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

[FORBIN]

Confirmation more than interesting for A2A power but what door he means

Let’s Do More Shots
The F-35 program office is looking at adding capacity for another AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided air-to-air missile in each of the jet’s two weapons bays, increasing internal—and thus stealthy—missile loadout by 50 percent, program director Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said March 22. Speaking with reporters after his speech at a McAleese/Credit Suisse conference in Washington, D.C., Bogdan said, “There is potential … to add a third missile on each side.” The upgrade would likely be part of the Block IV program of F-35 enhancements, but “that’s something I know the services and all the partners” are interested in. Bogdan said this would not require some special version of AMRAAM, but “the same AMRAAM missiles that we carry today, just an extra one; probably on the weapons bay door.” The F-35 can carry two AMRAAMs in each bay now, or a mix of AMRAAMs and Joint Direct Attack Munitions internally. “There’s a lot of engineering work to go with that,” Bogdan cautioned, and he did not speculate on when such a change could be made

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Only existing view for it from a fan surely

 

[FORBIN]

St-Louis vs Ft Worth for some personnal reasons ( not in relation with the matter ) my feeling is more oriented for St-Louis

Inside Boeing’s F-18 Pitch To White House; Fewer F-35Cs Means Shorter Fight

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The U.S. Navy currently plans to have a Carrier Air Wing mix of 3 squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets and 1 squadron of F-35Cs in 2028 transitioning to 2 squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets and 2 squadrons of F-35C in 2033,” the white paper reads. “This leaves significant capability gaps against emerging threats and under the current aircraft procurement plan leaves the Navy with a significant inventory shortfall.”

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[advill]

The F-35 is still a damn good aircraft - perhaps it could be value for money as the price is now reduced. By how much?

 

[Air Force Brat]

The F-35 is still a damn good aircraft - perhaps it could be value for money as the price is now reduced. By how much?

As evidenced by the last Red Flag, it is beyond our wildest imagination effective and only stands to get better at what it does as the airplane gets smarter, and operators work to its strengths, and the last thing we need is some idiot cutting our buy and going back to 4 gen. It is tremendously capable for the money, and with the Chinese building J-20s and the Russians bringing the T-50 up to speed, now is not the time to be getting all "whoosified" and backing off on moving the fleet forward.

Those 4 gens are tired, and need a rest.

 

[FORBIN]

As evidenced by the last Red Flag, it is beyond our wildest imagination effective and only stands to get better at what it does as the airplane gets smarter, and operators work to its strengths, and the last thing we need is some idiot cutting our buy and going back to 4 gen. It is tremendously capable for the money, and with the Chinese building J-20s and the Russians bringing the T-50 up to speed, now is not the time to be getting all "whoosified" and backing off on moving the fleet forward.

Those 4 gens are tired, and need a rest.

Agree on the fund... but i don't trust the 20/1 ratio

 

[Air Force Brat]

Agree on the fund... but i don't trust the 20/1 ratio

I didn't quote the numbers, but not because I have any doubt about their accuracy? Those numbers are backed up by the data, the F-35 was given a very tough "row to hoe" and still came out miles ahead of the opposition.

This only perfectly illustrates the real advantage of 5th, being high, and knowing where the bad guys are, while they are looking for a "needle in the haystack", you are setting up your shot BVR, release and gone.... they took out lots and lots of S-300/S-400 type threats, without loses. that is incredible? no?

 

[FORBIN]

I didn't quote the numbers, but not because I have any doubt about their accuracy? Those numbers are backed up by the data, the F-35 was given a very tough "row to hoe" and still came out miles ahead of the opposition.

This only perfectly illustrates the real advantage of 5th, being high, and knowing where the bad guys are, while they are looking for a "needle in the haystack", you are setting up your shot BVR, release and gone.... they took out lots and lots of S-300/S-400 type threats, without loses. that is incredible? no?

