Lockheed Martin F-35 Thread

F-35 in Switzerland:
A recent poll (not yet the official result) indicates that most Swiss would be favorable to the challenged F-35 buy:

Rejet de l'initiative sur les F-35

Les sondés ont également été interrogés sur l'initiative contre l'achat des avions de combat F-35, dont les signatures sont en cours de récolte. Trois personnes sur cinq rejetteraient l'initiative. Le rejet est clair au sein des partisans de l'UDC, du PLR, du Centre et des Vert'libéraux. Même au sein des sympathisants du PS, l'initiative ne recueille que 50% d'avis favorables.

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Rejection of the F-35 initiative:
Respondents were also asked about the initiative against the purchase of F-35 fighter jets, whose signatures are being collected. Three out of five people would reject the initiative. The rejection is clear among supporters of the UDC, the PLR, the Center and the Green Liberals. Even among supporters of the PS, the initiative receives only 50% favorable opinion.

 

U.S. Air Force F-35 Costs To Climb

The cost of Lockheed Martin F-35s for the U.S. Air Force is expected to grow this year, after years of a downward trend in price, because of delayed negotiations with prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

As the price rises, the decision to move to full-rate production is also appearing likely to slip to 2024, as required high-tech simulations are also delayed.

Despite this double shot of negative news for the program, officials are voicing some optimism in addressing one of the biggest issues facing the fleet. The “crisis” of engine capacity across the program, which had grounded more than four dozen of the aircraft in 2021, could be alleviated by increased depot output. Pratt & Whitney says a quality improvement program it has funded will show results.

“I think 2021 was a pretty good year for the program, despite all of the chaos that seemed to surround it,” F-35 Joint Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Eric Fick says.

Slow Negotiations
The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) and Lockheed have been locked in extensive negotiations for a long-awaited Lot 15-17 contract, which will cover about 400 aircraft and engines. The JPO’s self-imposed deadline of late 2021 was missed, and another goal at the end of March is also likely to slip by without a deal, Fick says.

“I’m losing confidence that we’ll get it done by the end of [March], which was our revised target, but we’re working closely with Lockheed to figure out how we move the needle forward,” he says.

Fick notes that the deal has been slowed by “pretty stiff headwinds,” which include the impact of COVID-19, supply chain disruptions and inflation. These will cause an increase in the cost per aircraft beyond the $80 million for an F-35A variant under the last Lot 14 deal.

“We only have so much money, and we need to buy so many airplanes,” Fick says. “So we’re trying to figure out how . . . to find a place that allows us to get the aircraft we need at a cost that we can afford while still recognizing some of those [factors],” Fick says.

The lower quantity of aircraft and other “key differences” from the prior Lot 12-14 contract have made it more difficult than expected to agree to an appropriate cost baseline, Lockheed says.

“We continue to engage in earnest discussions with our customer to drive closure on this negotiation so we can deliver critical F-35 capability to the services and our international partners,” Lockheed spokesman Brett Ashworth explains. “We will continue to use a data-driven process for as long as it takes to reach agreement based on what it will actually cost to build these aircraft.”

Delayed Simulation Tests
To reach full-rate production, the F-35 needs to go through what is called the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE), a series of intense simulations pitting the aircraft against modern air threats and air-to-ground operations.

Fick says the JPO is working aggressively through the validation, verification and accreditation of the JSE components. The office is targeting completion of this process in May, after which it will move into full system validation and verification, expected around September.

If this process holds, Fick says he expects the F-35 will begin “runs for score,” or evaluations in the JSE, in the summer of 2023. The program’s subsequent Milestone C full-rate decision will require a Pentagon Director of Operational Test and Evaluation report on the JSE. But since there would be only a couple months in which to compile that report, the full-rate production decision likely could not be made until fiscal 2024.

“In the event that our runs for score were to slip by any appreciable margin, there’s not a lot of leeway between the end of the summer, the generation of the report and the ability to have a milestone decision,” Fick notes.

Despite the delay of simulated testing against high-end threats, the F-35’s capabilities are broadly understood, Fick says, as evidenced by several recent deployments.

Some Engine Progress
The engine crisis peaked in 2021, as a shortage of power modules led to slowed engine deliveries. Last year, the JPO had a target to receive 159 engines; Pratt & Whitney delivered 152 of those, and 148 were late. None of the late engine arrivals affected aircraft deliveries, however.

Fick says the JPO is working with Pratt to return to delivering engines on time, with a goal of 174 in 2022.

