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F-35 Joint Strike Fighter News, Videos and pics Thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Jura basically, it boils down to this. Link 16 is a known system with a known frequency and established system. The Russians and PRC have had years to get into Link 16 learn how it works and try and use it against it's users, one way that could be done is to home in on Link 16 transmitters.
If a Stealth is broadcasting on known frequencies it's not stealth. So far communications has been the weak point in Stealth.
Part of the reason the Serbs managed to shoot down the F117 in 1999 was they had intercepted and decrypted NATO transmissions an communications.
When the Iranians captured the RQ170 they spoofed a known communications frequency set.
remember Stealth is not just a passive technology set, It's also application of active technologies, and tactics in a stealthy manner.
If a Stealth is broadcasting on known frequencies it's not stealth. So far communications has been the weak point in Stealth.
Part of the reason the Serbs managed to shoot down the F117 in 1999 was they had intercepted and decrypted NATO transmissions an communications.
When the Iranians captured the RQ170 they spoofed a known communications frequency set.
remember Stealth is not just a passive technology set, It's also application of active technologies, and tactics in a stealthy manner.
Jura The idiot
General
I'm really unsure (as in Mar 16, 2017) about what coms work on New Generation Aircraft (most of this type of stuff is classified, I guess), so I'll leave this topic (for nowJura basically, it boils down to this. Link 16 is a known system with a known frequency and established system. The Russians and PRC have had years to get into Link 16 learn how it works and try and use it against it's users, one way that could be done is to home in on Link 16 transmitters.
If a Stealth is broadcasting on known frequencies it's not stealth. So far communications has been the weak point in Stealth.
Part of the reason the Serbs managed to shoot down the F117 in 1999 was they had intercepted and decrypted NATO transmissions an communications.
When the Iranians captured the RQ170 they spoofed a known communications frequency set.
remember Stealth is not just a passive technology set, It's also application of active technologies, and tactics in a stealthy manner.
Jura The idiot
General
I now read F-35 program chief Bogdan to retire; deputy director to be his successor
source is DefenseNewsLeadership of the F-35 program office is expected to change hands this year, with the current deputy director taking the reins of the program.
Navy Rear. Adm. Mat Winter, currently the F-35 deputy program executive officer, will be named head of the program when Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan retires this summer, the Pentagon announced. Winter will also be promoted to vice admiral.
Winter joined the F-35 office in 2016. Before that he served as the chief of Naval Research.
The F-35 will not be Winter's first experience managing a controversial, high-profile program of record. As the Navy's program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, he oversaw the development of the X-47, a stealthy unmanned aircraft that could autonomously launch from a carrier. He also was responsible for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program, which was cancelled after myriad problems including schedule slippage and changing requirements. UCLASS has now translated into a Navy program of record for an unmanned, carrier-launched tanker.
Winter has held several jobs inside the F-35 program office, even before his current job as deputy PEO. According to his Navy biography, he was executive assistant of the F-35 program director and chief engineer for joint strike fighter integrated flight and propulsion control.
Bogdan came aboard as JPO head in 2012, at a time when the F-35 program had earned itself a reputation as a programatic black hole, behind schedule and significantly overcost. In his first public comments after taking the job, Bogdan put the blame for that largely on the industrial partners, famously saying the relationship between the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin was "the worst I've ever seen."
Shortly after that speech, Lockheed had significant turnover at the top of the program, and the relationship began to improve. Still, Bogdan carved out a reputation for himself as a hard-nosed negotiator, one who was canny in using public statements to keep pressure on Lockheed.
Under his watch, the program got itself largely back on track, while costs have continued to come down. During his tenure, the F-35 achieved initial operating capability for the Marines in 2015 and the Air Force in 2016, with the Navy still to go. It also added several new customers among international partners.
