F-35 Lightning info

[stract]

shit we can barely network sims in buildings 100 ft apart! And we're only ~300 meters from DMOC. Doesn't help that each of our sims was built by a different vendor, with technology decades apart...

[Day Man]

And good luck getting the contractors in y timezones to operate that shit at 0:darkthirty without a $$$ contract rewrite.

[Fuzz]

Did this in the sim my last two quarterly phase sims, had crews from several bases including PACAF and east coast bases. Now integrating them across different MDS's built by different contractors, good luck.

[Clark Griswold]

BBC podcast on the America's military might, with a huge emphasis on the US Air Force. While the podcast doesn't speak exclusively to the F-35, there is still a big piece devoted to it.

While not F-35 specific, the comparison to the size of the RAF and the Saudi Royal Air Force made me think about the military procurement process.

It is nearly 40 minutes long, but it was extremely interesting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qgd0n

Edited for general link buffoonery.

Good podcast and worth the listen. As you said not directly related to the F-35 but I think it is tangentially related in that I don't think Western democracies take defense / military policies seriously any longer and no serious person can or should think the F-35 is still a good idea just based on the explosion in cost and delay in delivery. The average person serving in federal levels of government in the US, Europe, etc... probably hasn't served in any capacity in a military unit, has little substantive knowledge of the threats faced by aggressive states, thinks that victory is inevitable given the recent major military operations and that defense procurement is 50% military capability and 50% jobs and money in my district.

Democracy is starting to loose the chess game against the authoritarian / autocratic regimes, not precipitously but slowly.

Back to the F-35, wiki says Israel wants to buy them with mods for Israeli electronics and externally carried EW pods along with a two seat variant. Why not use these models but use the C model and have one a common EA aircraft across the Israeli, USN fleets and hopefully get the AF to buy a few for organic EA capability?

Minor edit.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Clark Griswold

[stract]

And good luck getting the contractors in fucky timezones to operate that shit at 0:darkthirty without a $$$ contract rewrite.

don't kid yourself, there's already a stipulation for premium pay outside the defined "normal" hours, and more premium pay for overtime. I get premium pay if my shift starts before 0600 or after 1300 (standard 8 hr day).

[Spoo]

From AF Magazine Daily Report:

F-35A Civilian Airshow Debut Slated for Oshkosh

​The F-35A strike fighter will makes its first civilian US airshow appearance in July at the annual weeklong Experimental Aircraft Association's Oshkosh AirVenture airshow in Wisconsin, announced event organizers. EAA's Vice President of Communities Rick Larsen said the show has frequently been the setting for appearances of the US military's most cutting-edge aircraft over the last three decades, such as the F-117 and the F-22. An F-35A from the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., is scheduled to arrive at the show in the middle of the week of July 20-26 and will remain on display for the rest of the show, states EAA's April 16 release. Organizers said they would announce its exact arrival and departure as the show nears. EAA AirVenture 2015 will also include a B-52 and an F-22. The F-35 was slated to make its international airshow debut last summer at Farnborough, outside of London, but the Defense Department canceled the trip due to an engine issue with the F-35 fleet at the time.

[Breckey]

don't kid yourself, there's already a stipulation for premium pay outside the defined "normal" hours, and more premium pay for overtime. I get premium pay if my shift starts before 0600 or after 1300 (standard 8 hr day).

And they wonder why it takes the studs 80 days to get through tac ac...Don't the Altus and Little Rock guys do nearly 24/5 sims?

[guineapigfury]

And they wonder why it takes the studs 80 days to get through tac ac...Don't the Altus and Little Rock guys do nearly 24/5 sims?

When I went thru Altus, I recall the 135 sims ran from about 0600 until well into the evening.

[Warrior]

Little rock is running pretty close to 24/7 with a couple hours of scheduled downtime for maintenance/reboots etc.

I love the 0200 CRM refresher sim.

[stract]

And they wonder why it takes the studs 80 days to get through tac ac...Don't the Altus and Little Rock guys do nearly 24/5 sims?

our sims will be running 20 hrs a day starting next week, b/c the OFT is going down for 3 months at the end of this week for computer/software upgrades. Finally ditching the 386 processors and the horrible UI...

