F-35 Lightning info

[Clark Griswold]

23 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

Wtf are we doing selling F-35s to Turkey?

Gotta keep that per unit cost down, strategic concerns be damned...

I don't know what the data architecture is but why would the Russians want to let some of their best A2AD stuff talk to ours potentially compromising theirs? 

This is all in the rearview mirror but a non-ALIS based JSF would have been the ideal export variant. 

[Clark Griswold]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a19620889/air-force-may-need-to-cut-a-third-of-f-35-fleet-due-to-high-operating-costs/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-28/tesla-says-cause-of-fatal-crash-not-yet-known-without-car-s-logs

BLUF:  

The U.S. Air Force may have to cut its purchases of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 by a third if it can’t find ways to reduce operations and support costs by as much as 38 percent over a decade, according to an internal analysis.

Does this crowd out the procurement of the B-21 then?

[Sprkt69]

47 minutes ago, Clark Griswold said:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a19620889/air-force-may-need-to-cut-a-third-of-f-35-fleet-due-to-high-operating-costs/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-28/tesla-says-cause-of-fatal-crash-not-yet-known-without-car-s-logs

BLUF:  

The U.S. Air Force may have to cut its purchases of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 by a third if it can’t find ways to reduce operations and support costs by as much as 38 percent over a decade, according to an internal analysis.

Does this crowd out the procurement of the B-21 then?

Like no one saw that a decade ago. Maybe the warning just got lost with the whole retention problem message

[Majestik Møøse]

Peanut Gallery observations from 6-9 years ago:

• “Seems like totally shutting off fighter drops to UPT for a couple of years may have compounding effects down the road.”
• “Wow running a simultaneous RIF/VSP/TERA seems like a bit of an extreme way to downsize, especially since the airlines are hiring again.”
• “OK, so I understand why the Air Force hates the MC-12 - being an effective & cheap COTS solution and all - but I think they’re jumping the gun by giving them all to the Army before we’re done with Afghanistan.”
• “Huh, we’re drawing down Afghanistan again? Last time we backburnered that the Taliban took full advantage and gained a lot of ground.”
• “It’s pretty obvious that everyone in the Battle Royals hates ISIS, but I bet we’ll have big problems when all of our bedfellows want to kill each other after ISIS is gone.”
• “We can get rid of the A-10 because the US is planning on buying 2,400 F-35s? Just like we were going to buy 132 B-2s and 750 Raptors?”

[di1630]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a19620889/air-force-may-need-to-cut-a-third-of-f-35-fleet-due-to-high-operating-costs/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-28/tesla-says-cause-of-fatal-crash-not-yet-known-without-car-s-logs
BLUF:  
The U.S. Air Force may have to cut its purchases of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 by a third if it can’t find ways to reduce operations and support costs by as much as 38 percent over a decade, according to an internal analysis.
Does this crowd out the procurement of the B-21 then?

You should see what it’s going to do to the allies who bought it in terms of budget busting.

[Clark Griswold]

On 3/28/2018 at 10:54 PM, Sprkt69 said:

Like no one saw that a decade ago. Maybe the warning just got lost with the whole retention problem message

Yup, there was no plan B even contemplated as far as I know.

On 3/30/2018 at 1:08 AM, di1630 said:

You should see what it’s going to do to the allies who bought it in terms of budget busting.

No doubt, anything open source or unclass released?

This (the yuuugge increase) has been the most legitimate critique of the JSF / F-35 program IMO, it was so naively optimistic in its cost projections and had no automatic shutoffs if the program began to run away that we are now so deeply invested we can't stop even if the political will formed to.

So playing Devil's Advocate, how do you exit a death spiral if a program / system grows in operational cost that it cuts procurement of tails which then rises the cost per tail rinse lather repeat?

Can you cap the tails at X number (less than the original buy) and work with the contractor to minimize the growth in per tail cost to exit a potential spiral as gently as possible?

Do you just rip the band aid off and prepare for the short term extreme pain?