And that 's all the advantage but more expensive even Chinese, Russians which build more cheaper going with J-20, T-50 for a price of 100 millions $ unit and limit the number, for F-35A a bit different many customers seems LM going for a very competitive price to 85 millions some says possible 80.

Actual Western fighters in production, mine top right

 

[dtulsa]

I like t

And that 's all the advantage but more expensive even Chinese, Russians which build more cheaper going with J-20, T-50 for a price of 100 millions $ unit and limit the number, for F-35A a bit different many customers seems LM going for a very competitive price to 85 millions some says possible 80.

Actual Western fighters in production, mine top right

View attachment 37490

R

And that 's all the advantage but more expensive even Chinese, Russians which build more cheaper going with J-20, T-50 for a price of 100 millions $ unit and limit the number, for F-35A a bit different many customers seems LM going for a very competitive price to 85 millions some says possible 80.

Actual Western fighters in production, mine top right

View attachment 37490

I like the gripen myself it's just a cool looking bird and a very capable aircraft in its own right the Rafale looks great also withou the refueling probe attached the French always do that to their birds I can never figure why as it increases drag why don't they go with a retractable probes imstead

 

[Jura The idiot]

Sep 19, 2016

according to DefenseNews F-35 Program Office Hopeful to Move Out on Ejection Seat Retrofit Plan This Fall

source:

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and here's the latest:
USAF completes last tests for F-35 ejection seat

The US Air Force completed electromagnetic environmental effects (EEE) testing on the Lockheed Martin F-35’s escape system 23 March, marking the last round of testing on the Martin-Baker US16E (MKk16) ejection seat.

The air force’s airworthiness engineers are analyzing the data and so far the results appear to be good, Brig Gen Scott Pleus, director of the F-35 Integration office, told FlightGlobal in a 24 March interview.

During the test, the seat’s electronic controls were hit with electricity to test their functionality, F-35 programme executive officer Lt Gen Chris Bogdan told reporters last week. The data from the EEE, helmet and dummy testing on the ejection seat will help the USAF decide whether to remove restrictions on pilots weighing less than 62kg (136lb), Bogdan says.

“We think that weight restriction could be removed anywhere from April and beyond,” he says. “We’ll start modifying airplanes in April to the new seat configurations with the new helmets, so as soon as the USAF gives it the OK, that’s up to them.”

Meanwhile, the air force is also examining the cost to qualify United Technologies Aerospace Systems (UTAS)’ ACES 5 ejection seat. It would be premature to halt that second source qualification and until the USAF receives the results from the Martin-Baker study and decides on the weight restriction, the service still has a competition to qualify the ACES 5 seat, Pleus says.

The UTAS UT’s seat would represent not only a second option for the service, but a domestic source as well. But Pleus says he is less concerned with beefing up the local industrial base and more focused on pilot safety.

“We are going to put the safest seat we possibly can and if it happens to be an American industry, great,” he says. “We believe that if the seats meets the specifications there would be no need to take a secondary look at qualifying a seat.”

When asked about the potential cost and schedule implications of qualifying the ACES 5 seat, Bogdan expressed strong support for the Martin-Baker seat. Other fixes on the US16E, including a switch that briefly delayed opening the parachute with a lightweight pilot and a lighter weight helmet, have also made the escape system safer for all pilots flying the aircraft, he says.

“I have an ejection seat on this airplane now that is better than anything in the field or projected to be in the field,” Bogdan says. “So as a programme manager I got what I need. I gave the warfighter what he asked for. Yes it was painful, yes I had to make some changes to the seat, yes it was controversial, but the seat today meets all the requirements.”

source:

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[Jura The idiot]

Mar 16, 2017

... but I'll tell you this:
just look at the Raptor, FOC declared almost ten years ago and how many upgrades has it gotten since then, and how many upgrades have been promised (and are turning into vaporware) ...

and here's a politically correct description: "The USAF has plans for fourth to fifth-generation communications, which would cover the F-22’s Link 16 radio, but they’re not yet programmes of record."
Communications gateway between F-35 and F-22 still TBD

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