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F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sharpey
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https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canada-invests-another-usdollar70m-in-f-35-development-despite-no-commitment-to-buy/ar-BB13FWaM?ocid=spartanntp

Canada invests in the F-35
 
Spencer100 said:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canada-invests-another-usdollar70m-in-f-35-development-despite-no-commitment-to-buy/ar-BB13FWaM?ocid=spartanntp

Canada invests in the F-35

Regardless of whether or not the RCAF flies it, Canada would want to keep the current contracts so they'll need to buy in.  I don't think this is that big of a deal.
 
On and on--by time we buy the plane, if we ever do, should be in pretty decent shape:

Delays Cause Two-year, $1.5B Extension For F-35 Block 4

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said on May 12 that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Block 4 program must be extended two years due to development delays, adding $1.5 billion to the overall price tag.

The original schedule called for completing the Block 4 modernization program in 2024, but the timeline must be extended to 2026, GAO said in the watchdog agency’s annual review of the F-35 program.

The F-35 Joint Program Office initially estimated the cost to develop all 66 new capabilities in Block 4 would be $10.6 billion. The two-year extension to deliver Block 4 raises the development cost to $12.1 billion, with another $3.4 billion budgeted to procure and insert the capabilities in future U.S. F-35s, GAO said [emphasis added].

The Block 4 delays started in 2019. Lockheed planned to deliver the first eight Block 4 capabilities last year, but only one—the automatic ground collision avoidance system—entered service, GAO said. In another example, Lockheed delivered software last year to enable the interim full-motion video capability for the Marine Corps F-35Bs, but failed to deliver the associated hardware, the report said.

As Block 4 capabilities have entered testing, the Defense Department’s operational testers have noticed other problems. Some of the new capabilities have “caused issues” with existing F-35 functions that previously worked, GAO said.

“The contractor had not performed adequate testing of the software before delivering it to the test fleet,” GAO said. For its part, the contractor acknowledged the issues and said they would conduct additional testing in software laboratories before releasing future software blocks [emphasis added], GAO added.
https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/aircraft-propulsion/delays-cause-two-year-15b-extension-f-35-block-4

Mark
Ottawa
 
A real Oz blast at Pres. Trump:

On the brink of peril, Australia is left wondering what the mad sheriff has in mind

What does a deputy sheriff do without a sheriff? Australia has spent the last three-quarters of a century as America's uniquely loyal ally. Again and again, Australia signed up for US wars that other American allies refused to join. The Brits were too smart to join the American war in Vietnam. Canada was too wise to touch the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. And Wellington was so wary of US nuclear weapons that it, in effect, took the "NZ" out of ANZUS.

But Canberra sent troops into even the dumbest American wars in the belief that it was paying an insurance premium against the day when Australia needed US help.

Now that Australia finds itself facing its most precarious geopolitical situation since World War II, the insurance policy is looking pretty threadbare. Donald Trump has shown that he is happy to ignore, insult and injure American allies whenever the mood takes him.

On Friday [May 15] it was through the F-35 fighter jet program that Australia, among other allies, has relied on. Trump called it "crazy". Australia decided to join the US in supporting the F-35 program more than a decade ago under the Howard government, when it was just an idea. It was then known as the Joint Strike Fighter project.

Part of the deal was that if US allies committed to buying some of these high-tech planes, Washington would give them a share of the manufacturing work to make them. Eight American allies signed up. Canberra agreed to buy 72 jets as part of a $17 billion program. In return, some 50 Australian companies employing about 2400 people are now making components for the jets. The work is worth $1.3 billion.

Until Donald Trump decided to threaten the whole deal in an interview on Friday: "The problem is, if we have a problem with a country, you can't make the jet. We get parts from all over the place. It's so crazy. We should make everything in the US." Fewer than half the jets so far have been delivered to Australia.

[PM] Scott Morrison's response? Hoping that it's just electioneering bluster from Trump, the Australian leader said he'd "wait to see" what happens. But whatever happens with the F-35s, the episode is another reminder of how unreliable the US has become. Deputy sheriff Australia now uneasily fingers the six-shooter in its holster, wondering what the mad sheriff has in mind for the future weapon and ammo supply [read on]...
https://www.smh.com.au/national/on-the-brink-of-peril-australia-is-left-wondering-what-the-mad-sheriff-has-in-mind-20200518-p54txp.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
F-35 crashes in Eglin. Pilot ejects and is alive.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/05/20/f-35-crashes-at-eglin-afb-pilot-successfully-ejected-and-in-stable-condition-2nd-crash-at-base-in-four-days/

For the second time in four days a fifth-generation fighter jet has crashed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron crashed upon landing around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Eglin, according to a media release. The pilot successfully ejected and was transported to the 96th Medical Group Hospital at Eglin for evaluation and monitoring.

