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

[FORBIN]

A new F-35A Sqn normaly have now 6 birds before rattached to 16th WPS on F-16

USAF Weapons School Activates F-35A Squadron

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — The 6th Weapons Squadron will be activated as the F-35A Lightning II squadron for the United States Air Force Weapons School at 10:06 a.m. June 20, 2017.

The 6th WPS is projected to be the USAF Weapons School’s largest squadron by 2023, with 30 instructors and 24 assigned F-35As.

The USAFWS currently comprises 18 squadrons and is the world’s premier postgraduate weapons and tactics employment training located at Nellis Air Force Base. The F-35A’s state-of-the-art capabilities, joined with the rich history of the 6th WPS, will ensure dominance over future battlefields.

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[Jura The idiot]

huh? Leonardo’s T-X Submission Already Training Pilots to Fly F-35

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As the deadline nears for the

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to select a new trainer to replace its

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, manufacturer Leonardo is bullish that its offering will prove a safe choice with the best value for the service.

Here at the Paris Air Show, Leonardo displayed a full-size mock-up of the T-100, its submission for the T-X trainer competition, in the shadow of the M-346 Master, the veteran trainer it’s closely based on.

While the company had a T-100 display last year at the Farnborough International Airshow in England, it appeared for a while that the program would be dead well ahead of Paris.

Its bid appeared to have hit an insurmountable obstacle in January when partner company Raytheon

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. But in February, Leonardo announced it was

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, led by U.S.-based arm DRS.

Leonardo faces steep competition from companies including Boeing, which is offering a clean-sheet design, and a Lockheed Martin-Korea Aerospace Industries team, with the supersonic T-50 Golden Eagle, which has been training South Korean pilots since the mid-2000s.

Rico Vaca, a T-100 subject matter expert for Leonardo DRS, told Military.com he believes the reliability of the design and its competitive price point will win the day for the company. The M-346, which is in most ways identical to the proposed T-100, is currently training pilots in Israel, Italy, Poland and Singapore to fly the

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. And, he said, more countries are in talks to acquire the aircraft.

“The fact that we’re in production — you talk about low cost, min risk, if that’s really what you’re looking for — there’s no less risk than an airplane that’s in production that’s been being built for seven or eight years,” he said.

While the M-346 reportedly costs about $37 million per plane, Vaca said he expects the unit cost of the T-100 to come well under that figure. The company achieved some savings by removing hardware that the Air Force didn’t call for, such as a refueling probe. The loss of the Raytheon partnership may ultimately spell savings too.

“Not having a partner with Raytheon, is that good or bad? It turns out that it’s actually pretty good,” Vaca said. “So now we’re one manufacturer building the airplane. So a lot of the fees, a lot of the issues that went along with partnering, we can take out of the system so it allows us to get to a lower price.”

There may be other savings outside the cost of the aircraft too, he said. Israeli pilot trainees used to train on the T-346 and then spend time on an

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before transitioning to the F-35, he said, but ultimately decided the trainer was effective enough that they didn’t need the middle step.

“There’s a lot of value and cost savings that you’re not going to take into account in the [request for proposals], but if you can shorten the syllabus because the airplane will be airborne longer and you can get rid of a part of training, there’s long-term savings there as well,” he said.

For now, the T-X competition is largely a waiting game. Companies in the running are supposed to submit flight data to the Air Force by the end of this month, and the service is expected to pick a winner by the end of the year. The service is expected to purchase 350 of the trainers.

 

[Jura The idiot]

Monday at 10:16 PM

liked the square loop most ... "in its corner":

LOL now I watched

and Mr. Babione mentioned "incredible square corners" at 03:13

 

[Air Force Brat]

now I read
Here’s The Video Of The First Aerobatic Flight Demo Of The F-35: Does It Showcase Exceptional Maneuverability Or Quite The Opposite?

