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

[Jura The idiot]

"bring it on Dude!" LOL, I hope they do roll some F-35s into Europe/Syria just for fun, maybe the should visit Poland??

and in the meantime Air Force official cautions against increasing F-35 buy rate

A sharp hike in the number of F-35As purchased in the near term could increase the overall price of the program, a US Air Force official warned Congress on Thursday.

Buying more F-35As over the next few years — while the program is still undergoing its development phase — could lead to higher than predicted retrofit costs in the early 2020s, when the Block 4 follow-on modernization program starts, said Maj. Gen. Jerry Harris, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for strategic plans, programs and requirements.

“If we were to procure at higher than planned rates” over the next five years, “the Air Force would have to retrofit aircraft already delivered to the fleet with Block 4 hardware and software modifications,” he said in written testimony delivered Thursday to the House Armed Services Committee.

“Once Block 4 delivers” beginning in 2021, “we should examine the option of accelerating the F-35A program above the current procurement rate to meet the 5th generation requirements necessary to balance the Air Force ability to fulfill national security objectives.”

The Air Force’s current budget plans call for buying an average of 48 F-35As per year from fiscal years 2018 to 2022, Harris notes. The fiscal 2017 request, which projects estimated procurement until 2021, shows the service buying 60 jets in 2021.

That plan could drastically alter under the Trump administration, which has called for an expansion of the service’s fighter force but also at times sharply criticized the joint strike fighter itself.

Top Air Force brass — including Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein and former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James — have been circumspect with regards to a higher F-35 buy rate, stating that the need for additional combat air power will have to be weighed against the service’s other requirements. However, other influential leaders, including outgoing Air Combat Command head Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, have said the service should ramp up to 60 planes a year as quickly as possible.

Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the Pentagon’s F-35 program executive officer, did not comment specifically on whether a faster procurement could increase program costs.

Rather, Bogdan said Harris’ reluctance to increase the buy rate likely revolves around a planned upgrade of the aircraft’s main computer processors during Block 4 modernization, which the program refers to as Tech Refresh 3, or TR3. That new equipment will enable greater software and weapons integration capability, but increasing F-35A procurement now could complicate the transition from TR2 to TR3.

“By the time we get TR3 in the field, we'll have hundreds of airplanes that are in the TR2 configuration,” Bogdan said. “That means that those airplanes, until they get to TR 3, might not be able to add some of those future capabilities that are needed.”

The Joint Program Office and services are working together on a retrofit plan that will spell out which Air Force and Marine Corps planes should be upgraded to TR3 first to enable operations and training, Bogdan said.

One idea involves putting together a TR3 hardware kit that would allow maintainers to swap computing gear in the field rather than having to send those assets to the depot, something Marine Corps aviation chief Lt. Gen. Jon Davis said he would like to avoid.

"How do we best do that?” he said. “What can we do at the local level to make those modifications so I don't have to mail it off someplace?”

The full suite of Block 4 modifications are still yet to be determined, but will include additional weapons and upgraded electronic warfare systems, radars and communications. The program office envisions starting upgrades in 2021 and adding new capabilities every two years.

In his testimony, Harris voiced concern that Congress had already started cutting funding for Block 4. Lawmakers had carved out about 60 percent of requested funds in fiscal 2016 and are on track to extract a similar amount in 2017, he wrote.

"I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we fully fund Block 4," he stated. "We are at a crucial stage where we must begin the developmental work to ensure we have these capabilities available to meet a 2025 need."

source is DefenseNews

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[Jura The idiot]

Dan Gillian Program manager EA/FA-18 Boeing.

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inside there's info kinda inconvenient here hahaha (but let's say unrelated to what you originally said Today at 11:21 AM) which is:

"This advanced computing architecture ensures the Super Hornet, Growler and E-2D can talk to each other and pass critical threat data over the same network in combat. However, the F-35 is not on TTNT; rather it uses the smaller-bandwidth Link 16 network to pass and receive data from fourth-generation aircraft.

The result is that while the F-35C can communicate with the rest of the carrier air wing, passing large amounts of data may be more difficult.

While improving fifth-to-fourth generation connectivity is an ongoing discussion, “I think the question is: how does F-35 plug in with everybody else?” Gillian says. “If everybody else is on TTNT, there seems like an obvious answer there.”

The Navy could probably add TTNT to the F-35’s Link 16 functionality, but the fighter cannot broadcast on any Link 16 waveform without compromising its stealth, because Link 16 is not a low-probability-of-intercept waveform. The F-35 can pass large amounts of data to other F-35s via the stealthy Multifunction Advanced Data Link, which most other aircraft cannot currently access."

reminded me of question from Yesterday at 7:49 AM

...