[Breckey]

It always worked though and didn't crash like the AGSS.

[stract]

that's because for some idiotic reason crash suppress in the AGSS disables the seat shakers and screws up the aero package. (in the OFT and WST we usually have crash suppress/override on). BTW, got 5 red screens of death in a row today in the OFT, while sitting on Pad 3. It won't be missed.

[ClearedHot]

Holy Crap, we are going to war with China next year! F-35 on track for first combat use by Sep 2016

[tac airlifter]

Holy Crap, we are going to war with China next year! F-35 on track for first combat use by Sep 2016

Just to confirm, the F 35 cannot employ any of the weapons pictured in that article? And even carrying them negates LO?

[xcraftllc]

https://www.businessinsider.com/f-35-engine-problems-2015-4

I'm sure p&w will work this out, but it's still frustrating to think that GE wasn't given a fair shot. Apparently this article is actually a little harsh and the engine issues aren't actually that bad, but it's still concerning. That is one expensive jet to be depending on a single engine.

[Breckey]

Every aircraft other than the F-16 (and the 15SG) have had a single engine. Nobody complained when the F-4 only had the J79 available. It's a political move. The F136 would have had teething problems as well.

[Clark Griswold]

Guys we only paid averaging the costs of the F-35 models together $178 million per copy, did you really expect quality for that bargain basement price?

How Much Does an F-35 Actually Cost?

Up to $337 million—apiece—for the Navy version

and the program is only a $163 billion over budget, c'mon stop min running this and put some real money in.

60 Minutes: F-35 Cost Overruns Total $163 Billion

For the cost overrun, we probably could have gone to Mars twice on manned missions.. Mars, red rocks...

[xcraftllc]

Does anybody have a good accurate number on how much the flyaway cost is for a brand-spankin new F-16E/F with an F-110-GE-132 engine? Basically what the UAE is buying?

[Lawman]

Does anybody have a good accurate number on how much the flyaway cost is for a brand-spankin new F-16E/F with an F-110-GE-132 engine? Basically what the UAE is buying?

Hard to gauge numbers like that when FMS programs detail specific levels of assistance in training and supply/logistics with dollar values attached based on a case by case basis.

The only accurate true "fly away" cost with no added money in the program is DCS and that's not really reflective of how we buy a plane either.

[SurelySerious]

Does anybody have a good accurate number on how much the flyaway cost is for a brand-spankin new F-16E/F with an F-110-GE-132 engine? Basically what the UAE is buying?

If you want the block 60, you have to factor in that they own the rights to that config and we'd probably have to pay a licensing fee to buy it, or develop your own equivalent.

Edited May 1, 2015 by SurelySerious

[JarheadBoom]

Never heard of a customer "owning the rights" to a particular aircraft configuration. Is this another LockMart way to extort more $$$ from protect their customers?

[Lawman]

Never heard of a customer "owning the rights" to a particular aircraft configuration. Is this another LockMart way to extort more $$$ from protect their customers?

Yeah it's probably one of those asinine things that you can't believe are allowed.... Like services not using a perfectly good uniform pattern because one group "patented" it with their logo and then sued the Navy for trying to use a logo-less version. Edited May 2, 2015 by Lawman

[HerkPerfMan]

Never heard of a customer "owning the rights" to a particular aircraft configuration. Is this another LockMart way to extort more $$$ from protect their customers?

It all depends on who paid to develop the configuration and the associated source data...and how the data rights were negotiated between LM and the customer. If LM developed the aircraft independently using it's own funds (like the C-130J) then they can claim full ownership of the source data and control how it is shared/used by other parties.

[Sprkt69]

Does anybody have a good accurate number on how much the flyaway cost is for a brand-spankin new F-16E/F with an F-110-GE-132 engine? Basically what the UAE is buying?

Last I heard, LockMart wanted about $120M for one

[12xu2a3x3]

Every aircraft other than the F-16 (and the 15SG) have had a single engine. Nobody complained when the F-4 only had the J79 available. It's a political move. The F136 would have had teething problems as well.

i wonder what the costs to the supply chain and for depot level mx for single engine type for the F-16 would have been compared with sustaining both the F110 and F100.