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Billie Flynn's flight demo does in fact demonstrate supermaneuverability,,, but then the poor author isn't really quite able to recognize that fact is he. The Square Loop, involves maxing out the Pitch transitions at 50 degrees angle of attack according to Lockheed Martin's Chief Test Pilot who was also at Paris wearing his flight suit and explaining the display... this all without the expense and complexity of OVT, all on lovely sweet aerodynamics alone.

Any airplane can be pushed around by thrust vectoring! but very few airplanes can be "pushed around" on aero's alone, and this one is a pussycat.....In fact out of 70 types of aircraft he has flown and tested, he related the F-35 in all three versions is the easiest to fly of them all! something you have heard the AFB predicting!

 

[Jura The idiot]

Billie Flynn's flight demo does in fact demonstrate supermaneuverability,,, but then the poor author isn't really quite able to recognize that fact is he. The Square Loop, involves maxing out the Pitch transitions at 50 degrees angle of attack according to Lockheed Martin's Chief Test Pilot who was also at Paris wearing his flight suit and explaining the display... this all without the expense and complexity of OVT, all on lovely sweet aerodynamics alone.

Any airplane can be pushed around by thrust vectoring! but very few airplanes can be "pushed around" on aero's alone, and this one is a pussycat.....In fact out of 70 types of aircraft he has flown and tested, he related the F-35 in all three versions is the easiest to fly of them all! something you have heard the AFB predicting!

last days F-35 was having like harvest-time, am wondering why more lauding wasn't posted here ... but yeah, I liked the square loop Monday at 10:04 PM

check the next post though:

 

[Jura The idiot]

according to DefenseNews Marine F-35s grounded due to software concerns

F-35B joint strike fighters based at Yuma Air Station in Arizona have been temporarily grounded due to issues with a key support system.

The issue centers on the stealth jet's Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS, The software behind ALIS is woven through the F-35, and plays a vital role in everything from planning missions to maintenance. In April, ALIS 2.0.2 was installed on F-35A models and Navy F-35C models, but was delayed in getting out to the F-35B jump-jet variants.

"Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, made the decision to temporarily suspend VMFA-211 flight operations pending fixes to a recent ALIS software upgrade within version 2.0.2 that has presented some anomalies," Maj. Kurt Stahl, director of public affairs with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, wrote in a statement. "There is nothing wrong with the performance or safety of the aircraft itself, but it is imperative that we ensure the ground-based ALIS system is working properly before flight operations continue.

Stahl said that the F-35 Joint Program Office and prime contractor Lockheed Martin have dispatched engineers to help resolve these issues associated with the update, and said the issues center around "maintenance codes not being reflected properly in the system." News of the grounding was first reported by Inside the Navy.

Critics of the F-35 will likely seize on the software issue as more proof that the famously delayed jet is of faulty design. The grounding comes just days after the U.S. Air Force began flying operations after a ground stop due for F-35A models at Luke Air Force Base. Those jets were

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due to concerns about hypoxia among pilots. Since 2011, there have been 15 related hypoxia incidents for F-35A models – five of which occurred in the last month, leading to the recent grounding.

A spokesman for the U.S. Air Force said the service, which is the largest operator of the jet, said he was unaware of any software issues with the planes being flown. A spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office could not be reached for comment.

source:

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[Jura The idiot]

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A glitchy software upgrade to the

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has grounded the Marine Corps F-35B squadron based in Yuma, Arizona, the

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announced. Details are sparse, but a Marine Corps statement (reproduced in full below) said the unspecified “anomalies” only affected maintenance codes and only in the Yuma squadron, VMFA-211. The Marines have been the service

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, pushing their variant, the

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, into service earlier than the Air Force or Navy.

Senate Armed Services chairman, former Navy fighter pilot, and F-35 skeptic

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swiftly issued a statement that he was “concerned” with the latest grounding but so far has held back from the ferocious criticism for which he’s famous.