The pilot is in stable condition. At the time of the accident, the pilot was participating in a routine night training sortie, according to the release.

First responders from the 96th Test Wing are on the scene and the site is secured.

The accident is under investigation. There was no loss of life or damage to civilian property. The name of the pilot is not being released this time...

Quite the last few weeks in aviation.
 
https://www.defensenews.com/smr/hidden-troubles-f35/2020/05/22/the-inside-story-of-two-supersonic-flights-that-changed-how-america-operates-the-f-35/

Some clarification on the speed limit placed on the B and C models. Damage occurred apparently during multiple high speed maneuvers.
 
MilEME09 said:
Damage occurred apparently during multiple high speed maneuvers.

Hours and hours of high speed maneuvers, and the damage was not visible to the pilot on his walk-around inspection upon landing.

A bigger takeaway here is that assertion from the test pilot that trying to apply 4th Gen tactics to a 5th Gen fighter makes no sense. The F-35 should only be going supersonic in a SHTF moment and they're going to max out aircraft performance regardless of 50 second limitations because its a 2 way range. Very typical of militaries writ large, we're so resistant to change that when something so polar opposite of what we're used to comes along, we try to shove it back into the old doctrinal box.
 
F-35 doesn’t fly: the systems of Danish fighter are not functioning properly

Next year, the first new Danish F-35 fighter aircraft will be ready. But serious technical problems remain with the new fighter aircraft, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing Danish news agency Arbejderen.

This also was stated in the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) latest report on the development of the F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) fighter aircraft.

“After several years of development and testing, the system is not functioning properly. Inaccurate and lack of data has led ALIS (the fighter aircraft’s IT system, ed.) to keep aircraft on the ground,” writes the US National Audit Office among others.

The report concludes that there have been eight years of delays in developing the software for the F-35 aircraft and that the IT system is based on up to 15 years of knowledge.

It has serious consequences for the aircraft. In fact, fighter jets have only been fully operational for 31.6 percent of the time, GAO concludes.

According to the GAO, planes are only “safe” 59.5 percent of the time, and GAO reports of planes going on the wings, although the systems warn of serious errors.

As of September last year, there were 4700 deficiencies reported in the fighter aircraft’s IT system – of which 34 percent were already identified in 2017 or earlier. More than a fifth (22 percent) of reports are considered critical, the Norwegian media ABC News reports.

The report from the US National Audit Office has sparked debate in Norway, which has already received six F-35 fighter jets.

According to the Office of the Auditor General, aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s production does not meet the quality requirements set for reliable aircraft.

“Specifically, only about 3,000 of the over 10,000 key processes in aircraft production meet the predefined design standards needed to ensure product quality. Moreover, the over 500 aircraft delivered do not meet the program’s reliability and maintenance goals,” GAO writes.

The US arms company Lockheed Martin began producing the first parts of the new Danish F-35 fighter aircraft in January. The first Danish fighter planes are scheduled to be delivered to Luke Air Force Base in the USA, where the Danish pilots will be trained to fly the new fighter aircraft.

In 2016, a majority of the Parliament (the former Left government, the Social Democracy, the Danish People’s Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Radical Left) agreed to buy 27 pieces at a cost of a total of DKK 56 billion for procurement and operations.

The technical problems have caused the fighter aircraft to be upgraded with a new software system. This means that costs are rising.

Defense Minister Trine Bramsen has just delivered his annual report on the procurement of the new fighter aircraft to the Danish Parliament.

This shows that a number of the costs associated with the acquisition of the new fighter aircraft are increasing more than expected.

“It should be noted that the latest reported operating cost estimates from the US F-35 program show an increasing trend,” writes the Secretary of Defense, among others.

