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

so,
US Air Force conducts airstrikes with F-35 for first time ever
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The U.S. Air Force has finally flown its variant of the F-35 in combat, using two of the aircraft to take out an ISIS tunnel network and weapons cache in Iraq on April 30.

Tuesday’s airstrikes — the first U.S. use of the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing model at war — follow the combat employment
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.

According to U.S. Air Forces Central Command, the airstrike occurred at Wadi Ashai, in northeast Iraq. An April 24 news release from U.S. Central Command stated that ISIS fighters “have been attempting to move munitions, equipment and personnel” to Wadi Ashai in order to “set conditions for their resurgence,” prompting a counter-offensive by Iraqi Security Forces and supported by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve.

“The F-35As conducted the airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike an entrenched Daesh tunnel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains, a location able to threaten friendly forces,” stated the AFCENT release, which used an alternative name for ISIS.

Further information about the event, including whether the strikes were successful, was not made available in the release.

An Air Force airstrike using the F-35A has been widely anticipated for weeks, after the service deployed the fighter jet to Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates on April 15. The service has not specified how many F-35s are now operating in the Middle East, but all jets are from the 388th Fighter Wing and the 419th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

The F-35, made by Lockheed Martin, is the U.S. military’s newest fighter jet. The program has been beset by cost and schedule overruns since its start about 20 years ago, and the Government Accountability Office estimates that the program will cost in excess of $1 trillion over its lifetime.

F-35 operators deployed to Al Dhafra praised the utility of the aircraft’s high-end sensor suite and computers in a combat environment.

“We have the ability to gather, fuse and pass so much information, that we make every friendly aircraft more survivable and lethal,” said Lt. Col. Yosef Morris, 4th Fighter Squadron commander and F-35A pilot. “That, combined with low-observable technology, allows us to really complement any combined force package and be ready to support AOR [area of responsibility] contingencies.”

Staff Sgt. Karl Tesch, 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron weapons technician, added that “this jet is smarter, a lot smarter, and so it can do more, and it helps you out more when loading munitions.”
 
Today at 9:58 AM
so,
US Air Force conducts airstrikes with F-35 for first time ever
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related:
U.S. Air Force’s F-35A Jets With Radar Reflectors And External AIM-9X Missiles Carry Out First Airstrikes In Iraq
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oops it's half past twelve, need to get ready the bike ready right now LOL no hidden message here, just can't repost the text
 

Brumby

Major
Lockheed Develops Rack to Make F-35A/C a Six-Shooter
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ARLINGTON, Va. — The builder of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter has designed a new weapons rack to enable the aircraft to carry two more missiles internally.
The new rack, called Sidekick, enables each of the two weapons bays of the Air Force F-35A and Navy carrier-capable F-35C to carry three AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) instead of the current two, for a total of six internally carried AMRAAMs.
Speaking May 1 to reporters at a Lockheed Martin media briefing, a company F-35 test pilot, Tony ‘Brick’ Wilson, said the rack was developed entirely with company internal research and development funds.
The rack is not compatible with the vertical lift Marine Corps F-35B version, which has smaller weapons bay.
The F-35 can carry more AMRAAMs on external pylons, but Wilson pointed out that carrying two more internally preserves the stealth characteristics of the F-35.
“The extra missiles add a little weight but are not adding extra drag,” Wilson said.
While this is a known development, it is still good to know it is progressing.
upload_2019-5-2_9-45-5.png
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Via emperor
But the ASDF cannot simply modify the planes to remove the OBOGS and use liquid-oxygen systems like those in the F-15, its current mainstay, because that would break the terms of its deal with Washington. This is a major downside to buying foreign jets.

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F-35 crash shows problems still lurk behind stealth fighter
Oxygen supply system raises questions as search for pilot and plane continues


TETSURO KOSAKA, Nikkei senior staff writer
APRIL 23, 2019 12:16 JST

TOKYO -- In the weeks since a Japanese F-35A stealth fighter jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. and Japan have not yet found either the plane or the cause of the incident. But it could be linked to a system that has bedeviled the American military for years.

