Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

LowObservable said:

Nice flyby. Can anyone advise whether that kind of alpha + flap deflection is normal on other fighters at ceremonial flyby speed?

According to one source, the max is 300 knots and i doubt that you'd go much under 250. (But if anyone's got a source that says otherwise, have at it.)

Note that at 0:31, 10 s before they pass directly under the helo, lead's nose appears to be pointed right at it.

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LowObservable said:

Nice flyby. Can anyone advise whether that kind of alpha + flap deflection is normal on other fighters at ceremonial flyby speed?

According to one source, the max is 300 knots and i doubt that you'd go much under 250. (But if anyone's got a source that says otherwise, have at it.)

Note that at 0:31, 10 s before they pass directly under the helo, lead's nose appears to be pointed right at it.

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WASHINGTON, JAN. 18, 2018 - The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Belgium of thirty-four (34) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing aircraft for an estimated cost of $6.53 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.

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ASDF to deploy F-35 at Misawa base in late January

Japan's Air Self-Defense Force says it will deploy an F-35 stealth fighter later this month at its Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan.

It is the first of 42 F-35s to be delivered to the country. The advanced aircraft is Japan's next-generation mainstay fighter under a Defense Ministry plan.

The F-35 was jointly developed by the United States and 8 other countries. Its stealth capabilities make it difficult to detect by radar.

Each aircraft costs about 135 million dollars.
The Defense Ministry plans to deploy 9 more F-35s at Misawa by the end of fiscal 2018 that starts in April.

The ministry says it will fit the jets with the Norwegian-made Joint Strike Missile, or JSM, long-range cruise missile.

With a range of 500 kilometers, the missile will enable Japan to target enemy bases from within Japanese airspace.

Opponents of the deployment say the possession of cruise missiles runs counter to the nation's defense-oriented policy.

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U.S. Air Force To Get Second Female F-35 Pilot
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
Lara Seligman
Jan 29, 2018
LUKE AFB, Arizona—The U.S. Air Force finally is ready to welcome its second female F-35 pilot, now that enough aircraft have been upgraded with a new ejection seat designed to accommodate lightweight aircrew.
As of Jan. 23, a government-industry team here at Luke AFB had retrofitted eight F-35As with the new ejection seat, which eventually will equip the entire fleet, maintainers told Aerospace DAILY during a recent visit. That is enough to allow the pilot, who is transitioning from another fighter, to begin training in the F-35 in February, Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Rebecca Heyse said.

The Air Force declined to provide additional details on the pilot, including her name, or make her available for interviews until she progresses further in her training. [...]

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F-35 steering board approves plan to field Auto GCAS sooner than planned
January 30, 2018 | Courtney Albon

The F-35 joint program office announced today it has approved a plan to install automatic ground collision avoidance software on the Joint Strike Fighter five years ahead of its original schedule.

Inside Defense first reported in December the program office was awaiting a decision from the configuration steering board to finalize the plan.

In a Jan. 30 press release, F-35 Program Executive Officer Vice Adm. Mat Winter said the program plans to field the new technology by 2019.

The program had expected to incorporate Auto GCAS during its Block 4 Follow-on Modernization phase. However, as part of its new Continuous Capability Development and Delivery effort, the program is looking to incorporate new capabilities, like Auto GCAS, as well as fixes to already fielded software.

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The Defense Department is in the midst of several test and training range upgrades in preparation for F-35 initial operational test and evaluation as well as to support the fifth-generation aircraft's long-term range needs.

The department outlines the efforts in a December report to Congress that details upgrade efforts across the services. Inside the Air Force obtained the report this week.

Readying ranges to adequately test the Joint Strike Fighter's high-end capabilities and prepare its pilots to operate against true fifth-generation adversaries has been a concern of program and operational test officials for several years. The December range report details some progress in preparing to meet those demands, noting that the Air Force is working to holistically address its air, space and cyber range needs through an Operational Training Infrastructure Flight Plan and a separate Enterprise Range Plan -- both of which are still being developed.

"The ERP will document a range regionalization plan and identify the assets and planning factors needed to ensure that ranges will meet live training requirements, including those of fifth-generation aircraft, for the next 10 years," the report states.

One Air Force facility that will be key to supporting the F-35 is the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. The service is slated to begin upgrades to several of the range's threat replication systems this fiscal year, according to the report. The Air Force is also investing in an Advanced Radar Threat System designed to better replicate adversary capabilities. Fielding will occur between fiscal years 2020 and 2026 and the system will eventually be delivered to JPARC.

The Air Force is also fielding wideband and conventional Joint Threat Emitters at the Utah Test and Training Range that will support F-35 training. The service expects to buy 15 units through 2020, four of which will be delivered to the Utah range.

The Nevada Test and Training Range and the Navy's Point Mugu Sea Range in California are both slated to receive new Radar Signal Emulator systems to support F-35 operational test. Sixteen systems will initially be shared between the two complexes. The report notes that several of those systems have been delivered and the remainder will arrive by the end of March.

To complement those RSEs, the Air Force will deliver two Closed-Loop Passive Electronically Scanned Array Simulators by the end of 2019. The CLPS will simulate surface-to-air threats. The Air Force and Navy are also investing in systems that will increase the diversity of electronic warfare capabilities at their test and evaluation ranges.