Another Marine F-35B squadron, VMFA-121 in Iwakuni, Japan, is unaffected. The Air Force’s F-35As also seem to escaped the faulty upgrade, but they’re still wrestling with a different issue. Problems with the pilot’s air supply at high altitude temporarily

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, before they returned to flight under a restriction to low altitudes only. Air supply — drawn from the engine intakes the On-Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) — has proven a problem for multiple types of aircraft, notably the Navy and Marine

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and the

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.

ALIS, by contrast, is unique to the F-35. The

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is intended to ease maintenance, letting ground crews diagnose what parts are likely to fail and order replacements over a global network before a malfunction even occurs. The plane can’t take off without ALIS, but the

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has been a headache and

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.

Here’s the text of the Marine Corps statement as provided to Breaking Defense:

Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, Commanding General of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, made the decision to temporarily suspend VMFA-211 flight operations pending fixes to a recent ALIS software upgrade within version 2.0.2 that has presented some anomalies.

ALIS is short for the Autonomic Logistic Information System Standard and it is the IT backbone of the F-35. ALIS is an off-board mission support system that manages operations, training, maintenance and the supply chain.

There is nothing wrong with the performance or safety of the aircraft itself, but it is imperative that we ensure the ground-based ALIS system is working properly before flight operations continue. The Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin have dispatched system engineers to help resolve these issues associated with the ALIS software update.

The specific anomalies are related to maintenance codes not being reflected properly in the system and only affect VMFA-211 in Yuma, AZ and no other F-35 units. The F-35B is a highly capable aircraft with an excellent test and developmental safety record.

source:

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I wonder how many aircraft is affected; why? because I recalled
Jul 12, 2016

... In reality, there was a re-designation and change of command ceremony as the AV-8B Harrier-flying Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 211 became Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211. In effect, the unit took delivery of the first 2 F-35B's and will be sometime (presumably) before a complete squadron is assembled and ready for deployment. ...

... don't underestimate the reality created:
"In addition to VMFAT-501, the first operational squadron is VMFA-121, based at MCAS Yuma in Arizona, and VMFA-211 stood up in late June with six aircraft at the same location."
inside of
FARNBOROUGH: USMC, UK could pool some F-35 weapons

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[FORBIN]

Billie Flynn's flight demo does in fact demonstrate supermaneuverability,,,

Meantime others comments from specialists which have see demo in live... qualified of " wind-broken " lose energy also have difficulty to regain mainly on long distances and in result get a " medium " STR but as you say he can turn rolls enough fast also to very low speed a good capacity to turn the nose.

But remains this STR which is her main weakness fortunalety with DAOS the drivers can look more fast around and no fighters actually... have this system.
Short wings are not good for these agility capacities.

A point LM test pilot mention 7 G for the demo.

Also seems problems with designator sytem based on Sniper pod ( very good ) less good ofc fixe the sniper can rotate much more but also accuracy problems.

So remains progress to do with 3F normaly possible but for many it is very laborious.

 

[Jura The idiot]

May 17, 2017

what gives?
Germany asks U.S. for classified briefing on Lockheed's F-35 fighter
Wed May 17, 2017 | 11:01am EDT

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now
German officials meet with Lockheed to talk F-35 at Paris Air Show

During the Paris Air Show this week, German government officials met with Lockheed Martin to talk about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a source connected to the program told Defense News.

It is not uncommon for potential customers — including Germany — to engage with the defense industry on a number of platforms or technologies, nor does the meeting indicate a significant step forward in the process of selling the F-35 to Germany, the source said.

However, the air show marked the first time the German government and Lockheed had ever discussed the F-35 specifically, albeit in an unclassified setting, he said.

In May, Germany sent a written request to the U.S. military for a classified briefing on the F-35,

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that month. No program of record has been approved by the German government, which intends to evaluate other fighter jets on the market to replace its fleet of fourth-generation Panavia Tornadoes. However, the apparent interest in the F-35 was somewhat surprising, given Germany’s participation in the Eurofighter Typhoon program built with the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.

The U.S. Defense Department has agreed to support Germany’s request for a briefing, said F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman Joe DellaVedova, who was not aware whether the discussion would include classified data. Preparations for a meeting are moving forward, but a date has not yet been set.

