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

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Well it happened. Congratulations Jura, would you like a Parade?

This report only gages based on October 1 2017- September 30 2018.
There mission rate went down but 5% Jura.
I mean CV22B went down by 7% RC135W dropped 5.5% and lord help the T6C at 10%
 
Poland and the F-35: First F-35s Land in Poland as Part of Rapid Forge Exercise
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


View attachment 53066
four F-35s arrived together with two F-15E in this configuration:
840_472_matched__pvijtl_F35EPPW07.198355EditSource02.png


there're speculations why inside the source
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


now I checked the map and the nearest place to Powidz Airbase I've ever visited is Strzelno, about a quarter of century ago LOL to see the rotunda etc.:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 
Last edited:

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
four F-35s arrived together with two F-15E in this configuration:
840_472_matched__pvijtl_F35EPPW07.198355EditSource02.png


there're speculations why inside the source
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


now I checked the map and the nearest place to Powidz Airbase I've ever visited is Strzelno, about a quarter of century ago LOL to see the rotunda etc.:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

and here we see the F-15E pulling some G with 2 600 gallon external tanks, (likely empty, LOL) and a nice load of ordinance and a sniper pod, or two or three.....
 
it's moderately interesting The first F-35A for the “Green Mountain Boys” is also the first Lightning II for the U.S. Air National Guard.
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The first F-35A Lightning II destined to the
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
made its first flight from Lockheed Martin Ft. Worth facility, Texas, on Jul. 31, 2019.

The aircraft, AF17-5265, is the first of 20 stealth jets that will be taken on charge by the 158th Fighter Wing at Burlington Air National Guard Base, Burlington, Vermont, starting in September 2019: the unit is slated to be equipped with 18 aircraft and two reserve aircraft.

The “Green Mountain Boys” have ceased their F-16C/D Block 30 operations
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
, after flying the “Viper” (as the aircraft is dubbed in the fighter pilots community) for 33 years.

As the unit prepares to operate their first 5th generation aircraft, local residents are still opposing the basing of the F-35s at Burlington because of concerns related to the “
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
” associated with the jet (including the exposure to the increased noise generated by the Joint Strike Fighter.)
 
noted
Block 4 Upgrades Prompt Rise in F-35 Program Cost
8/2/2019
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The total cost of the F-35 program grew by $25 billion in 2018—or about $95 billion when adjusting for inflation—in part because of a new slate of upgrades known as Block 4, the Pentagon said in an
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
published Aug. 1.

Acquisition alone—including research and development, procurement, and military construction costs—rose by $15.3 billion compared to the 2012 baseline, or $22.2 billion when adjusted for inflation.

The Pentagon also noted a dispute between its cost assessment and program evaluation shop, which believes Joint Strike Fighter operations and sustainment costs are rising, and the F-35 Joint Program Office, which argues those costs are shrinking.

Lifetime costs for the entire fleet of US-operated F-35s span design and development, purchase of the jets, repairs, spare parts, modifications, upgrades, operations, military construction, and inflation over a 53-year period. The Air Force flies the F-35A; the Marine Corps the B variant; and the Navy the C variant.

Block 4 upgrades in development will modify many existing jets with new systems and weapons, and will later be added to the production line as new capabilities are needed to counter new threats. Overall development costs, which rose by $10.5 billion compared to the 2012 baseline, include the price of Block 4, designing F-35s to carry nuclear weapons, the growing costs of the Autonomic Logistics Information System, and higher expenses associated with deployability. When adjusted for inflation, development costs grew $12.4 billion.

Production costs went up, too. The most basic F-35 cost metric, known as the unit recurring flyaway cost that covers the aircraft and engine, rose by $2.1 million per airplane for the F-35A, $2.8 million for F-35B, and $900,000 for the C model. Those numbers reflect costs incurred during production prior to the ongoing Lot 11, the Pentagon said, after which the unit price is expected to plummet.

For sustainment, however, the Pentagon’s independent cost estimators parted ways with the JPO—reflecting
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
earlier this year. The CAPE office estimates that operations and sustainment grew by $9.7 billion (or $12 billion when including inflation), but the JPO said O&S decreased by $23.1 billion (or $8.5 billion when including inflation).

The program office’s O&S estimate dropped by nearly 4 percent from fiscal 2017 to 2018, following guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. That dictates that estimates should account for inflation, the latest beddowns, recent labor costs, and sustainment-related changes.

