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

Scott Kenny said:
Well, first of all the F-35 is wearing a Luneburg Lens or three, so whatever the S-400 is detecting isn't the F-35's true RCS.

Though I suspect that after the S-400's performance in Ukraine, the Indians aren't too happy.
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Fair enough. Then a potential sale to India would include the requirement for them to ditch the S-400? (They still getting some more delivered)
Could be, but it sounds like a hard requirement, especially if India has other options.

Genuine question, do the Norwegian Air Force (for instance) deploys its F-35 with a Luneburg Lens for NATO's Air Policing missions. Russia has still some S-400 stationed in Kaliningrad (acc. to France) and has upcoming (or already) navalised variants of the S-400.

Edit: Answering my own Air Policing question with Yes - https://theaviationist.com/2024/12/10/rnlaf-first-f-35-qra-baltic-air-policing-amari/
but adding the question - How will that work with Polish F-35s and Kaliningrad. With a fixed US-requirement to use them always with Lenses?
 
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Unlike the SH pylons, the F-35 pylons including the Sidewinder LAUs are aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis though.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Well, first of all the F-35 is wearing a Luneburg Lens or three, so whatever the S-400 is detecting isn't the F-35's true RCS.

Though I suspect that after the S-400's performance in Ukraine, the Indians aren't too happy.
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They don't even let Luneburg-lens wearing F-35s near Turkish airspace. And the S-400s that they made a big deal of are not even active. On top of that, there's still the CAATSA on Turkey that they haven't applied to India.

All the excuses that self-entitled America makes are political bullcr.p as always. What a way to treat your NATO ally, huh?
 
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That is a very naive way of reading international relationships. Obviously the S-400 was a welcomed excuse to punish Erdogan for his destructive behavior in regards of the Turkish Justice system, Freedom of expression and other external disagreements.

Luckily for Erdogan, the F-35 is only for the US and camp follower nations a very great system (for Israel as well)
But I doubt he thought that through and it was more of a panic reaction to get the S-400, in my opinion.

Again, I think we are seeing a little shift in the US stance regarding F-35 and S-400. Also the time has changed and nobody cares anymore for independent Justice systems and such.
 
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snne said:
All the excuses that self-entitled America makes are political bullcr.p as always. What a way to treat your NATO ally, huh?
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Erdy was repeatedly warned not to acquire the SA-21 Growler and that there would be consequences for Turkish participation in the F-35 programme if he did, well he did and Turkey got frozen out. But now events in the Russo-Ukrainian war have shown that the SA-21 is not the shit-hot, super-duper SAM system that the Russians had boasted it was and now Erdy has a serious case of Buyer's remorse.
 
had said:
That is a very naive way of reading international relationships. Obviously the S-400 was a welcomed excuse to punish Erdogan for his destructive behavior in regards of the Turkish Justice system, Freedom of expression and other external disagreements.

Luckily for Erdogan is the F-35 only for the US and camp follower nations a very great system (for Israel as well)
But I doubt he thought that through and it was more a panic reaction to get the S-400, in my opinion.

Again, I think we are seeing a little shift in the US stance regarding F-35 and S-400. Also the time has changed and nobody cares anymore for independent Justice systems and such.
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I strongly disagree. I've already expressed my opinions in this thread; you can find them with a quick search.

I also hate Erdogan, but what gives America the right to interfere with Turkish internal affairs, especially when they don't interfere in the politics of their dictatorial or genocidal allies and do everything in their power to break international laws by supporting them to the end.
 
The US has always interfered in internal matters of weaker allies. India has other options (Russia) and with Israel it has a special kind of relationship.
 
snne said:
I strongly disagree. I've already expressed my opinions in this thread; you can find them with a quick search.

I also hate Erdogan, but what gives America the right to interfere with Turkish internal affairs, especially when they don't interfere in the politics of their dictatorial or genocidal allies and do everything in their power to break international laws by supporting them to the end.
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JSF is an Anglo-American airplane. They can decide to revoke the privilege of being able to buy it to anyone for literally any reason.
 
 
F-35's transition from the AN/APG81 to the AN/APG85 marks the first time such a transition is happening from one generation of #AESA radars to another.
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For the US, that is. We know that PLAAF J-20 and J-16s have already received new radars/switched from GaAs to GaN a while ago and AFAICR a new radar is also rumoured to be available with the upcoming ultimate variant J-20A.

These are the radars that J-20 and J-16 have had around 2016.

1000019476.jpg
 
Regarding the switch from the USMC to buy more C to the point that B production line might end sooner, I think it's a great time to buy some. Probably the time you'd get the best bargain power.
Regarding the UK, it's a tremendous call for them to buy their share of the airplane instead of standing short of their initial commitment.
 
Anyone can explain this

"The F-35 JPO has said that the APG-81 has 1,676 Gallium Nitride (GaN) transmit/receive (T/R) modules, but the F-35 JPO and Northrop Grumman declined to say whether the APG-85 will also be a Gallium Nitride-based radar."

www.defensedaily.com

Northrop Grumman Developing New AN/APG-85 Radar for F-35 Lot 17 and Beyond - Defense Daily

Northrop Grumman said on Jan. 11 that it is developing the AN/APG-85 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar for Lot 17 and beyond of the
www.defensedaily.com www.defensedaily.com

JPO since has deleted the statement and instead said “We do not disclose technical information on operational capabilities.”
 
Considering the difficulty the UK has had finding the money for their F-35Bs I don't think the cost of fitting Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales with EMALS and purchasing F-35Cs (and ideally a pair of E-2Ds) would be feasible.

A few squadrons of F-35As for the RAF might be good to have but for the Tempest program to have a chance they have to be strongly committed to that project. Doing both probably won't happen unless His Majesty's Treasury comes into some abundance of extra cash.

I think any additional funding the UK could direct towards F-35s would be best spent reinforcing their present number of F-35Bs.
 
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donnage99 said:
JPO since has deleted the statement and instead said “We do not disclose technical information on operational capabilities.”
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The JPO always referenced 1,676 GaAs modules on APG-81 on its website. Anything pointing to GaN elsewhere was probably a typo or mistake.

Colonial-Marine said:
Why would they bother using a new designation for the radar set if there aren't some major changes from the APG-81?
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Exactly.

Ronny said:
Easier to get funding maybe?. Anyway, I’m not ruling out major changes, I’m just saying we don’t know for sure
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It actually works the other way around as it raises additional scrutiny and back and forth. The fact that it is a new designation, was apparently kept very quite and only openly acknowledged once a few production lots had already been put on contract, the documented higher production lead time, and testing required post production, and public statements pointing to a substantial leap in capability (over APG-81) points to a significant deviation from the APG-81 radar. Different from antenna or sub-system upgrades the AF has funded before on other programs which have meant they've retained parent designation.. Of course we won't know for sure until we know..and that may be a while.
 
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indicisivedivide said:
Don't know if this has been posted on this forum. F-35 fleet reorganization.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CredibleDefense/comments/1ikmqvr/comment/mbnvogb
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/CredibleDefense/comments/1ikmqvr/comment/mbnvogb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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FoxThreeForDale is an active service USN pilot with F-18E/F-35C experience. He and tailhook proved their credential through cockpit shots so I’d take their analysis seriously.
 
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Really makes me scratch my head considering how much the USMC has been advocating their restructure plan. Which is a context in which the F-35B's STOVL capability really makes sense.
 

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