I wonder what's the speed of MADL (can't find it quickly using google)? only recently Dec 23, 2016 I realized Link 16 does only around two hundred kilobit per second

 

[Air Force Brat]

and in the meantime Air Force official cautions against increasing F-35 buy rate

source is DefenseNews

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and here we do have a very real concern, and while I always agree with Hawk Carlisle, this is indeed a legitimate concern,,, Gen Harris is concerned that congress is stripping money from the block 4 upgrade, hopefully this will get that money restored and expedited into the system..

Concurrency is expensive, but we should realize with-out concurrency, we wouldn't have a single operational F-35, and yes, we will have to upgrade and in some cases, "rebuild" some structural components of certain airframes!

The upside is that we have combat aircraft, that represent a "clear and present danger" to our enemies today, they really would be foolish to engage this team even at present, really foolish!

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Well Jura, just because the other birds cannon access MADL today, does not mean that they cannot tomorrow.

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. besides that F22 and F35 radar systems are "Mini Awacs" meaning that they can operate doing some of the same jobs as an E2.

 

[Jura The idiot]

Well Jura, just because the other birds cannon access MADL today, does not mean that they cannot tomorrow.

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. besides that F22 and F35 radar systems are "Mini Awacs" meaning that they can operate doing some of the same jobs as an E2.

I've noticed whatever you post here paints F-35 with rosy colors (you're always ready to say what "ultimately" it "will" achieve) and that's alright, but my take on the article you posted

(I repeat it's
Boeing’s Souped-Up Super Hornet Adds Smart U.S. Navy Firepower

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)

is the USN could do without F-35C just fine

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

I've noticed whatever you post here paints F-35 with rosy colors (you're always ready to say what "ultimately" it "will" achieve) and that's alright, but my take on the article you posted

(I repeat it's
Boeing’s Souped-Up Super Hornet Adds Smart U.S. Navy Firepower

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)

is the USN could do without F-35C just fine

The revived conversation about the advanced Super Hornet is emerging just weeks after Trump made headlines by pitting the naval strike fighter against

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’s F-35. In a blow to Lockheed, he asked Boeing to price out the cost of building a “comparable” Super Hornet as a possible alternative to the F-35C carrier variant, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis has since ordered a review comparing the two aircraft.

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However, Gillian would not say definitively whether Block 3 could replace the F-35C in the carrier air wing. Boeing is focused on “complementary capability,” and ultimately the Navy will decide the right mix of each platform, he stresses.
“We are supporting Block 3 as a key piece of solving the carrier air wing capability problem,” he says. “Our job is to present solutions to solve their warfighting problems.”

No. Gillian is Quite Clear the F/A18E-F block 3 is a complementary system intended to be partnered not on it's own.

is the USN could do without F-35C just fine

The Navy has been reducing it's carrier wing types pretty significantly over the past half century but in the end they intend a 5-6 tier system. a support Helicopter (MH60), A COD( C2/V22), an AEW (E2), a multirole fighter with EW (FA18E-F/EA18G eventual F/A-XX), a strike fighter ( FA18C-D/F35C) and a trainer ( T45 Goshhawk).

The F/A18C-D production ended in 2000 they are dated to retire in

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and as we know they are

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. The Hornet is about to have it's wings fall off. The abilities offered by the Lightning 2 are wanted, and Demanded by the Navy and not covered even by the Block 3 Super advanced Hornet.
but there are other mission sets that don't need the stealth atleast not yet and those get the FA18E-F and EA18G at least until the

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[Jura The idiot]

No. Gillian is Quite Clear the F/A18E-F block 3 is a complementary system intended to be partnered not on it's own.

it's the Navy which decides about the missions, not the vendor

The Navy has been reducing it's carrier wing types pretty significantly over the past half century but in the end they intend a 5-6 tier system. a support Helicopter (MH60), A COD( C2/V22), an AEW (E2), a multirole fighter with EW (FA18E-F/EA18G eventual F/A-XX), a strike fighter ( FA18C-D/F35C) and a trainer ( T45 Goshhawk).