Apart from the fact that the fighter’s IT system is full of errors and is outdated and needs to be replaced, the expansion of Flyvestation Skrydstrup will be almost twice as expensive as expected. This is partly due to the fact that the flight station must meet a number of strict requirements before the fighter planes are allowed to land. In addition, it costs far more money than expected to try to dampen the noise nuisance of the fighter aircraft.

The Minister of Defense expects the price of the construction project to be DKK 1.1 billion [$161 million] against the original DKK 650 million [$96 million].

This is “a large and complicated construction, where very specific requirements for the facilities and safety of F-35 fighter aircraft apply, and where most of the contracts have not yet been concluded. The construction project is therefore subject to uncertainty. noise compensation, which is expected to amount to DKK 250 million,” [$37 million] writes the Minister of Defense.

On the other hand, it has been found that the fighter aircraft frame is getting cheaper and that the fighter factory is now starting to benefit from economies of scale because many allied countries have ordered the fighter aircraft. Therefore, the total cost of the fighter jets will not rise, the defense minister predicts.

When the expansion of Skrydstrup Flight Station is completed in 2023, the first F-35 fighter aircraft will land in Denmark. The last fighter aircraft are expected to be delivered to Denmark in 2026.

The Parliament is just now in the process of considering a 61-page bill from the Minister of Defense, which will give green light to expand the Skrydstrup flight station so that it meets the new requirements.

The United States has set a number of requirements for how Air Force Skrydstrup should be set up before the new Joint Strike Fighter fighter jets are allowed to land in Denmark.

https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2020/05/27/f-35-doesnt-fly-the-systems-of-danish-fighter-are-not-functioning-properly/
 
Get the Chinese to do the software. ;D  :rofl:

Trudeau is cheering.
 
Rifleman62 said:
Get the Chinese to do the software.

Trudeau is cheering.


Get the Chinese to do the software?  I think we want them to have LESS problems, not more...  ;)
 
Plane should be fully fixed by time RCAF ever gets them, if it does:

F-35 Costs Drop for Building Jets But Rise for Operating Them
*Pentagon estimates development, procurement will decline 7.1%
*Report projects long-term operation, maintenance rising 7.8%


The Pentagon’s costliest program, Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35, is starting to look a little less expensive, with the latest estimate for development and procurement down 7.1% to $397.8 billion.

Less encouraging for the lawmakers who craft defense budgets and for taxpayers: Operating and maintaining the fleet for 66 years is projected to cost $1.182 trillion, a 7.8% increase over the estimate from the Pentagon’s F-35 office last year, according to the Defense Department’s annual assessment of the jet obtained by Bloomberg News.

The lower acquisition estimate produced by the F-35 program office is the latest in a string of good news that also includes improved on-time delivery of aircraft, the elimination of all flaws that were considered life-threatening to pilots and a steady reduction since 2018 in the number of potentially mission-crippling software deficiencies.

The Selected Acquisition Report, which hasn’t been released to the public, also said the F-35 program anticipates sales over time of 809 aircraft to international partners, up from the 764 projected last year [emphasis added].

Cumulatively, the improvements might protect the F-35 from pressure to cut defense budgets as the federal deficit balloons due to spending for the Covid-19 pandemic. The Pentagon is already projecting mostly flat budgets through 2025.

Even under the current budget forecast, the Pentagon report discloses that previous plans to buy 94 F-35s in fiscal 2022 will be reduced by nine. The blueprint then calls for buying 94 each year in fiscal 2023 and 2024 and 96 in fiscal 2025. Those are up from the 79 requested for fiscal 2021.

The report was prepared in December before the coronavirus pandemic crippled the global economy. Lockheed announced last week that Covid-19 impacts will temporarily slow F-35 production because of subcontractor parts delays and that the Bethesda, Maryland-based company might fail to deliver as many as 24 of a planned 141 jets this year [emphasis added].

More than 500 of a potential 3,200 F-35s for the U.S. and allies already have been delivered and will have to be retrofitted as flaws are fixed, at a cost of as much as $1.4 billion [emphasis added]. The F-35 is in the final stages of intense combat testing to demonstrate it’s effective against the most advanced Russian, Chinese and Iranian threats...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-29/f-35-costs-drop-for-building-jets-but-rise-for-operating-them

Mark
Ottawa

 
F-35A Landing Gear Malfunctions at Hill AFB

An F-35A fighter jet’s landing gear collapsed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on June 8 when the aircraft was returning from a routine training flight, according to a base spokesperson.