Jura The idiot
General
28 minutes ago
Rear Adm. Mat Winter Nominated As Head of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Office
F-35 programme officer executive retires
related isI now read F-35 program chief Bogdan to retire; deputy director to be his successor
source is DefenseNews
Rear Adm. Mat Winter Nominated As Head of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Office
andThe former head of the Office of Naval Research and the former head of the Navy unmanned aviation development has been selected to lead the Defense Department’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program office, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.
Rear Adm. Mat Winter is now set to replace Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan as director of the Joint Strike Fighter Program, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Arlington, Va., according to the announcement. If the Senate approves his nomination, Winter will be promoted to Vice Admiral.
He is currently serving as the as deputy program executive officer of the JPO, a job he assumed in December of 2016.
Winter will take over the JPO as the Trump administration has focused on lowering the cost of the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 program. Following his election to the presidency, President-elect Trump called Bogdan twice with concerns over the cost of the aircraft. Those calls prompted an ongoing Secretary of Defense James Mattis directed review in which Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work will “oversee a review that compares F-35C and F/A-18 E/F operational capabilities and assesses the extent that F/A-18E/F improvements (an advanced Super Hornet) can be made in order to provide a competitive, cost effective, fighter aircraft alternative.”
Bogdan has served as the head of the JPO since 2012. During his tenure, the cost of all three variants of the JSF has fallen and the Marines and Air Force have achieved initial operating capability with their respective variants, according to a report in . He intends to retire following the change in command.
Previous to his job on the JPO, Winter was the Chief of Naval Research and oversaw the Office of Naval Research. Before leading ONR, Winter was the program executive officer for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation. In that role, he oversaw the landing of the first fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle on a carrier as well as guided Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike — UCLASS — program before the Office of Secretary of Defense restructured the program.
Winter is a career Naval Flight Officer with several tours as an A-6E Intruder Bombardier/Navigator.
He is a 1984 graduate of Notre Dame and has degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and another the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces, according to his official Navy biography.
F-35 programme officer executive retires
Lt Gen Chris Bogdan will step down from his post as F-35 programme executive officer this spring and a US Navy admiral has been appointed to take his place.
On 28 March, the Pentagon announced President Donald Trump’s nomination of Rear Adm Mathias Winter for JSF programme director. Winter currently serves as deputy programme executive officer for the Lightning II and until last fall served as chief of naval research.
Air Force Gen Bogdan is handing off the programme to Winter just before the F-35C is expected to reach initial operational capability with the navy in 2019. The F-35B reached IOC in 2015 and the Air Force’s F-35A achieved IOC in August 2016, though without full Block 3F capabilities. Winter is also entering the office as the Pentagon considers Boeing’s F/A-18 as a carrier aircraft alternative to the F-35C, which accounts for the smallest share of Lockheed’s programme of record.
Bogdan arrived at the Joint Programme Office in 2012, making him the longest serving general in the post. Bogdan had vowed to stay with the F-35 until he turned the programme around. Though unit costs decreased under his tenure, the aircraft is still experiencing communication gaps and lacks full moving target capability.
Jura The idiot
General
oh really?
Marines Would Save $1B If F-35 Entered Service Faster; F-18 Hornets Struggling To Stay Mission-Ready
Marines Would Save $1B If F-35 Entered Service Faster; F-18 Hornets Struggling To Stay Mission-Ready
it's USNI NewsThe Marine Corps could save about a billion dollars, reduce risk for pilots seeing too few flight hours each month and bring additional high-end capability to the fleet if the service were able to buy its F-35B and C Joint Strike Fighters at a faster pace, the deputy commandant for aviation said on Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Jon Davis said at a House Armed Services tactical air and land subcommittee hearing the Marine Corps ought to be buying several more airplanes a year than is currently in the Pentagon budget, to help move to the new planes faster and retire legacy F/A-18 Hornets – which are struggling to get flight-ready in the first place and then more often than not break after just one sortie.
“That’s the number-one thing I could ask from this committee is to keep that recapitalization on track, to get us into those next-generation strike fighters as soon as we can,” Davis told lawmakers.