The two services are also working together to demonstrate new training capabilities: the Air Force's Secure-Live-Virtual-Constructive Advanced Training Environment and the Navy's Naval Annex and LTE Cohabitability Assessment. Together, the two aim to provide an advanced waveform to support LVC training. The advanced technology demonstration is scheduled for later this year.

"If the ATD proves successful, DOD's approach would support the needs of the training community and free up valuable spectrum," the report states.

After the demonstration, the Air Force will conduct a cost-capability analysis and determine how to transition the technology into existing and future programs.

Air Force and Navy ranges also lack a cross-range battle shaping capability, which was highlighted in a recent report from the director of operational test and evaluation as a key system for F-35 IOT&E. The advanced battle shaping system allows scenarios to cross from one range to another.

In the near term, Point Mugu Sea Test Range will implement the Air Warfare Battle Shaping project, which will leverage a system already in use by the Nevada Test and Training Range called the Advanced Air-to-Air Instrumentation pod. Initial operational capability at Point Mugu is slated for this fiscal year.

Another testing need unique to fifth-generation jets is a more accurate radar cross-section measurement for low-observable platforms. The range report notes DOD is investing in a Radar Cross-Section Range Relevance Joint Improvement and Modernization project that should help to support low-observable testing throughout the modeling and simulation and prototype testing process.

The department is also seeking a new aerial target that can better represent fifth-generation capabilities. The Air Force currently flies the unmanned QF-16, which provides fourth-generation characteristics, but falls short of replicating fifth-generation jets.

"Until such a target is available, evaluation of weapons systems effectiveness against threat-representative systems at open-air ranges will be limited," the report states.

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Measurements of the noise generated by supersonic, impinging jets from full scale,
high performance tactical aircraft engines are discussed. The supersonic jet studied is the
exhaust from an F-35C, the Naval variant of the Joint Strike Fighter currently undergoing
System Design and Development in the United States. The jet impinges on a Jet Blast
Deflector – a surface angled behind the aircraft to deflect the exhaust up and away from
personnel and other aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Data from land-based
measurements with a large microphone array are compared with measurements from a
limited array on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

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Before moving into operational testing, the joint strike fighter will have to prove its mettle as a close-air support plane to the Pentagon’s independent testers, the F-35 program head said Wednesday.

This April, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation will scrutinize the F-35’s close-air support and reconnaissance capabilities during a series of flights at Edwards Air Force Base and the Point Mugu Sea Range in California, said Vice Adm. Mat Winter, who leads the F-35 Joint Program Office.

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bobbymike said:

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/02/28/the-f-35-may-be-heading-into-its-faceoff-with-the-a-10-this-april/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Before moving into operational testing, the joint strike fighter will have to prove its mettle as a close-air support plane to the Pentagon’s independent testers, the F-35 program head said Wednesday.

This April, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation will scrutinize the F-35’s close-air support and reconnaissance capabilities during a series of flights at Edwards Air Force Base and the Point Mugu Sea Range in California, said Vice Adm. Mat Winter, who leads the F-35 Joint Program Office.

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Why isn't the F-35 in Syria? The Raptor is there and the US has far more Stubbies than Raptors.

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bring_it_on said:

Why isn't the F-35 in Syria? The Raptor is there and the US has far more Stubbies than Raptors.

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There are less than 40 operational F-35As with the Hill squadrons and some of those are currently at Kadena. VMFA-121 is now permanently based out of Japan.

The F-35 will be deploying to CENTCOM this year with the VMFA-211 ( USS Essex). USAF aircraft would likely follow later.

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bobbymike said:

https://news.usni.org/2018/03/05/video-marine-f-35bs-arrive-uss-wasp-first-pacific-jsf-deployment

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bring_it_on said:

DOD investing in range improvements to support F-35 IOT&E

The Defense Department is in the midst of several test and training range upgrades in preparation for F-35 initial operational test and evaluation as well as to support the fifth-generation aircraft's long-term range needs..........


Readying ranges to adequately test the Joint Strike Fighter's high-end capabilities and prepare its pilots to operate against true fifth-generation adversaries has been a concern of program and operational test officials for several years. The December range report details some progress in preparing to meet those demands, noting that the Air Force is working to holistically address its air, space and cyber range needs through an Operational Training Infrastructure Flight Plan and a separate Enterprise Range Plan -- both of which are still being developed.


"Until such a target is available, evaluation of weapons systems effectiveness against threat-representative systems at open-air ranges will be limited," the report states.

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The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has delivered the flight clearances, simulators, threat information, and logistics system required for the Air Force’s F-35As equipped with the latest software load to employ all of its weapons throughout the full flight envelope, according to the JPO, Lockheed Martin and Air Force officials.

This milestone gives the Block 3F-configured F-35As assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron stationed at Hill and those forward-deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan—on North Korea’s doorstep—some lethal capabilities. The aircraft now can fire Raytheon’s short-range AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, the GAU-22 25mm gun, and Boeing’s precision-guided Small Diameter Bomb, all while flying up to 9Gs at 1.6 Mach.

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