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

[bobbymike]

https://seapowermagazine.org/navy-c...hibs-to-exploit-strike-fighters-capabilities/

 

[bobbymike]

F-135 huge engine contact

http://newsroom.pw.utc.com/news?item=123313&linkId=74642886

 

[bobbymike]

https://atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FINAL-Air-Power-Domain-Report-WEB-1.pdf

 

[zebra159357]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-sell-turkey-f-35-jets-for-no-syria-invasion-2019-10

 

[zebra159357]

https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/10/10/south-korea-to-buy-20-more-f-35-jets/

 

[seruriermarshal]

The Netherlands to buy nine more F-35s for $1.1 billion

https://www.defensenews.com/global/...rlands-to-buy-nine-more-f-35s-for-11-billion/

 

[seruriermarshal]

Another F-35 squadron

Eielson Air Force Base reactivated the 356th Fighter Squadron and named a new commander on Oct. 10, in preparation for the arrival of the U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs to interior Alaska.


https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Art...elson-afb-reactivates-356th-fighter-squadron/

 

[seruriermarshal]

The aviation-centric amphibious assault ship USS AMERICA LHA6 working up 8 Oct off the Southern California coast carrying 13 Marine Corps F-35B JSF Joint Strike Fighters of VMFA122. The ship will transfer this fall to Japan

 

[TomcatViP]

An F-35 pilot describes how he landed safely after losing one of his flight computers in mid-air

In May 2019, Capt. Robert Larson, a 61st Fighter Squadron student pilot, was on a training mission when he found himself faced with an in-flight emergency. Larson called upon his human performance optimization training and saved not only himself but the F-35A Lightning II he was flying from any damage.

"I was pretty high up, about 34,000 feet, and all of a sudden everything got really quiet," said Larson. "I tried to call my flight lead and realized I couldn't talk to anybody. I started descending, working through my checklist and rocking my wings to try and let my flight lead know that I didn't have a radio. As I got further into the checklist I realized I had lost one of the flight computers that was responsible for controlling oxygen, pressurization, and some parts of communication."

There might be lessons to learn for some here.

Source:
https://www.insider.com/f35-pilot-lands-safely-after-losing-flight-computer-in-midair-2019-10

 

[TomcatViP]

Norway’s F-35s have a problem with a unique piece of gear
By: Valerie Insinna

“It’s not working the way we expected, and they are working on reconfiguring this capability,” Norwegian air chief Brig. Gen. Tonje Skinnarland said in an exclusive interview with Defense News on Thursday.
“That said, our experience operating the F-35 on slippery airfields is that it’s more safe and easier than with the F-16s,” she added. “With the stability of the [F-35] aircraft, it’s easier to take off and land on slippery airfields. … It’s performing extremely well.”

Also

“For Norway, the F-35 is not an air force capability in itself. It’s a more strategic, important, new capability for the joint force of Norway, for the defense of Norway and [for] our possibility to be the NATO in the north, providing our part of the deterrence threshold,” Skinnarland said.
“The performance of the aircraft — in general and in Norwegian conditions specifically — is more than expected. It’s an incredible capability. It performs extremely well in cold weather and the sensor capability and fusion is remarkable also when it comes to our challenging environment with the geography, topography and distance,” she said
[...]
Norway has already amassed 15 F-35s at Ørland, as well as the trained pilots and technicians it needs for IOC. The deployment, where F-35 operators will rely on containerized versions of F-35 support systems like the Autonomic Information Logistics System, is the last requirement needed for the milestone, Skinnarland said. “We need to verify that this works.”

https://www.defensenews.com/global/...s-have-a-problem-with-a-unique-piece-of-gear/

 

[Flyaway]

The RN aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed from Portsmouth on 30 August for its ‘Westlant 19’ operational trials off the east coast of the US. Source: Richard Scott
The UK Royal Navy (RN) aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed from Portsmouth on 30 August to undertake operational trials off the east coast of the United States.
Known as 'Westlant 19,' the deployment will see the carrier conduct operational testing (OT-1) with UK F-35B Lightning aircraft. 'Westlant 19' will also 'operationalise' the UK Carrier Strike Group (CSG) construct ahead of a first deployment planned for 2021.
Building on last year's 'Westlant 18' deployment, during which Queen Elizabeth completed development testing (DT-1/DT-2) with the F-35B, OT-1 will see the carrier conduct five weeks of testing with F-35Bs and pilots drawn from No 17(R) Test and Evaluation Squadron, and the Lightning Force at Royal Air Force (RAF) Marham (No 207 Squadron and No 617 Squadron).