Davis and other Marine Corps officials have long called the current F-35B acquisition rate “anemic.” Current plans call for the Marines buying 16, 20, 20, 20 and 21 F-35Bs a year from Fiscal Year 2017 to 2021. Davis said he needs to boost that to 19, 23, 23, 23 and 30.
That higher rate, he told the subcommittee, “allows me to get out of F-18 – vice trying to take that (Hornet fleet) to 2030, push that left to 2025, 2026. If there’s one thing I could ask on the TACAIR side for the United States Marine Corps, besides funding our enabler accounts, would be those new airplanes. That would help us the most.”
Davis said he asked for the three additional planes for 2017, but they didn’t make it through the Pentagon-level review and into the final budget request.
“The F-18s I’m flying today, they’ve got a 55-percent break rate – so that means they’re up in the morning, they go off on that first sortie of the day, they come back and they’re down,” he said, explaining the need to hurry and replace them.
“So usually we got two or three sorties out of those airplanes back in the day; we can’t do that right now. These are tried and true war dogs, they’re great airplanes, but they’re tired.”
The maintenance challenges with the legacy Hornets affect the service in a variety of ways, but Davis told USNI News after the hearing that there’s a major fiscal cost to keeping the Hornets through 2030.
“I can save a billion dollars in [operations and maintenance] by getting out of F-18 early” if he could boost the F-35 ramp rate to the ideal rate he outlined to the committee, he said.
“You heard me talk about that ramp rate – 19, 23, 23, 23, 30, 37 and 23 (a year), and then you’re in your pipe and attrition airplanes,” he said. Whereas that current plan would keep Hornets in service until 2030, “if I stood up all my squadrons by 2025, 2026, I’m out of Harrier, I’m out of Hornet, I’m flying new airplanes, new metal. That drives cost out, and also drives high-capability in.”
Asked what the greatest risk was in the , , Davis again came back to the F-35 procurement rate.
“I think my number-one risk is a slower ramp than I‘ve got right now, and then I’ve got to continue to fly legacy planes longer, in particular the F-18,” he said, which could happen if the Marine Corps continues to see cuts, either during the internal Pentagon budgeting process or from Congress, due to ongoing defense spending caps.
“It’s been a great airplane for us … but it’s time to move on. The Navy’s moving on, and as they go with F-18 we go with F-18. So I don’t really want to be left out in the end with I’m the only one operating the airplane. They were going to fly them in the reserves until 2034, they might try to move that left. I don’t want to be caught out with maintaining the only old F-18s in the nation.”
One solution to get away from Hornets faster, regardless of F-35 procurement rates, is to prioritize transitioning Hornet squadrons to the F-35 ahead of AV-8B Harrier squadrons. Davis previously told USNI News that the squadron transition plan could be changed if Hornet readiness problems persisted and the Harriers held up – and with that appearing to be the case, he told USNI News today that the next five squadrons to transition would probably be Hornet squadrons, compared to the original plan of three more Hornet squadrons and then some Harrier squadrons.
VMFA-122 is starting to transition now and will be followed by VMFA-314 and VMFA-225, “and then TBD – my sense is, if I was telling you now, the next two would be F-18 squadrons. You’ve got to keep the Harriers sound, keep the spare parts, and we’ve been doing a good job with that. But I think the next five will probably be F-18, certainly the next three,” he said.
For Davis, the effect of keeping the Hornets in the fleet is more than just fiscal – lives are on the line.
Due to so few planes being ready to fly – only 146 of 326 tactical airplanes can fly today, he said, with the bulk of the problem being in the Hornet fleet – Hornet pilots only flew 9.1 hours last month. They should be flying at least 16 hours a month, with the “tactical hard deck” – the level where pilots can keep their qualifications – set at 11 hours a month.
“I worry about the F-18s,” he told the committee when asked about his pilots being ready for a high-end fight today.
“I think at the higher-end threat we could have a hard time being successful. We’ll still go fight because we like to fight, we like to do what we have to do. But bottom line, I think we might have less success, we might have more losses. We’ll go … but I think we could have some additional losses.”