Jennifer Latka, Pratt & Whitney’s F135 program manager, says the company is making up some of this lost ground and expects to catch up to the delays in deliveries by the end of March. It aims to get ahead of the contract. Delays last year were largely related to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the omicron wave, along with supply chain impacts and parts shortages.

Pratt spent more than $40 million on a quality improvement program to identify problem areas with about 90 of the trickier parts of its F135 production line and bring them up to a higher manufacturing readiness level. This included a focus on eliminating variations in the production of specific parts, which were to blame for quality issues that caused delays.

For depot overhauls, last year was much better. For example, the Heavy Maintenance Center (HMC) at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, targeted 40 engine overhauls but ended up delivering 51. Increased throughput at the HMC is one of three steps the JPO and the service branches are taking to increase engine availability, along with growing the global repair network and working to keep engines on aircraft longer.

Tinker “is the heart of our network right now,” Latka says. Pratt spent the second half of 2020 and early 2021 hiring and training more staff and bringing in more equipment to ramp up Tinker’s output. The facility is “always ramping because the fleet is growing,” she says. “We’ll be ramping [up] for the next decade.”

The fiscal 2022 defense authorization bill calls for the Pentagon to study integrating into the F-35 propulsion systems that were developed under the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP)—the GE Aviation XA100 and Pratt XA101. Additionally, Fick says the JPO is undertaking a business case analysis (BCA), looking at combinations of engines and power and cooling systems, to address a lack of power coming from the F135 engine.

Under Block 3F systems, the F-35 is drawing 30 kW of power from the engine, more than double the system design of 14 kW. This decreases the engine’s life and the time between engine overhauls, Fick says.

The JPO is working with Pratt, Lockheed, GE, the military services and Pentagon leadership on the BCA to calculate what combination would be effective for Block 4 upgrades and beyond. The BCA also is considering other capabilities in which the services have expressed interest, including additional range and fuel savings. Fick says the services should receive the data in the coming months, although the full BCA will not be complete until later in the year.

Pratt has been “deeply involved” in this process, drawing on lessons from the AETP effort and other investments through a Navy program to “bring in as much as we can in the existing F135 architecture” to maintain commonality, Latka says.

The JPO and Pratt also are making progress with the installation of a new coating for the engine’s turbine blades to protect against cracks that occurred in arid locations with a high amount of calcium, magnesium, aluminum and silicate. This was noticed when F-35s deployed to desert regions in the Middle East, and a new coating was included in engine production in the spring of 2020.

All engines produced in 2021 have the coating, as do those that have been repaired at the HMC. While the new coatings are not required for F-35s to deploy, Fick says it is a “best practice,” and the JPO works with operators to take only jets with the coatings replaced. Nonetheless, “sometimes it’s inevitable that you can’t [wait for the coating process to be completed], and so the aircraft will go anyway,” he adds.

Lessons of Deployment
The F-35 fleet in 2021 saw two notable deployments at sea: F-35Cs aboard the USS Carl Vinson in the South Pacific and F-35Bs aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth II in the Mediterranean. Each ship lost one F-35 while underway: An F-35C struck the ramp of the Vinson while landing in January, and an F-35B fell from the flight deck while attempting to take off from the Queen Elizabeth II in November. Fick says neither incident caused a fleetwide stand-down or other notification, and the Joint Program Office is continuing to support investigations of both incidents.

Beyond these mishaps, of which video leaked not long after they happened, the deployments are providing extensive lessons for the F-35 fleet. The first emerged when pictures of the F-35Cs aboard the Vinson were posted online with extensive corrosion to the jets’ low-observable coating.

Even more surprising, Fick says, was that the F-35Bs in the Mediterranean did not have any corrosion issues, pointing to environmental differences causing the problems.

“So we’re working to understand those things, to dig through them. We have folks working [on] that with both the users and Lockheed to try to understand the mechanisms, what might lead to the results that we saw differently on those two different platforms,” he says. “I don’t know the answer yet, but we’re working [on it].”

Additionally, the deployments are teaching the JPO about how to structure deployed spares packages. Fick points to a recent visit aboard the USS Nimitz when he inspected the small space that maintainers pack full of spare parts. The deployments are showing what parts will be needed.

“Because when you’re out at sea, you are truly an island unto yourself,” Fick says. “Making sure we got that right, I think, is going to be part and parcel of us really making a difference for the Navy, for the maintainers, for their ability to generate airpower.”

The bolded part got my attention. It would appear that the F-35 is much hungrier in terms of electrical power than initially anticipated, which may be further impetus for adopting an adaptive engine.

