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

[Air Force Brat]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Another important thing to note is that out of the 186 active F22 Raptors 123 are combat coded, 27 are training, 16 testing and 20 attrition reserve

Out of the 123 for combat only 60-70% are ready for deployment because of constant maintainence

Now F22 is entering its Inc 3.2A upgrade followed by Inc 3.2B which should see it through until 2030

Point is F35 really needs to be entering service and quickly

Actually we are down to 184, with the bird and pilot in Alaska, and the latest incident at Tyndall AFB in Florida, that incident was due to electrical arcing and loss of the FCS, successful "punch out". brat

 

[FORBIN]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Brat, the fly-away cost for LRIP 6 and LRIP 7 are as follows:

LRIP 6 - 36 aircraft
F-35A - $103 million aircraft + $15 million engine = $118 million (23 purchased)
F-35B - $109 million aircraft + $35 million engine = $144 million (06 purchased)
F-35C - $120 million aircraft + $15 million engine = $135 million (07 purchased)

LRIP 7 - 35 aircraft
F-35A - $ 98 million aircraft + $14 million engine = $112 million (23 purchased)
F-35B - $104 million aircraft + $33 million engine = $137 million (06 purchased)
F-35C - $116 million aircraft + $14 million engine = $130 million (07 purchased)

The US Air Force program manager indicates that he is confident that the Alpha aircraft cost once they reach full production (2017 or 2018) will be below 90 million and that the basic engine will be down to 11 or 12 million. They hope to stabilize flyaway costs for the F-35A at under $100 million.

This means that the Bravo will cost close to $120 million, and the Charlie will cost about $110 million in those time frames.

I believe they will achieve these goals.

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[navyreco]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Here's a PR piece targeted at Canada's fighter competition, in case you haven't seen it yet.

The authors, RaceRocks 3D, work for Boeing but reportedly made this video on their own while pursuing a contract with a Boeing subsidiary. (The fact that the title says F-18 and not F/A-18 supports this idea.)

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[thunderchief]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

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Price of the F-35 is not 3 times bigger then price of the Super Hornet . It is more like 1.5 -2 Super Hornets for price of 1 F-35 . Otherwise , no one would buy F-35

 

[Air Force Brat]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Price of the F-35 is not 3 times bigger then price of the Super Hornet . It is more like 1.5 -2 Super Hornets for price of 1 F-35 . Otherwise , no one would buy F-35

The F-35 is also a far more stealthy, plugged into outstanding situational awareness, and will likely have a similar advantage to the F-22 over the fourth gen F-18, not to mention its helmet mounted targeting. all good, and it will prove a quantum leap over its predecessors. brat

 

[thunderchief]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

The F-35 is also a far more stealthy, plugged into outstanding situational awareness, and will likely have a similar advantage to the F-22 over the fourth gen F-18, not to mention its helmet mounted targeting. all good, and it will prove a quantum leap over its predecessors. brat

Realistically , only advantage is stealth . F-35A will have slight kinematic advantage (if engine lives to expectations) , other versions will not (especially B ). Avionics are matter of user preference , both fighters could carry very advanced radars and other equipment .

 

[Air Force Brat]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Realistically , only advantage is stealth . F-35A will have slight kinematic advantage (if engine lives to expectations) , other versions will not (especially B ). Avionics are matter of user preference , both fighters could carry very advanced radars and other equipment .

Actually NO, the avionics of the F-35 will be standardized, and they are very advanced, as I stated, the F-35 like the F-22 is able to perform as an AWACs and will be "helping" to integrate the fourth gens, which have far less situational awareness into the battlefield. In addition, most "kills" will be BVR, the idea is NOT to engage in WVR air to air combat, but to kill the bad guys long before they "see" you. Now in your defense, the Weapons are Plug and Play, and the F-35 team is integrating many of the weapons systems, so that each team may "weaponize" the F-35 according to their desires, and to a lesser extent may also integrate some avionics that are "specific" to the end user, but MOST avionics will be standardized, one of the reasons the F-35 will be able to integrate so well with others on the battlefield, and at the same time have relatively low cost for the capability. The F-22 is much more difficult to integrate because the computer is older tech, and very much more specific to that particular airframe!