All F-35s have onboard oxygen generation systems, or OBOGS, which draw oxygen from the surrounding air and supply it to the pilot at the high concentration necessary to operate at high altitudes. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have used OBOGS for more than three decades, in models including the F-16 and F/A-18 as well as certain training planes.

But since the U.S. began using OBOGS in the F-22 in 2008, there have been more than 20 cases of F-22 pilots experiencing symptoms indicating a lack of oxygen, apparently due to problems with the system. An F-22A crashed in November 2010 in an incident that may have resulted from an oxygen shortage.

Low levels of oxygen in the bloodstream -- known as hypoxia -- can cause sweating, headaches and dizziness, followed by vision problems and trouble making decisions, and eventually loss of consciousness. After the 2010 crash, the U.S. military temporarily stopped using OBOGS in the F-22 while it worked to address the issue, in part by replacing components in the system.

But the problem persisted in multiple jet models, including the F-35A. The military has not worked out the cause but reportedly has increased the emergency oxygen supply provided to pilots in case the OBOGS fails, among other precautions. Put bluntly, it is employing every trick it can think of to keep using the system.

With the Japan incident, the Air Self-Defense Force pilot called a halt to his training exercise just before the crash. This suggests that he realized something was wrong, after which the situation quickly deteriorated. That would fit with hypoxia caused by an OBOGS malfunction.

Such problems are a risk in the modern era. These days, all aircraft, civilian or military, are filled with electronics requiring complex software to run. As such, new planes must be put through a series of test flights to find and correct any problems in the code.

Test pilots, as well as the first pilots to operate new models after their rollout, must fly without knowing whether bugs might still lurk in their planes' programming. The task is a dangerous one.

The ASDF grounded all of its F-35As after the crash. At this point, it is impossible to tell whether the OBOGS might have been involved in the incident. But whether or not this turns out to be the case, given the long-running issues with the system in the U.S., Japan must also consider it suspicious.

But the ASDF cannot simply modify the planes to remove the OBOGS and use liquid-oxygen systems like those in the F-15, its current mainstay, because that would break the terms of its deal with Washington. This is a major downside to buying foreign jets.

There is one other concern. In June 2017, the USS Fitzgerald, an American destroyer equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, collided with a Philippine containership off the Japanese coast, killing seven people on board. The captain and another officer were court-martialed for criminal negligence. But the U.S. Navy recently made the unusual decision to withdraw the charges.

Like modern fighter jets, Aegis-equipped vessels are full of electronics. The accident prompted speculation that the Fitzgerald could have been hacked or hit with an electromagnetic pulse attack that caused systems to malfunction.

With military secrets involved, the truth remains a mystery. But the strange decision to withdraw charges over an incident that caused multiple deaths raises the possibility that hacking was found to have been involved, leading the military to conclude that the officers were blamed in error.

There are worries that the F-35A and the F-22 could be hacked -- perhaps during system updates -- to plant the seeds for future software problems. The U.S. military is believed to be looking into this risk with respect to the OBOGS malfunctions.

A national security source said of a recent piece on the American scramble to keep the F-35's secrets safe from Russia and China: "I agree with it, but the situation is more serious than that," the source said. What that could mean remains a mystery of its own.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Via emperor
But the ASDF cannot simply modify the planes to remove the OBOGS and use liquid-oxygen systems like those in the F-15, its current mainstay, because that would break the terms of its deal with Washington. This is a major downside to buying foreign jets.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


F-35 crash shows problems still lurk behind stealth fighter
Oxygen supply system raises questions as search for pilot and plane continues


TETSURO KOSAKA, Nikkei senior staff writer
APRIL 23, 2019 12:16 JST

TOKYO -- In the weeks since a Japanese F-35A stealth fighter jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. and Japan have not yet found either the plane or the cause of the incident. But it could be linked to a system that has bedeviled the American military for years.

All F-35s have onboard oxygen generation systems, or OBOGS, which draw oxygen from the surrounding air and supply it to the pilot at the high concentration necessary to operate at high altitudes. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have used OBOGS for more than three decades, in models including the F-16 and F/A-18 as well as certain training planes.

But since the U.S. began using OBOGS in the F-22 in 2008, there have been more than 20 cases of F-22 pilots experiencing symptoms indicating a lack of oxygen, apparently due to problems with the system. An F-22A crashed in November 2010 in an incident that may have resulted from an oxygen shortage.