I still think the F-35 is going to be the backbone of ACC / USMC (not sure if USN is still really all in) and Allied tactical aviation arms, just how much of the future I think is still debatable.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Clark Griswold

[Sparkle]

This beautiful bird of prey finally has a name: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20914/the-f-35-has-a-new-nickname-given-to-it-by-the-usafs-most-elite-pilots

[SurelySerious]

3 hours ago, Sparkle said:

This beautiful bird of prey finally has a name: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20914/the-f-35-has-a-new-nickname-given-to-it-by-the-usafs-most-elite-pilots

He missed the boat a while back: Fat Amy. 

 

I also assume it’s not “panther”...it’s “sex panther,” but maybe that’s not fit for print in a questionable internet blog. 

Edited May 18, 2018 by SurelySerious

[busdriver]

60 percent of the time....

[Kenny Powers]

[brickhistory]

Brits were calling it "Dave" a while back.  Dunno currently.

[isuguy1234]

Sex Panther is great!  Fat Amy is extremely applicable for the BFM aspect, literally just think about turning and it's slowing down!  Still a lovely lady.

[Clark Griswold]

Raptor v. Lighting

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-norway/u-s-f-22-stealth-jets-simulate-dogfights-with-norways-f-35-warplanes-idUSKBN1L01YX

 

[Boomer6]

"The United States already has more than 150 of the aircraft, whose sensors pilots say give them the most extensive overview about a battlefield of any combat jet available." 

Sensors pilots.. That sounds pretty neat. 

[Lawman]

NDAA suspends Turkey getting Lightning’s for the moment. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/398458-final-defense-bill-looks-to-block-f-35s-to-turkey-going-against-mattis

 

At least somebody somewhere seems to have their eyes open.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FourFans]

Quote

Norwegian Air Force Major Morten Hanche, who piloted one of the Norwegian F-35s, said the mock fight with the F-22s was great practice, especially since the F-35s generally surprise and overpower other non-stealthy aircraft.

He declined to name the winning aircraft, saying only: “The F-22 is a very formidable opponent.”

Reads: "I think we just got our asses handed to us."

[JeremiahWeed]

On 5/18/2018 at 2:17 PM, SurelySerious said:

He missed the boat a while back: Fat Amy. 

 

I also assume it’s not “panther”...it’s “sex panther,” but maybe that’s not fit for print in a questionable internet blog. 

I was going to vote for “Cougar”.

A little thick through the middle, but still reasonably sexy and I’d still do......I mean fly it. 

[JeremiahWeed]

On 8/16/2018 at 8:21 AM, Boomer6 said:

"The United States already has more than 150 of the aircraft, whose sensors pilots say give them the most extensive overview about a battlefield of any combat jet available." 

Sensors pilots.. That sounds pretty neat. 

Looks like punctuation isn’t that writer’s strongest asset. 

I believe it should read:

”..........aircraft whose sensors, pilots say, give them the most.........”

[DEVIL]

Someone got a safety award here...

Nothing expensive right in that spot either. Nope.

Edited August 22, 2018 by DEVIL
Dumb.

[isuguy1234]

https://theaviationist.com/2018/11/21/new-dedicated-usaf-f-35a-demo-team-announced-for-2019-airshow-season/#disqus_thread

[HuggyU2]

Transitioning from purely a Heritage Flight demo to a full-up-demo has been the plan for at least a year.  

The airshow convention starts in 11 days, and the Demo Team schedules (and personnel) will be announced Tuesday, 4 Dec.  

[Magnum]

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/f-35-air-to-air-missiles-can-now-hit-2-drones-at-once-changing-air-combat

So many jokes to be made here with so little time but I'll give it a go:

F-35's can now shoot half the targets of a Viper (the jet it's replacing)

Now the F-35 can shoot it's AMRAAMs all at once.

 

[di1630]

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/f-35-air-to-air-missiles-can-now-hit-2-drones-at-once-changing-air-combat
So many jokes to be made here with so little time but I'll give it a go:
F-35's can now shoot half the targets of a Viper (the jet it's replacing)
Now the F-35 can shoot it's AMRAAMs all at once.
 

There must be more to the story here. If the test guy says it’s a big deal, there is probably a technical detail about “how” it was done missing from the article.


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[matmacwc]

There is so much info people don’t know, nor will they ever.

[Majestik Møøse]

No no, let’s talk around it! If the classification guide says particular capes are unclass, then we can aggregate all those capes here and discuss their employment and weaknesses!