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

[timepass]

U.S. Air Force F-35 Heritage Flight Team perform for the first time in Toronto at the 2018 Canadian International Air Show.

~Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II~

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2107256072854514

 

[timepass]

Nuclear Bomb Capability, Stealth Made Belgium Select F-35 Over Eurofighter

An ability to drop US-made B-61 nuclear bomb besides stealth features that sharply reduce the aircraft’s radar signature were the two key factors which made Brussels select the Lockheed Martin F-35 over the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[timepass]

Some F-35s grounded again for new round of inspections

WASHINGTON — The F-35 Joint Program Office temporarily has halted flight operations for a number of F-35s with higher flight hours after finding two new parts that will require inspection on older models of the jets.

A spokesman for the F-35 JPO, who confirmed the issue exclusively to Defense News and Marine Corps Times, declined to detail exactly how many jets may possibly be grounded as a result of the inspections. However, one source close to the program said that only a couple dozen F-35Bs meet the criteria where an operational pause would be necessary.

“The joint government and industry technical team has completed their assessment of the fuel supply tubes within the Pratt & Whitney engine on F-35 aircraft,” the F-35 Joint Program Office announced in a statement. “In addition to the previously identified failed tube, the analysis has identified two additional fuel supply tubes that require inspection.”

Some of the older engines with higher flight hours may require additional fuel tube replacements.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Air Force Brat]

U.S. Air Force F-35 Heritage Flight Team perform for the first time in Toronto at the 2018 Canadian International Air Show.

~Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II~

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2107256072854514

Amazing, not quite as "yank and bank" as the RIAT turn-out, but this girl will "turn and burn",,, this will further shut up those who proclaim she's NOT maneuverable....

That RIAT 9G turn-out was "earth shattering", its fun to actually see this airplane "pushing" now, and these "max effort" pull and turn's are very, very impressive. The RIAT turn out was 9Gs or so pulling back and out to a near stand still while cranking into a very high AOA break-out in the opposite direction.. we see similar pull and turns here several times....

further proof that if LockMart and Japan go F-22 2.0, there is no reason to go with OVT, LockMart has demonstrated outstanding "pitch rates" without OVT..

So when people say yeah, but the F-16 will do these same types of turn-outs? that's true to a point, and that point is when this aircraft is slowing to a near stand still, it is still safe and highly maneuverable,,, that my friend is where the Falcon would happily "depart" and eat your lunch.

Nice video timepass, thanks for sharing, I wasn't able to watch your F-22/Rafael, but this one played fine...

 

[Jura The idiot]

success story, plus the vid inside
Head of US Army Rapid Capabilities Office to take top civilian job on the F-35 program

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Jura The idiot]

yes, this thread for what I noticed now which is
German Air Force to test covert radar in large-scale demo over Bavaria

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The German Air Force and electronics specialist Hensoldt are gearing up to deploy a new sensing technology in southern Germany that promises to target enemy aircraft without pilots knowing they are being tracked.

The company first unveiled its TwInvis passive radar system at the Berlin Air Show in April, where it was rumored as a technology with the potential to detect stealthy aircraft like the F-35.

The upcoming test in early November is part of what the German Air Force considers a “measuring campaign” to evaluate the technology, a service spokesman said. The Air Force expects to participate in the event with aircraft and personnel.

Passive radar systems rely on commercial airwaves to watch a given airspace. In a nutshell, the sensors can compute the positions of aerial objects based only on their reflections in the buzz of broadcast signals over populated areas.

The lack of a dedicated emitter against which reflections are tracked in traditional radar setups means the system cannot be detected by anti-radar weapons. At the same time, a key drawback for passive radars is that they must have sufficiently strong commercial broadcast activity in the targeted area to work at all.

Hensoldt officials told Defense News that interest from international customers in TwInvis has skyrocketed since engineers set up a large screen for Berlin airshow visitors to show tracks of nearby aircraft performing aerial maneuvers. (The U.S. Air Force did not let its two F-35 specimens at the show do flight demonstrations, leaving observers robbed of a chance to see what would actually happen in a match-up of fifth-generation stealth against passive sensing.)

Bundeswehr officials have been working with Hensoldt on passive radar technology for several years as part of an initiative to probe an eventual acquisition by the Luftwaffe. According to the service spokesman, the technology could serve as a “gap filler” to augment the capabilities of air-surveillance systems, especially in covering low altitudes.

For the week-long test — company officials declined to give a precise date — Hensoldt will set up three passive radar receivers in the Munich area and one roughly 70 miles west, near the city of Ulm. The four sensors will allow air traffic tracking in a radius reaching north to Frankfurt in central Germany, but also include parts of Austria and Italy in the south and west, and parts of the Czech Republic in the northeast, according to the company.

“The sensors will see both the small Cessna at 500 feet, as well as the commercial airliner at 45,000 feet, or any Eurofighter in between,” Hensoldt passive radar chief Frank Bernhardt said in an interview.

Hensoldt believes its engineers have pushed the technology to be accurate enough to guide anti-air missiles near their targets. Another key application is border surveillance in cases where a government operating the technology wants to appear inactive.