Low levels of oxygen in the bloodstream -- known as hypoxia -- can cause sweating, headaches and dizziness, followed by vision problems and trouble making decisions, and eventually loss of consciousness. After the 2010 crash, the U.S. military temporarily stopped using OBOGS in the F-22 while it worked to address the issue, in part by replacing components in the system.

But the problem persisted in multiple jet models, including the F-35A. The military has not worked out the cause but reportedly has increased the emergency oxygen supply provided to pilots in case the OBOGS fails, among other precautions. Put bluntly, it is employing every trick it can think of to keep using the system.

With the Japan incident, the Air Self-Defense Force pilot called a halt to his training exercise just before the crash. This suggests that he realized something was wrong, after which the situation quickly deteriorated. That would fit with hypoxia caused by an OBOGS malfunction.

Such problems are a risk in the modern era. These days, all aircraft, civilian or military, are filled with electronics requiring complex software to run. As such, new planes must be put through a series of test flights to find and correct any problems in the code.

Test pilots, as well as the first pilots to operate new models after their rollout, must fly without knowing whether bugs might still lurk in their planes' programming. The task is a dangerous one.

The ASDF grounded all of its F-35As after the crash. At this point, it is impossible to tell whether the OBOGS might have been involved in the incident. But whether or not this turns out to be the case, given the long-running issues with the system in the U.S., Japan must also consider it suspicious.

But the ASDF cannot simply modify the planes to remove the OBOGS and use liquid-oxygen systems like those in the F-15, its current mainstay, because that would break the terms of its deal with Washington. This is a major downside to buying foreign jets.

There is one other concern. In June 2017, the USS Fitzgerald, an American destroyer equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, collided with a Philippine containership off the Japanese coast, killing seven people on board. The captain and another officer were court-martialed for criminal negligence. But the U.S. Navy recently made the unusual decision to withdraw the charges.

Like modern fighter jets, Aegis-equipped vessels are full of electronics. The accident prompted speculation that the Fitzgerald could have been hacked or hit with an electromagnetic pulse attack that caused systems to malfunction.

With military secrets involved, the truth remains a mystery. But the strange decision to withdraw charges over an incident that caused multiple deaths raises the possibility that hacking was found to have been involved, leading the military to conclude that the officers were blamed in error.

There are worries that the F-35A and the F-22 could be hacked -- perhaps during system updates -- to plant the seeds for future software problems. The U.S. military is believed to be looking into this risk with respect to the OBOGS malfunctions.

A national security source said of a recent piece on the American scramble to keep the F-35's secrets safe from Russia and China: "I agree with it, but the situation is more serious than that," the source said. What that could mean remains a mystery of its own.

This is nothing more than speculation Hendrick, at this stage we know that we lost an F-35A model aircraft and a Japanese pilot, that's all we know, that's all the general public knows.. innuendo and making up stories do nothing for getting at the truth, hopefully if we find the pilot and aircraft, we may gain some insight into what really happened....

So while there are those, maybe yourself included who can't wait to cast judgement on this aircraft, its Japanese manufacturer, or its Japanese pilot, or even more fun the United States or LockMart?? intelligent people searching for the truth, maybe your one of those? will hopefully resolve this mystery to everyone's satisfaction...

well, except those in the first group????
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
This is nothing more than speculation Hendrick, at this stage we know that we lost an F-35A model aircraft and a Japanese pilot, that's all we know, that's all the general public knows.. innuendo and making up stories do nothing for getting at the truth, hopefully if we find the pilot and aircraft, we may gain some insight into what really happened....

So while there are those, maybe yourself included who can't wait to cast judgement on this aircraft, its Japanese manufacturer, or its Japanese pilot, or even more fun the United States or LockMart?? intelligent people searching for the truth, maybe your one of those? will hopefully resolve this mystery to everyone's satisfaction...

well, except those in the first group????

I don't make any judgement at all. I posted the article to show the irony and powerless of Japanese to decide their own fate. Even as small as replacing oxygen supplied equipment A come down for the decendant of people who once make Zero and Nakajima and Kawasaki
I have no doubt they would prefer to design their own plane but can't
 
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