In an interview with Defense News at the Paris Air Show, Orlando Carvalho, head of Lockheed’s aeronautics business, said the company is ready to support the U.S. government if it decides to press on with a classified briefing to Germany.

“We’ve seen the interest that the German Air Force has, but right now that’s in government-to-government channels in terms of their interest in getting a briefing,” he said. “As we always do, we’ll provide support to our government, to the JPO, if in fact they go forward with providing a briefing to Germany, but none of that has been worked out yet in terms of how that’s going to be done.”

If a classified briefing is authorized, Carvalho said the company hopes to hold more in-depth talks about the fifth-generation capabilities that differentiate the F-35 from fourth-generation fighter jets.

“It’s not just about the signature, it’s about the avionics capability, the mission-system capability, the surveillance capability, ISR, etc. It’s about the ability to communicate on board [and] off board with other platforms,” he said.

Lockheed has thus far secured orders from 11 countries for the F-35. Finland and Belgium are also potential European sales opportunities for the aircraft, Lockheed's F-35 program manager, Jeff Babione, said in a Monday briefing.

source is DefenseNews

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[solarz]

What do you guys think of this post from Quora? Credible or not?

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I am writing as anonymous because I was a Lockheed Martin employee and executive for over 30-years and I was also intimately involved with the F-22 and the F-35 program. My anonymity is because I’ve witnessed other former Lockheed employees who have criticized the company and the program experience certain “issues”. I don’t need to suddenly have my pension stop, or get audited for multiple years by the IRS. I am writing a book on the financial and criminal misconduct of the Military-Industrial- Congressional complex and I am doing so under a pen name. This is a short sample of some of the information in that book.

First, the Joint Strike Fighter(F-35) requirements came from 11 different countries and 3 US military services. It was advertised as a clean sheet of paper design for a true fifth gen fighter. The old adage about using a committee to design a horse and you wind up with a camel is true. Only this time it’s a turd, not a camel. The pilots who fly it call it the Turd. It is more than a turd - it is an accident waiting to happen and one day it will take the life of a brave American pilot just like the F-22 has. For example, I was there the day they had to use a chain saw to cut open the canopy of the first test jet to get the pilot out because it wouldn’t open. He was sitting there in the Ft Worth 100+ degree sun literally baking alive. They towed the jet into a hangar but he was still cooking. He had to be lifted out through the hole and rushed to the medical center to be re hydrated using IV. Never saw that on the evening news, did you? The AC system on the jet quit working during the test flight because of a faulty part from one of the way too many subcontractors who sold crappy parts to Lockheed so, with cockpit temps soaring above 100 degrees, he aborted the test flight and RTB’d only to find that the canopy wouldn’t open. Not an easy day. Why did Lockheed buy crappy parts you ask? Another old adage applies here: Follow the money. Congressional pressure/influence coupled with poor processes and procedures and a cost cutting mentality because of a Firm, Fixed Price contract well over $200B for an unproven aircraft using high risk immature technologies. Gee, what could possibly go wrong?

Let’s follow the money: You see; the program is one of the largest political pork programs in the history of the US. That’s why it will never be cancelled. It has lined the pockets of Republicans and Democrats, ensured their re-elections and made $MM’s for their contractor cronies and is probably the best example of bipartisan politics in recent history. Boondoggle is a kind term. This has to be considered criminal. People are afraid that if Donald Trump becomes president, he’ll start investigating things like this because he’s not an insider and he will make them pay – a novel concept.