It would be interesting to see how much power is being drawn from the IPP and the engine.

The lessons learned from the first CVN deployments would be interesting for sure.
 
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The bolded part got my attention. It would appear that the F-35 is much hungrier in terms of electrical power than initially anticipated, which may be further impetus for adopting an adaptive engine.

It would be interesting to see how much power is being drawn from the IPP and the engine.
Maybe Rolls-Royce and Pratt&Whittney need to dust off the F120 and complete what little development was left to do before flightworthy engines were tested.
 
Maybe Rolls-Royce and Pratt&Whittney need to dust off the F120 and complete what little development was left to do before flightworthy engines were tested.
Why bother with that when the much more advanced XA100 and XA101 will be available around the end of the decade? The 3-stream adaptive cycle architecture of these engines has superseded the VABI architecture of the F120.

By the way, the F120 was developed by GE, not P&W and had no RR involvement as far as I know. The F136 that was offered as an alternate engine to the F135 was developed jointly by GE and RR, and had a higher mass flow rate to take full advantage of the F-35 inlet, but it was cut for budgetary reasons.
 
By the way, the F120 was developed by GE, not P&W and had no RR involvement as far as I know

Oops! For some reason I got GE and Pratt mixed up.

The F136 that was offered as an alternate engine to the F135 was developed jointly by GE and RR, and had a higher mass flow rate to take full advantage of the F-35 inlet, but it was cut for budgetary reasons
I don't know why I was thinking of the F120 but I meant the F136 and its development could easily be finished off as it was almost ready for testing of flightworthy engines.
 
Swiss F-35:
- 8 do be produced at Fort Worth
- 24 in Italy
- 4 possibly will enter final assembly at RUAG, in Switzerland

 
Finally:


 
hzfCNWosWNxQCEH-800x450-noPad.jpg
 
Years ago I bought this coffee mug off the LMS dealer, it's got the same photo on it. I've used it everyday in the hope numpty (our PM) got off his high horse and agreed to purchase the aircraft.
 

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I have heard some speculation that this is a budget tactic. Basically the services know that congress will put the F-35s back in the budget so they are trying to also get some other platforms/acquisitions on the table knowing they are covered with the F-35. Kind of a 'have your cake and eat it too' strategy.
 
 
ok would this be more accurate?

F-35-RCAF-special.jpg
Still meh because the aspect and taper ratio of the vertical tails and rudders indicate that this is based on the pre-SWAT design like the AA-1 prototype rather than the current F-35A configuration like on AF-1.

Yes, I’m a picky motherfucker.
 
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I have heard some speculation that this is a budget tactic. Basically the services know that congress will put the F-35s back in the budget so they are trying to also get some other platforms/acquisitions on the table knowing they are covered with the F-35. Kind of a 'have your cake and eat it too' strategy.
It's a pretty standard move these days if you know a program has strong enough support.
 
Keeping all F-35 flying with the expected availability rate has been a challenge for the Air Force given part availability and challenges in the program.

Pausing (or at least slowing down) the massive acquisition process for one year to keep-up with the inherent challenges, consolidate a stock of parts and let the latest version be finalized could be seen as an appropriate move for them. Given that other countries or services are not planning similar moves would tell us that this is Air Force related (and not a Lockheed thing) and should not affect the program given the massive orders from foreign partners.

I wonder if we have experienced a similar move during the Phantom or F-16 years.
 
“The U.S. F-35As, the four that we have right now, are in use, and they’ve been very effective doing some elegant ISR activities. And it just reveals to us how much greater capability we’re going to have once we get our full fleet on board,” [Air Force Gen. Tod D.] Woltersolters said.


35 years after the sinister Iron wall fall, a place where democracy would continue blooming shielded behind pces of CFRP and aluminum: The Lightning Wall!
 
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Swiss chief army vision on the F-35:

Pour une défense adéquate, quatre avions de combat devraient constamment être simultanément en vol, a expliqué Thomas Süssli dans une interview publiée samedi dans la "Schweiz am Wochenende". Avec ses 36 jets F-35, les capacités excéderaient ainsi pas plus d'un mois (Nldr. pour l'instant, la Suisse ne dispose pas encore des avions F-35) En 2003, la capacité de défense de l'armée a été revue, dans une optique de qualité au lieu de quantité, a-t-il rappelé.
[...]
Thomas Süssli s'est aussi exprimé sur le fait d'adhérer à l'OTAN. Un tel scénario n'est pas à l'ordre du jour, même si la situation est tendue, selon lui.