https://www.janes.com/article/90762/uk-begins-westlant-19-carrier-deployment

 

[seruriermarshal]

First British F-35Bs (17 Squadron) land onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth – Westlant 19 deployment

 

[seruriermarshal]

First British F-35Bs (17 Squadron) land onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth – Westlant 19 deployment

 

[TomcatViP]

 

[bobbymike]

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2019/10/22/projecting_power_with_the_f-35_114803.html

 

[TomcatViP]

Lockheed, Pentagon Poised to Announce $34 Billion F-35 Deal

• Order for 478 U.S., allied fighters would be biggest yet
• The announcement is expected after U.S. financial markets close on Monday or early Tuesday, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
  Here - Bloomberg

 

[TomcatViP]

Also:

Belgium advances €3,8 Billion F-35 fighter jet contract

A collaboration agreement was signed last week between Lockheed Martin (LM) and Belgian businesses as part of the Belgian government’s €3,8 contract, linked to the purchase of 34 F-35 fighter jets.

Eight Belgian companies signed the agreement: Asco Industries, Coexpair, Feronyl, Sabca, Safran Aero Boosters, Sonaca, Thales Belgium et Solvay.

“This agreement aims to promote research and innovation in Belgium in the field of advanced composite materials for the aerospace industry,“ said Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay.

The agreement was signed as part of the so-called Belgian ‘ESI measures’ (essential security interests) related to the Belgian contract for the F-35 program.

 

[TomcatViP]

Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter program gets $34 billion Pentagon contract, its biggest yet
Amanda Macias | @amanda_m_macias
Published 3 Hours Ago Updated 48 Mins Ago
CNBC.com
The Pentagon announced a $34 billion F-35 contract with Lockheed Martin, the largest contract yet for the defense company's costly fighter program.
The deal is for the delivery of 478 of the aircraft.
The Pentagon touted reduced costs in its announcement Tuesday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/29/loc...ogram-gets-biggest-pentagon-contract-yet.html

 

[bobbymike]

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/10...ahUE3mCYkY96YjkKnCdf_HPaXEHHuuE5Tqt_022DhVi4A

 

[SpudmanWP]

Details on the Lots 12-14 deal.

 

[SpudmanWP]

The 2020 RCPFH numbers have posted and I have added them to my tracking chart below. Long story short, 4th gen continues to rise (along with the F-22) and the F-35s continue to get lower.

One nice thing is that they did not "phone it in" like they seemed to have done last year where most entries just increased a little (inflation rate?).

One odd thing I found was that the F-35B/C dropped A LOT. The C is now even with the F-18E and the B is cheaper than the A. This has to be due to a unique way that the USN tracks RCPFH.

Source Link https://comptroller.defense.gov/Financial-Management/Reports/rates2020/



If you are wondering "what the heck is the R in RCPFH?", that means "Reimbursable". In other words, if another service, agency, nation, etc needs a US aircraft to do something, this is the hourly fee (plus weapons) that we normally charge. Here is the breakdown of CPFH into its sub-sections. RCPFH is the innermost brown square. I use this data because complete CPFH annual numbers are not available and even when publicized, are not on an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[bobbymike]

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/ne...hal-aviation-capable-amphibious-assault-ship/

 

[NUSNA_Moebius]

Makes the addition of ski-jumps more relevant. Still wondering why LHDs and LHAs don't have them.

 

[kitnut617]

Not sure if this has been posted before, USMC F-35B on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, I think this is quite recent. Not sure who to credit though ---

 

[seruriermarshal]

More British F-35Bs on HMS Queen Elizabeth – Westlant 19 deployment

 

[TomS]

Makes the addition of ski-jumps more relevant. Still wondering why LHDs and LHAs don't have them.

Because the ramp would eliminate a couple of helo spots, which reduces the number of helos the ship could launch in a single wave. Since airmobile assault is still the primary mission, a ramp would reduce their primary mission capability.

 

[VTOLicious]

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/ne...hal-aviation-capable-amphibious-assault-ship/

The B is a game changer

 

[TomcatViP]

Norway has declared initial operating capability (IOC) status for its Lockheed Martin F-35As, with the milestone having been reached on 6 November.