“If I can operate a sensor there and know what happens on the other side without my measurements being detectable, then that’s exactly the type of advantage that passive radar can bring,” said Bernhardt.

Company officials also have been speaking with Bundeswehr officials about the possibility of integrating a passive radar air picture into aircraft, or using it for maritime surveillance for the German navy, especially in the Baltic Sea, Bernhardt said.

South American governments facing wealthy narcotics cartels with radar defenses aboard their drug-running aircraft also have approached the company about the technology, Bernhardt added. “That is a use case that we didn’t see two years ago.”

 

[Air Force Brat]

In this case, probably the F-35B bombing something in Afghanistan from the USS Essex.

Syria will probably be for the next deployment of an ARG, IMO.

Yep, one of my neighbor kids is an F-35 Bravo maintainer on the Essex! I talked to his wife this morning, he's loving this airplane and his role in keeping it flying stealthy and clean, I hope to have a few details from time to time now, the last port of call for the Essex was Qatar, so he's loving being in on the first ship board action of the F-35 Bravo Jeff Head and BD Popeye! those Marines are loving this airplane to death...

So now we have the Wasp, Essex, and America launching Bravo's?? Jeff or Bd?? or anyone, is the third ship the America?

 

[Air Force Brat]

now noticed
U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Jets Involved In First Operational Deployment Near the Horn of Africa Flying With External Gun Pod

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

My neighbor kid is a Marine serving aboard the Essex as an F-35 Bravo maintainer, I copied this picture Jura to give to his wifey this morning! its a great picture!

 

[Jura The idiot]

Oct 22, 2018

Oct 4, 2018

now
Pentagon Finalizes F-35 Acquisition Strategy

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

but, hey, "The government has not finalized the cost for the new plan, “but we are very close to that,” Pentagon acquisition executive Ellen Lord told Aviation Week Oct. 19 en route to Luke AFB, Arizona."

related is the DefenseNews story (I know it's from last week)
F-35 upgrade plan awaiting approval from top Pentagon acquisition exec

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The Pentagon’s acquisition executive is set to weigh in on the F-35’s modernization plan in the coming weeks, the F-35 program executive officer said Oct 1.

An update of the F-35’s acquisition strategy, which spells out the F-35’s Block 4 modernization plan and describes the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

that the department intends to use to incrementally upgrade the jet, is sitting on the desk of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord, Vice Adm. Mat Winter told reporters during a roundtable.

Winter characterized the document as going through the “final administrative engagements with her staff and the [Office of the Secretary of Defense] staff,” with Lord’s approval expected “within the next couple weeks,” he said.

The Navy and Air Force acquisition executives — James Geurts and Will Roper, respectively — have already approved the plan.

Although Winter did not provide details on the revised strategy, it is anticipated to

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

driven by the new agile software approach, which the F-35 joint program office terms Continuous Capability Development and Delivery or C2D2.

The JPO has argued that, in order to keep the F-35 relevant against emerging, dynamic threats, it needs to be able to quickly field incremental updates to the joint strike fighter’s software.

“The challenge we have is to ensure that we can continue to deliver capability to our warfighter on an operationally relevant, technically feasible pace, and that pace needs to outpace our adversaries and potential threats on the battlefield,” Winter said Monday.

This more intensive software development effort may also boost the cost of follow-on modernization. During a March hearing, Winter acknowledged that U.S. and international customers could pay up to $16 billion for Block 4 modernization — a figure that includes $10.8 billion for development and $5.4 billion for procurement of upgrades to the F-35 between fiscal years 2018 through 2024.

However, he also stressed that this was an initial estimate, and that a more solid assessment would be provided to Lord with the revised acquisition strategy.

By contrast, the Government Accountability Office in 2017 predicted that the development phase of the Block 4 modernization effort would cost upwards of $3.9 billion, but that figure only included up to FY22 and did not include procurement costs.

The program office has laid out a total of 53 capabilities to be included in Block 4, which range from updated software to a suite of new weapons like the Small Diameter Bomb II.

The first Block 4 capabilities are set to be delivered in April, Winter said, but about 22 modifications will require the F-35 to undergo a set of computing system upgrades called Tech Refresh 3. Those “TR 3” modifications include a new integrated core processor, memory system and panoramic cockpit display.

The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps currently plan to upgrade all of their F-35s to TR3 in the 2020s, although that could change due to operational or fiscal constraints, Winter noted.

It is still unknown whether all operational F-35s will be converted to the Block 4 version, but that decision could also affect the cost of the follow-on modernization program.

The program office is also

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, now slated for mid-November, Winter said. JPO officials are set to meet with Lord’s office on Oct. 2 for the operational test readiness review, which will assess the F-35 system, the resources needed to execute IOT&E and the requirements to start testing.

Once operational test has been completed, Lord will be able to make a full rate production decision, which is projected for end of 2019, he said.

 

[localizer]

Sry noob here.
Are US made military assets tracked around the world via GPS or something? Are there remote kill switches?