The accident occurred at 10:45 a.m. local time. The pilot, part of the 388th Fighter Wing, was able to exit the aircraft and is undergoing a medical evaluation. Safety investigators will look into the incident, Hill Public Affairs Director Thomas Mullican said in an email.

“In response to the incident, the runway is currently closed and aircraft from Hill AFB in flight at the time of the incident have been diverted to other airports,” Mullican said. “Additional training flights have been paused until the runway reopens.”

The Lockheed Martin-built Joint Strike Fighter is the latest plane to suffer from a landing gear malfunction or other mishap in recent months. This is the third F-35A crash overall, including a USAF F-35 crash in May at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and another involving a Japanese-owned jet. Four aircraft across the entire F-35 inventory, which spans Navy and Marine Corps and overseas variants, have experienced mishaps.

An F-15C’s landing gear also collapsed upon landing in Maryland in early May, and an A-10 landed on its belly in April.
 
F35 with 14 AIM-120's plus 2 AIM-9x's.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/terrifying-watch-f-35-beast-130000164.html
 
F35 video dropping 5 Paveway bombs on 5 targets at once.

https://theaviationist.com/2019/01/15/video-surfaces-of-f-35-hitting-five-precision-targets-at-once-including-moving-one/
 
Interesting article outlining the F-35 costs and parts availability struggles. I get the feeling the site is very pro F-35 but it was still an interesting read.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/ten-reasons-why-f-35-remains-worlds-dominant-stealth-fighter-163723

I think the Trudeau and the Liberals know that it is the right fighter for Canada and they are waiting till the next election. If they win they will order it and tout the cost savings because the price has dropped so much. If they lose the Conservatives can order it and they can oppose it with all the rhetoric they used to cancel it in the first place. Win - Win for the Liberal party.
 
Dana381 said:
Interesting article outlining the F-35 costs and parts availability struggles. I get the feeling the site is very pro F-35 but it was still an interesting read.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/ten-reasons-why-f-35-remains-worlds-dominant-stealth-fighter-163723

I think the Trudeau and the Liberals know that it is the right fighter for Canada and they are waiting till the next election. If they win they will order it and tout the cost savings because the price has dropped so much. If they lose the Conservatives can order it and they can oppose it with all the rhetoric they used to cancel it in the first place. Win - Win for the Liberal party.

Many of us weren't pro F35 at first but as this procurement dragged on the situation changed more in the F35s favour, like cost for example. We really need to pick an aircraft soon, especially for economic recovery to get Canadian companies those industrial benefits.
 
MilEME09 said:
Many of us weren't pro F35 at first but as this procurement dragged on the situation changed more in the F35s favour, like cost for example. We really need to pick an aircraft soon, especially for economic recovery to get Canadian companies those industrial benefits.

I'm one of the ones that was not pro F-35 in the beginning. The facts have changed my mind! The first things I heard about it was how bad it was in various areas and how expensive it was. Mainly from anti F-35 sources.

I still wish it was a 2 engine fighter, no matter how much more reliable this engine is than previous engines redundancy is still safer. The air-frame and engine incorporate redundancy's for safety sake, how much safer would it be with two engines? Rhetoric question, I'm not trying to reopen the debate just sharing my opinion.
 
Dana381 said:
...I still wish it was a 2 engine fighter, no matter how much more reliable this engine is than previous engines redundancy is still safer. The air-frame and engine incorporate redundancy's for safety sake, how much safer would it be with two engines? Rhetoric question, I'm not trying to reopen the debate just sharing my opinion.

The reliability has been addressed ad nauseum.  What is someone’s ’enhanced reliability’ is another person’s ’increased probability for something to go wrong.’  Imagine if a bunch of civilians tried to convince Kelly Johnson to put a second engine in the U-2 because it was ‘safer’....

F-16 has done just fine with one engine for decades and decades, and the F-35 balances reliability with reduced propulsion complexity (less the 35B lift-fan modified version of the PW135) in the same way as the multi-role light fighter that the F-16 was in its era.

So the. you’re a Super Hornet only guy, no F-35, no Gripen, due to the single engine?
 
The original Single Engine fanclub was in no small part a rearguard action to prevent Canada from buying the cheaper F-16, and to steer the decision space to the preferred outcome of the F-15.
 
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