Cost per flying hour dropped 2.3 percent for the F-35A, 1.8 percent for the F-35B, and 5.3 percent for the F-35C—the most up-to-date aircraft in US service. F-35A and F-35B costs dropped based on OSD guidance, while the F-35C’s cost per flying hour fell from changes to the propulsion cost estimate.
7 minutes ago
money now and to the future:
Department of Defense Comprehensive Selected Acquisition Reports for the Annual 2018 Reporting Requirement as Updated by the President’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Program Acquisition Cost Summary (Dollars in Millions)
Grand Total 2,022,901.9
 
Last edited:
I share this PR stuff because of the location I mean 1942 and the first ever carrier-on-carrier
:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

·
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Japan-based US
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
ship
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
LHD1 operating her embarked Marine Corps F-35B STOVL Joint Strike Fighters in the Coral Sea 1 Aug, just after taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia. She's been underway with the 31st
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
Marine Expeditionary Unit since early June

EBLoHrXWsAEg_d6


EBLoHrbXkAUS8j9


EBLoHrcWwAE_a0K


EBLoHrcX4AAQlab
 

Brumby

Major
ANALYSIS: F-35's next engine to reach for more range

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


One criticism – among many – of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is that the fighter lacks the range needed to conduct long-range stealth strike missions. While Lockheed Martin has studied adding external fuel tanks to extend the aircraft's range, slinging the bulky hardware under the F-35 would ruin its minimal radar cross section, giving away the stealth fighter's chief advantage.

In place of extra onboard fuel, the US Navy (USN) has boosted the flight endurance of its F-35C variant by using its Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as a substitute in-flight refuelling tanker. The service is also funding the development of four Boeing MQ-25A Stingray unmanned in-flight refuelling tankers for $805 million.

Still, the F-35's range handicap remains particularly dangerous for hypothetical combat operations against mainland China – shorter endurance might mean that air bases, in-flight refuelling tankers and aircraft carriers have to be deployed within the threat envelope of Chinese defences. In addition, it reduces the number of potential bases from which the F-35 can operate effectively.

The F-35A used by the US Air Force (USAF) has an internal fuel tank capacity of 8,280kg (18,300lb) and a range of 1,200nm (2,200km). The USN’s F-35C has an internal fuel tank capacity of 9,000kg and a range of 1,200nm. The US Marine Corps' short take-off and vertical-landing F-35B has a fuel capacity of 6,130kg and the shortest range of the three types, at only 900nm.

The USAF is looking at how the F-35 can do more with its fuel capacity. One important effort is the service's Adaptive Engine Transition Program, which aims to create a novel engine that has not only more power, but also more fuel economy.

Adaptive engines work by varying the volume of air flow that bypasses the turbine core by opening a third stream when flying in cruise mode. This third flow – in addition to core flow and bypass flow – increases the engine's efficiency in producing thrust and also creates a new heat sink within the engine, allowing for further fuel efficiency gains from increased core temperature. The result is an engine that can play the turbofan's efficiency trick of running a large bypass ratio when cruising – while retaining the raw power of a turbojet in other situations.

The concept is not unique to the F-35 programme. As revealed at this summer's Paris air show, Eurofighter Typhoon is researching an enhanced Rolls-Royce EJ200 engine to improve thrust, range and persistence using "adaptive power and cooling techniques".

PERFORMANCE GAIN

The USAF believes adaptive engines could provide 25% improved fuel efficiency, 10% increased thrust, and significantly improved thermal management. GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney (P&W) were each awarded contracts worth $1 billion in 2016 to develop adaptive engine demonstrators by September 2021. GE Aviation is developing the XA100 demonstrator and P&W the XA101 demonstrator. If the programme is successful, the F-35's P&W F135 engine could be swapped out for one of the new adaptive units in the mid-2020s.

For its part, GE Aviation announced the successful completion of the XA100 detailed design process in February 2019. The company believes the engine could result in a 35% increase in range and a 50% improvement in loiter time. That range improvement applied to the F-35C would add 420nm – taking range for the USN's variant to 1,620nm.

"In the Pacific theatre of operations this is significant, allowing either operations from greater distances or more time to operate at the combat edge," says USAF Major General Larry Stutzriem (retired), now director of research with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. "This improvement could also allow F-35s to drop from their tanker support earlier, keeping those extremely vulnerable aircraft further away from adversary defences."

However, a 10% increase in thrust will not be a game-changer for the F-35, he says.

"With respect to improved thrust, there is nothing the F-35 will be enabled to do that it can't do now," says Stutzriem. "That said, many operating features will improve with additional thrust. For example, take-off roll can decrease marginally with additional thrust, and that has positive benefits."

Ultimately, the addition of an adaptive engine could make the stealth fighter more lethal if it extended its range. However, extra range would be unusable if it comes at the cost of the aircraft's mission capability rate, an area where the F-35 already struggles.

Notably, despite several reassurances from Lockheed Martin over the past year, the F-35 will fail to meet an 80% mission capability rate by September 2019, as directed by the US Department of Defense, said defence secretary Mark Esper during his Senate confirmation hearing on 17 July. That 80% mission capability rate goal applies to key combat aircraft, including the F-35, Lockheed Martin F-22, Lockheed Martin F-16 and Boeing F/A-18E/F.

"An important aspect of the adaptive engine design involves reliability and sustainability," says Stutzriem. "The threat environment involving peer competitors demands an increase, not a decrease in overall reliability and availability of engine components."
 
Top