The F/A18C-D production ended in 2000 they are dated to retire in

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and as we know they are

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. The Hornet is about to have it's wings fall off. The abilities offered by the Lightning 2 are wanted, and Demanded by the Navy and not covered even by the Block 3 Super advanced Hornet.
but there are other mission sets that don't need the stealth atleast not yet and those get the FA18E-F and EA18G at least until the

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the bottom line is if the USN can spend something like 30b to procure the F-35Cs

 

[Jura The idiot]

... and in the meantime Trump teases Super Hornet order

As US President Donald Trump stood in front of Boeing’s inaugural 787-10 Dreamliner in South Carolina this week, he turned his attention from the company’s commercial crown jewel to tease a possible military aircraft sale.

Trump mentioned a potential F/A-18E/F Super Hornet order as the focus of his speech meandered from boosting American jobs to rebuilding its military.

“Do you care if we use the F/A-18 Super Hornets?” Trump asked. “We are looking seriously at a big order. The problem is that [Boeing CEO] Dennis [Muilenberg] is a very tough negotiator, but I think we may get there.”

It’s difficult to gauge whether Trump is serious about buying additional Super Hornets and what order the president is referencing. US Air Force officials confirmed this week that Trump included Muilenberg on a call discussing the Lockheed Martin F-35 programme and whether a version of the Super Hornet that could compete with the F-35C.

That conversation led to a Defense Department review that would compare the F-35C and the F/A-18. While the outcome of the memo is unclear right now, Boeing and the US Navy are discussing what a complementary mix of Super Hornets and F-35s might look like, a Boeing spokeswoman tells FlightGlobal.

The president also commented on his own aircraft, the Boeing-built Air Force One. The US Air Force is working on a protracted recapitalisation programme to replace the two 747-200-derived VC-25As.

“We’re also working on the air force one project which was a difficult project for previous administrations, but it looks like we’re getting closer and closer,” Trump says. “That plane, as beautiful as it looks is 30 years old. What can look so beautiful at 30? An aeroplane.”

source:

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[TerraN_EmpirE]

it's the Navy which decides about the missions, not the vendor

and they have been working on the Block 3 with the vender guiding the requirements and wants of the program.

the bottom line is if the USN can spend something like 30b to procure the F-35Cs

...

... what did you refer to (I mean some link ... or is this your opinion)?

So far, despite claims from the Critics, F35 per unit cost has dropped in line with unit's available numbers rising. Most of the Complaints of F35 have come into the categories of fixed or Hyperbole.

 

[Jura The idiot]

...
So far, despite claims from the Critics, F35 per unit cost has dropped in line with unit's available numbers rising. Most of the Complaints of F35 have come into the categories of fixed or Hyperbole.

could be it's too little, too late? (I've repeatedly posted here older charts with the bright future as portrayed by LockMart, but I think you've seen them over like 15 or so years of development of this "product")

anyway I go to bed now while Trump, With Praise for Boeing CEO, Hints at Big Fighter-Jet Deal

President Donald Trump suggested that a larger purchase of

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’s F/A-18 Super Hornet may be in the offing, using a tour of the planemaker’s South Carolina factory to send a message to rival defense contractor

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“We are looking seriously at a big order,” Trump said Friday of the fighter jet, with another Boeing plane, the newest 787 Dreamliner, looming in the background. “I think we may get there.”

The Defense Department is studying the capabilities of the Super Hornet, designed in the 1990s, against those of Lockheed’s F-35, which is still in development even as it’s being produced. Trump indicated that price differences between the two fighters could sway the Pentagon to replace some orders for the F-35, which the president has criticized for cost overruns and delays, with more purchases of the Boeing jet.

“If the price doesn’t come down, we would,” Trump told reporters. “The F-18’s a great plane and now put a stealth component onto it.”

Boeing rose 1.1 percent to $172.71 at the close in New York, the second-largest gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The shares have climbed 11 percent this year, doubling the advance of the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 Index.

Pentagon Review
Reporters earlier spotted White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus holding a brochure for the F/A-18 XT, a proposed Super Hornet upgrade that could serve as a stand-in as Lockheed ramps up production of the F-35, the Pentagon’s costliest weapons system. Part of the challenge for Lockheed was to create technologies to serve the very different needs of the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy.

Defense Secretary James Mattis ordered a review of whether upgraded Super Hornets could provide a less costly alternative for the Navy’s version of the the F-35, which isn’t due to become operational until 2019.

Mattis directed the deputy defense secretary to oversee a study comparing the two fighters and “the extent that F/A-18E/F improvements (an advanced Super Hornet) can be made in order to provide a competitive, cost effective, fighter aircraft alternative.”

New Dreamliner
... [I skip this part as it's unrelated to F-35]

source is Bloomberg

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