He told USNI News after the hearing that recent airplane mishaps – major incidents resulting in death or injury, and the loss of or significant damage to a plane – have not been caused by the material condition of the plane, but some have been related to pilot inexperience.
“To be very honest with you guys, we haven’t crashed any because of a material problem, but for low readiness, we had one mishap at Twentynine Palms where a pilot landed between the runway and the taxiway at night. That’s not supposed to happen, but it did, so when you do the forensics and the why, he hadn’t flown a lot,” Davis explained.
“Other guys in the squadron were flying, so there were decisions about how we keep track of our young guys and young women who are flying airplanes. So I think the bottom line is, as we work our way through and work ourselves out of this readiness hole, not only we have good airplanes, we’ve got to make good decisions about how we fly them.”
He said the pilot involved in that crash is back flying Hornets but under a more structured program that takes into account more hazardous flight conditions such as weather, night-time and other factors. Davis said the Marine Corps was considering what “box,” or set of conditions, young pilots should be flying in, given the current inability to give them more practice.
Asked if the service would formally change how young pilots would focus their limited time in the air, if only allowed nine hours of flight a month, Davis told USNI News, “I have every intention in the time I have left to fix the nine hours. And part of that is, if I can take three squadrons down quicker (and transition to F-35), I’m going to have more up F-18s to go put the other remaining pilots into. So that’s the strategy in that – let’s collapse the pool of really good airplanes that we have, high-reliability airplanes, maybe lower flight hour airplanes … to put those in the hands of our young aviators.”
Much more rounds for others A-10 have 1170 rds !, F-15 940, F-15E 510, F-16 also, F-22 480
The F-35 is equipped to use a GAU-22A 25mm four barrel rotary autocannon. It is a smaller (by 20 percent) and lighter (by 15 percent) version of the 122 kg (270 pound), five barrel GAU-12 long used by the AV-8B Harrier. The GAU-22A also has a lower maximum rate of fire (3,300 rounds per minute compared to 4,200). The GAU-22A carries 182 rounds for the internal version used by the land based F-35A and 220 rounds for the external version used by the carrier based F-35B and F...-35C. Max range for the 25mm FAP round is 3,600 meters although best accuracy is achieved at under 2,500 meters. The 25mmx137 FAP (Frangible Armor Piercing) round is designed to penetrate the armor of most IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicles) and it only takes a few rounds to destroy or disable aerial targets like fighters or helicopters. The GAU-22A is usually fired in one second (or less) bursts (55 rounds max) to conserve ammo. Even with half second bursts the internal version is only good for six or seven bursts. With variable settings for rate of fire that can be increased to a dozen or so bursts.
Previously (since 1959) the U.S. Air Force used the 92 kg (202 pound) M61 “Vulcan”, a six barrel 20mm autocannon which fired at the rate of 6,000 100 g (3.5 ounce) shells a minute (100 a second). F-16s carry 511 rounds for this weapon which usually fires a high explosive shell. The F-35, like later models of the F-16, have a computer controlled aiming system for the autocannon that can be used effectively against ground as well as aerial targets. This enabled the F-16 to operate more effectively in ground support missions that required some cannon fire.
Jura The idiot
General
BAE Systems introduces F35B simulator for Royal Navy carriers
Aircraft Carriers III
too
I already put intoA new flight simulator for the F-35B Lightning II aircraft is now ready to help prepare pilots to take the real aircraft on flight trials on the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth next year.
The simulator will test pilots’ skills to the limits as they practise landing on the deck of the new aircraft carrier in a range of sea and weather conditions provided by the simulator, British defense technology company BAE Systems announced on Wednesday.
BAE Systems said the £2M simulator facility offers a 360-degree immersive experience for pilots to fly the jet to and from the UK carrier. It comprises a cockpit moved by an electronic motion platform and a full representation of the ship’s flying control tower (FLYCO), where a landing signal officer on board the carrier will control aviation operations.