The 11 countries were there just for show and as potential buyers for the trumped up business cases. We (the US government and Lockheed) gave them the illusion of importance. The early meetings I was involved in never ever took the clean sheet of paper approach - NFW. Everyone was overwhelmed by the steaming pile of requirements and so basically just ignored them and used the 3 US military services. We were at the Paris Airshow one year and I remember one exec saying something like “those assholes (foreign countries) will buy anything we make and if they don’t like it, then they can go buy some piece of shit MIG or Dassault”. The US Air Force and Lockheed already had the design. Remember that Boeing was in the competition with their version - called Miss Piggy by some and Monica by others because of the gaping air intake and big nose (yes, it was around that time when Ole Bill and Monica got caught exchanging DNA samples in the Oval Orifice). The program was being run by the USAF, who has dictated fighter design for years. The 11 countries and Navy and USMC? Well, the USAF was just being nice and inclusive but at the end of the day, GEN Jumper and the fly boys went with what they knew, and that was the F-22 heritage. Lockheed execs did a masterful job of convincing them that they could re-use much of the F-22 design. Look at a picture of a Raptor and a Turd flying together. Tell the difference? Subtle details but most obviously the Raptor has 2 engines and the Turd has one.

Background: In 2006, congress and the DOD, in a rare moment of intelligent clarity and bipartisanship concern for the tax payer, cancelled the F-22,whose costs were spiraling out of control. The Raptor also had known problems and issues; most notably the pilot oxygen system, which has never been totally fixed and cost at least one pilot his life. I was in the company of some Raptor pilots about a year ago and they still have the infamous “Raptor cough”, a dry hacking sound. Ask yourself why the Raptor has never been used in combat. The real answer is that it takes so much time, effort and money to keep the jets flying and so it can’t sustain the sortie rates required for major combat ops.Back then Lockheed and the USAF were deeply invested in the F-22; financially and emotionally. We knew that it was on the chopping block, so the USAF and Lockheed did a full court press. Lockheed wanted to sell more jets and the USAF wanted to buy more jets. It was a classic example of the self-licking ice cream cone. We jointly performed huge multi million dollar warfare modeling and simulation studies using worst case scenarios of what would happen if a peer competitor country that may start with the letter C were to launch a major all-out attack against the US. We needed to build the case for more F-22’s and so we started with the answer and backed into the analysis results to say “See, we need 200 more jets or we’re all gonna f#*king die!” Congress and the DOD amazingly saw through the ruse and so it got cancelled. That may have been that last intelligent thing congress and the DOD ever did before the liberal crazies took over and now spend more time worrying about legislating transgender bathrooms, having women in Special Forces and registering our guns instead of enforcing the laws that are already in place.

So Lockheed had a huge amount of sunk costs in jigs, tooling and components for the F-22. Reusing the F-22 design would leverage those sunk costs, saving millions in startup and production costs – or so went the line of reasoning. Good idea, bad assumption, very poorly executed. Remember: Firm, fixed price.Which translates to: save money every which way you can and be the low bidder.Use less people and short cut processes was where it hit the fan. Who needs to pay a group of engineers to create a test plans? We don’t need no stinking test plans! Processes and documentation take a hit and quality goes down the toilet. A huge rift developed between Lockheed and the USAF/government and continues to this day. Budgets and schedules ran amok. People were fired or quit when they complained. Technical debt piled up on the I&T side of the V model. Agile processes were introduced on top of an already abbreviated the V model. The leaner we tried to run, the slower we got. Confusion and paranoia settled in at Ft Worth. Then corporate wide layoffs started due to Sequestration. Key technical people were laid off and replaced with new hires. The top execs were so out of touch with what was happening in the trenches it was pathetic. Mismanagement at all levels. They brought in some new execs during a major house cleaning back in 2012 but it still hasn’t helped much. Too little, too late. The F-35 is still a Turd and always will be. It has not nor ever will perform as claimed. Most likely it will suffer even more from maintenance issues than the F-22. And I fear that someday soon, that piss poor excuse for a fighter jet will cost the life of another brave American pilot. During this time, that peer competitor country that starts with C(hina) and Russia have developed their 5th gen fighters and some analysts say they perform better than the F-35 ever will in many aspects. I sort of chuckle when I see the Chinese fighter obviously patterned after the F-22 but with forward canards. Asian countries love to pattern their stuff after the West but with their own twists. Ok, China, go ahead and steal our technology - the jokes on you this time. Canards? So cold war.

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