The achievement followed a deployment to Rygge air station to check that the aircraft could be successfully operated away from its home base of Orland.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/norway-reaches-ioc-milestone-with-f-35-462072/

 

[bobbymike]

http://m.aviationweek.com/dubai-air-show/jsow-days-away-f-35a-certification?linkId=77337311

 

[bobbymike]

https://www.defensenews.com/digital...+DFN&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com

 

[seruriermarshal]

Another milestone set for
@thef35

@Kon_Luchtmacht
by OT&E 323TES for F-35 JOTT at Edwards Afb. F-001 and F-002 each loaded with 8 SDB’s, went for a 8 ripple release tests. 16x BAM! A lot of effort last days for Mx to make this event happen. Awesome team to work with!

 

[rooster]

Lovely pics.

I am curious and can't find info elsewhere. How many F35 does the US have and how many are we buying yearly?

 

[Dragon029]

As of December 12th, "475+" F-35s have been delivered to global customers, which is close to the cumulative number of F-35s ordered from LRIP 1 through to LRIP 11 (497 aircraft by my books). Of the 497 ordered through LRIP 11, 342 were designated for the US services with 221 for the USAF, 83 for the USMC and 38 for the USN. So in other words there should be something like 330 F-35s flying with the 3 US services today.

In terms of production per year (for all global customers), there were 46 delivered in 2016, 66 delivered in 2017, 91 delivered in 2018 and 131 are meant to have been delivered by the end of 2019.

For next year, this document states that "140+" will be delivered, then 160 in 2021, then "170+" in 2022. Generally there's roughly 1 production lot delivered per year though, and Lot 12 / LRIP 12 had 149 F-35s contracted for it (with 160 in Lot 13 and 169 in Lot 14).

If we're just talking about the US procurement over the next few years, the USAF is currently planning to procure 48+ F-35As per year while the USN / USMC is getting 36+ F-35Bs and F-35Cs combined. Those are meant to eventually increase to (in the mid / late 2020s) 60 F-35As and 45 F-35Bs + F-35Cs per year, but these peak rates keep getting pushed further into the future, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

 

[kitnut617]

So if reading what has been said about the few F-35's (any variant) that are flying, and what a "game changer" they are when flying with other aircraft types, what would 330 of them do ----

 

[TomcatViP]

330 might be two to three time the number of Su35 flying, an airframe only revamped from a classic.
It's also slightly more than two times the 1990'ish era Rafale produced (not even daring to care availability rate today .).
Next year or two, it will outreach the number of Typhoon that will have been produced at that time.

In that only, it's a game changer: air superiority for the masses.

 

[Sferrin]

Hill AFB has 78 all by itself:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1207368554321858561

 

[VTOLicious]

330 might be two to three time the number of Su35 flying, an airframe only revamped from a classic.
It's also slightly more than two times the 1990'ish era Rafale produced (not even daring to care availability rate today .).
Next year or two, it will outreach the number of Typhoon that will have been produced at that time.
In that only, it's a game changer: air superiority for the masses.

I would like to add the following:
Imho the intro of the B variant is most significant. Now every US ally has the option to deploy 5th generation capability on a (relatively inexpensive) LHD. Think of Japan... And it is a huge capability boost for the Marines anyhow!

 

[rooster]

I apologize for my ignorant questions, but how many of our F-35 are fully combat capable? Were there not a great many that need micros swapped out in order to be capable of being flashed with the fully capable software for combat? Isn't that why we dedicated a number of them to serving as aggressors because its cost prohibited to upgrade them for combat?

Merry Christmas friends!!!

 

[Dragon029]

I'm not sure what number are at an FOC Block 3F configuration, but at least in terms of what jets are using Block 3F software, from memory, all F-35s from LRIP 8 onwards have had Tech Refresh 2 avionics which either come pre-installed with Block 3F or only require a software update to attain it. LRIP 8 through to LRIP 11 comprises 331 aircraft for the whole world (inc. US) and 192 aircraft for the US, though as mentioned in my last post, Lockheed has only reported "475+" of the 497 jets through to the end of LRIP 11 having been delivered so far.

It's worth remembering too that according to reports last year (2018), the US services have "fully funded" modifying all earlier F-35s to the Block 3F or Block 4 Tech Refresh 3 standard. Because those have been funded and modifications may (probably?) have begun already, the number of Block 3F configured F-35s may be higher than my ~331/~192 estimate.

 

[SpudmanWP]

All early LRIP F-35s save for a few dedicated to aggressor sqdns, are in the process of being upgraded to Block 3F. This process has been going on for a few years and is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2020.

Here is a chart that shows the budget line items that cover this program. Obviously this next year's budget (ie Feb 2020) will give more detail on the program.