 

[Jeff Head]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Actually NO, the avionics of the F-35 will be standardized, and they are very advanced, as I stated, the F-35 like the F-22 is able to perform as an AWACs and will be "helping" to integrate the fourth gens, which have far less situational awareness into the battlefield. In addition, most "kills" will be BVR, the idea is NOT to engage in WVR air to air combat, but to kill the bad guys long before they "see" you.

The network centricity of the F-35 will be amazing and give it a very large and distinct advantage.

Due to a global network, and not just satellietes, but everything from Wide Area Global Hawk or Martitime Patrol networks, to AEW, AWACS, to other tactical aircraft, to ground stations, ships, etc...having all of that info integrated and available and being processed so the pilot can effectively use it in either his own...or as a commander...in his flight's or wing's activities, is going to allow for some very significant force mulitpliers.

And, then being able to communicate that to, and integrate it in with the 4th gen fighters/aircraft/forces in the area and act themselves as local AWACS, will just enhance those multipliers. This level of effective networking and cooperative engagement is going to be significant.

 

[kwaigonegin]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

The network centricity of the F-35 will be amazing and give it a very large and distinct advantage.

Due to a global network, and not just satellietes, but everything from Wide Area Global Hawk or Martitime Patrol networks, to AEW, AWACS, to other tactical aircraft, to ground stations, ships, etc...having all of that info integrated and available and being processed so the pilot can effectively use it in either his own...or as a commander...in his flight's or wing's activities, is going to allow for some very significant force mulitpliers.

And, then being able to communicate that to, and integrate it in with the 4th gen fighters/aircraft/forces in the area and act themselves as local AWAS, will just enhance those multipliers. This level of effective networking and cooperative engagement is going to be significant.

Exactly right. The strength of the F-35 comes in it's ability for netcentric warfare and ability to data link with other F-35s and I believe the Raptor too via IFDL and MADL. Obviously AWACS, AEW etc all comes into play. I'm not sure about backward compatibility with Link 16 though but definitely not compatible with the legacy Link 12.

With all that being said a nation with limited airborne infrastructure will probably be better off buying '4th + Gen' fighters because you won't be able to truly maximize the 'multiplier' effect of the F-35 if you buy say 6-12 aircraft and has no supporting aircrafts such as AWACS or more advanced C4ISR systems etc but in real life not that a big deal because most countries buying the F-35s are either NATO or countries with fairly decent command and control assets already.

Countries like Portugal, Phillipines, Mexico etc probably won't be buying the F-35s even if they can afford it unless some politician is lining their pockets.

By itself the F-35 would still be formidable due to obviously it's stealth and systems like having a good AESA, EOTS, EODAS etc and good high off boresight AAM engagement envelope. Just don't get yourself into a knifefight otherwise you lose a lot of the advantages the plane was design for.

 

[Jeff Head]

re: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Thread

Exactly right. The strength of the F-35 comes in it's ability for netcentric warfare and ability to data link with other F-35s and I believe the Raptor too via IFDL and MADL. Obviously AWACS, AEW etc all comes into play. I'm not sure about backward compatibility with Link 16 though but definitely not compatible with the legacy Link 12.

With all that being said a nation with limited airborne infrastructure will probably be better off buying '4th + Gen' fighters because you won't be able to truly maximize the 'multiplier' effect of the F-35 if you buy say 6-12 aircraft and has no supporting aircrafts such as AWACS or more advanced C4ISR systems etc but in real life not that a big deal because most countries buying the F-35s are either NATO or countries with fairly decent command and control assets already.

Exactly. Korea, Japan, Israel, the UK, Spain, Italy...all of them are sold on the ability for this aircraft to enhance those assets they arleady have by potentially an order of magnitude.

Some people always want to diss the F-35, and they completely miss this critical capability...but the F-35 is going to be a game changer. This is particularly true for those nations who can not only effectively deploy it by itself, but who can integrate it into what they have in terms of AEW, AWACS, Sats, and other surveillance networks and then benefit immensely by doing so. In fact, you could easily say that unless you have those things, you can never maximize the benefit the F-35 will bring anyway...besides, as you say, it is a very decent 5th gen fighter/attack aircraft in its own right.