Over the coming months the simulator will be used by UK and US military test pilots who have experience of flying F-35s on US carriers.
The pilots will practise ski jump short take-offs and vertical landings that use both the vertical thrust from the jet engine and aerodynamic lift from the wings, allowing the aircraft to take-off and land on the carrier with increased weapon and fuel loads compared to predecessor aircraft.
Peter ‘Wizzer’ Wilson, BAE Systems’ test pilot for the short take-off and vertical landing variant on the F-35 programme, said the simulator trials will provide engineers with the data to begin flight trials on HMS Queen Elizabeth, the First of Class aircraft carrier in 2018.
“The immersive experience is as near to the real thing as possible. The data will show us exactly what will happen when F-35 pilots fly to and from the Queen Elizabeth carriers,” Wilson said. “The trials we can run through the simulator are far more extensive than what we will do in the actual flight trials because we can run and re-run each trial until we have all the data we need. The simulator provides greater cost efficiency for the overall programme and is extremely important to the success of the first flight trials.”
The new simulator replaces a previous version which was first built in the 1980s to develop technology for the Harrier jump-jet and the Hawk advanced jet trainer before being converted for F-35.
Aircraft Carriers III
too
BAE Systems introduces F35B simulator for Royal Navy carriers
I already put into
Aircraft Carriers III
too
Good job Bub, maybe you and I could drag our sorry butts over to the UK and Obi Wan could take us down and let us "saddle up" that simulator.... I could get if off the ramp, IF, I could find the start button??? bringing it back aboard ship??? that could get dicey
Jura The idiot
General
now I read
source:I vividly remember Chris Bogdan’s as the effective head of the F-35 program.
It was at the Air Force Association’s annual September conference in 2012 and he said, very simply and quite passionately that the relationship between contractor Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office was “the worst I’ve ever seen.” He set the tone for his stewardship very quickly and simply, saying, “Here comes a little bit of straight talk.” But Lt. Gen. Bogdan is retiring, having helped right the listing JSF program (his predecessor, Adm. Venlet, helped a great deal) and built a modicum of trust among lawmakers (we knowremains a careful skeptic) and redefined the government’s relationship with Lockheed. He led the program through IOC for both the Marines and the Air Force. Now he gets to go fishing for a little while.
His replacement, (almost) Vice. Adm. Mathias Winter, is not likely to come out swinging as Bogdan did.
“Adm. Winter is a safe choice to serve as PEO because he knows the program inside out and has all the necessary technical credentials,” says defense consultant Loren Thompson. “General Bogdan was the right leader for a time when the political system had not yet fully embraced the fighter, but now the main issue is securing enough funding each year to sustain production at economical rates.”
The most difficult issues Winter is likely to face in the short term (besides letting President Trump claim all the credit for lowering program costs) are the battle to keep up the numbers for the Navy purchase of the F-35C and the overall buy of the F-35 across all three services. The Air Force plans to buy 1,763 F-35As. The Marines plan to buy 353 F-35Bs and 67 F-35Cs. The Navy, which has been most cautious about committing to the F-35 even as it faces grave readiness problems with its F-18 fleet, plans to buy only 260 of the carrier variant.
Winter may help convince the Navy to buy , though I’m skeptical given how Adm. Venlet fared with the Navy during his tenure.
“Having a naval aviator in the PEO’s position may help smooth the transition to F-35s on carrier decks. Although sea trials of the fighter’s carrier variant have gone extremely well, the Navy will be the last service to achieve initial operating capability, and there may still be some ambivalence about F-35 in the Super Hornet community,” Thompson argues. “The Navy must have F-35 to assure its effectiveness in future conflicts, and Adm. Winter can help sell that message.”
Winter, one of the Navy’s most experienced acquisition professionals, is steeped in the F-35 program and helped Bogdan prepare the data for the review of the costs and capabilities of the F-18 and the F-35 ordered by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. We’ll watch him and the program as carefully as we can. And we wish him well in managing the biggest conventional defense program in the world.