 

[Brumby]

I can only repeat

but that's definitely not news LOL

It wasn't meant to be news. Just affirmation of the F-35 EW capability which was reported even back in 201. To-date, I haven't seen much news concerning the F-35's EW capability.

 

[Jura The idiot]

ROFL I decided to watch
F 35: Final Stages Before Takeoff

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and I of course expected sales-talk; Mr. Babione starts, but this follows:

 

[Brumby]

USAF completes F-35A modifications required for IOC

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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.

Since 2013, the USAF has planned to declare initial operational capability (IOC) with 12-24 F-35As assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, from 1 August to 31 December this year.

But that timeframe appeared to be threatened with the discovery of a faulty fuel tank last September. In certain flight conditions, USAF testers found that air can enter the siphon fuel tank, potentially causing the tank to over-pressurise and rupture in-flight.

The USAF restricted the delivered F-35A fleet to 3g maneouvres when carrying a fuel load of fuel. Only when more than half of the fuel tank was empty could the F-35A perform manoeuvres up to 7g’s, the maximum allowable for USAF variant with Block 2B software. The Block 3F version scheduled for release next year will allow the F-35A to operate the full flight envelope with manoeuvres up to 9gs.

Workers at the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB are installing a modification in the F-35A fleet to prevent air from entering a fuel transfer line. By adding a relief line controlled by a solenoid valve, the siphon tanks can vent the air that could cause an over-pressurisation, according to a 2015 report by the Defense Department’s office of test and evaluation.

The path to declaring IOC for the F-35A is now driven by a requirement to complete training for pilots and maintainers, the USAF says. The aircraft must be able to carry either a mix of two GBU-31 and two GBU-12 bombs or two AIM-120 AMRAAMs, and perform basic close air support, air interdiction and suppression or destruction of air defences.

The US Marine Corps declared IOC with the F-35B variant last July, standing up the VMFA-121 squadron at Yuma MCAS, Arizona. The navy, meanwhile, plans to achieve IOC between August 2018 and February 2019.