"Cependant, si la Suisse se retrouve entraînée dans une guerre, ses obligations liées au droit de la neutralité tombent, et elle pourrait par exemple collaborer avec ses pays voisins." C'est pourquoi il est important que les systèmes militaires helvétiques soient compatibles avec ceux de ces pays et qu'il y ait des exercices communs.
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For an adequate defense [of our airspace], four combat aircraft should constantly be in the air simultaneously, explained Thomas Süssli in an interview published on Saturday in the "Schweiz am Wochenende". With its 36 F-35 jets, the capacities would thus exceed no more than a month (Nldr. for the moment, Switzerland does not yet have F-35 planes) In 2003, the defense capacity of the army has been reviewed, with a view to quality instead of quantity, he recalled.
[...]
Thomas Süssli also spoke about joining NATO. Such a scenario is not on the agenda, even if the situation is tense, according to him.

“However, if Switzerland finds itself drawn into a war, its obligations linked to the law of neutrality fall away, and it could, for example, collaborate with its neighboring countries.” This is why it is important that Swiss military systems are compatible with those of these countries and that there are joint exercises.
 
Swiss chief army vision on the F-35:

Pour une défense adéquate, quatre avions de combat devraient constamment être simultanément en vol, a expliqué Thomas Süssli dans une interview publiée samedi dans la "Schweiz am Wochenende". Avec ses 36 jets F-35, les capacités excéderaient ainsi pas plus d'un mois (Nldr. pour l'instant, la Suisse ne dispose pas encore des avions F-35) En 2003, la capacité de défense de l'armée a été revue, dans une optique de qualité au lieu de quantité, a-t-il rappelé.
[...]
Thomas Süssli s'est aussi exprimé sur le fait d'adhérer à l'OTAN. Un tel scénario n'est pas à l'ordre du jour, même si la situation est tendue, selon lui.

"Cependant, si la Suisse se retrouve entraînée dans une guerre, ses obligations liées au droit de la neutralité tombent, et elle pourrait par exemple collaborer avec ses pays voisins." C'est pourquoi il est important que les systèmes militaires helvétiques soient compatibles avec ceux de ces pays et qu'il y ait des exercices communs.
------------------//--/----------------------

For an adequate defense [of our airspace], four combat aircraft should constantly be in the air simultaneously, explained Thomas Süssli in an interview published on Saturday in the "Schweiz am Wochenende". With its 36 F-35 jets, the capacities would thus exceed no more than a month (Nldr. for the moment, Switzerland does not yet have F-35 planes) In 2003, the defense capacity of the army has been reviewed, with a view to quality instead of quantity, he recalled.
[...]
Thomas Süssli also spoke about joining NATO. Such a scenario is not on the agenda, even if the situation is tense, according to him.

“However, if Switzerland finds itself drawn into a war, its obligations linked to the law of neutrality fall away, and it could, for example, collaborate with its neighboring countries.” This is why it is important that Swiss military systems are compatible with those of these countries and that there are joint exercises.
Wow…he pretty much came right out and said “we might need to network with NATO”.
 
Wow…he pretty much came right out and said “we might need to network with NATO”.
Given Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine I won't be surprised if Switzerland decides to join NATO.
I would be, though it appears they are keeping corporation or joint operations open as an option.
 
Starlink’s tests with the US Air Force seem to be successful. The Air Force noted that the 388th Fighter Wing saw connection speeds that were about 30 times faster than current milsat systems during its weeklong tests. The compact nature of the satellite solution was also highlighted, with the US Air Force noting that a Starlink dish was linked to a gateway router that can be fitted into the F-35A’s travel pod.


Its stellar performance aside, the US Air Force noted that what really made Starlink stand out was the fact that the system is simple and easy to set up — so much so that virtually any Airman can be trained to set up the entire satellite solution in less than ten minutes. This was something that was highlighted by 1st Lt. Corbin Meredith of the 388th Operations Support Squadron.

“Really, what we want to have is options for communications. We don’t have the infrastructure in every possible location, but with this, we could go to SATCOM or cellular LTE and then go to offline capabilities as a last resort. The fact that anyone can be trained to set it up gives us more manpower options and brings another element to creating Multi-Capable Airman,” Meredith noted.

View: https://twitter.com/TylerG1998/status/1511156917644713984?s=20&t=1dzKb4OgCQ7Nggcv2w4Gkw



 
Interesting...for whatever reason the US hasn't based any 5th gen aircraft near the Russian border. In fact I think only a handful of F-22s were sent to Spain. Perhaps it was seen as escalatory to do so.
 

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