F-35 News

[cabeça de martelo]

[marcelo l.]

The F-35I Looks Pregnant
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairf ... 00904.aspx


Now that Israel has placed an order for 20 American F-35 fighters, for $137.5 million each, preparations are well underway to customize the new aircraft.

That's why they will be called the F-35I, because they will be fitted out with a lot of Israeli designed and made gear. This will include several bits of Israeli equipment in the cockpit, and a modification to the main computer that will allow easy connection to Israeli accessories.

There will most notably be a detachable 2500 liter (600 gallon) fuel tank. While this reduces the stealth capabilities, the fuel tank can be jettisoned once the aircraft enters enemy territory. The pilots will also use an Israeli made "point and shoot" helmet (as will most F-35 drivers everywhere).

The first Israeli F-35 will be delivered in five years. Israel had originally wanted to buy 75 F-35s, but things changed (costs went up, way up) as the aircraft got closer to production.

The Israeli F-35s will mostly be paid for by the United States, out of the nearly one billion dollars a year in military aid Israel receives. Israel may still buy more F-35s, after they have had some experience with them.

Two years ago, Israel was having second thoughts about buying the new American F-35 stealth fighter-bomber at all. Many Israeli commanders wanted to buy more F-15s, which can carry more bombs. But the feeling is that some stealth aircraft might come in handy.

Then there is the cost issue. When Israel first bought into the program back in 2002, the quoted "flyaway" costs per the aircraft alone was $47 million. When delivered, in 2014, the price was expected to rise to an inflation adjusted $80 million. It is now closer to $100 million.

After Israeli add-ons (mostly electronics), support and training costs have all been added, the per-aircraft cost has gone past $200 million. This has caused a big case of sticker shock among senior Israeli defense and political officials.

In response, the F-35's manufacturer went into full damage-control mode. The main argument being made was that the special equipment Israeli firms were designing and manufacturing would keep nearly half the aircraft work in Israel, and will create enormous potential sales of that gear to other F-35 users.

For example, Israeli firms are making the wings for at least 800 F-35s.

Development costs for the new U.S. F-35 fighter-bomber has grown by a third, to $60 billion, over the last few years. That means the average development cost of the estimated (originally) 5,000 F-35s to be built, will be about $12 million each.

This overhead share will increase as the number of F-35s bought declines, and that is what is happening. The air force wants to buy 1,763, to mainly replace aging F-16s and F-15s. But now air force generals are talking about just buying "more than 1,500" F-35As.

The total purchases may be less than 3,000 aircraft, although the official figure now is 3,500. That means the development cost per aircraft will probably be over $20 million.

The additional development costs are accompanied by additional delays before the aircraft enters service. Production costs will average close to $100 million, or more. Then you have a share of development costs, meaning that $130 million per aircraft, or more (probably more) is likely.

Like the F-22 fighter, the F-35 is stealthy, and is stuffed with lots of new technology. Most (about half) of the F-35s built will be used by foreign nations.

The rising cost of the F-35 brings with it reluctance to buy as many aircraft currently planned. The success of smart bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan has also made it clear that fewer aircraft will be needed in the future.

The U.S. Air Force simulations and studies have shown the F-35 to be four times as effective against any current fighter (the best of them known as "fourth generation" aircraft.) The major advantages of the F-35 are engine power (its one engine generates more power than the two engines used in the Eurofighter or F-18), stealth and the fact that it can fight "clean" (without any pods or missiles hung from its wings, and interfering with maximum maneuverability).

The 27 ton F-35 is armed with an internal 25mm cannon and four internal air-to-air missiles (or two missiles and two smart bombs). Plus four external smart bombs and two missiles. All sensors are carried internally, and max weapon load is 6.8 tons. The aircraft is very stealthy when just carrying internal weapons. The first F-35s will enter service in four years.

[P44]

Não é esse F-35 israelita que é pago pelos EUA?????

[marcelo l.]

Não é esse F-35 israelita que é pago pelos EUA?????

Acho que é esse mesmo. Mas, só uma parte parece que vai ser paga pelo tio Sam.

[Carlos Mathias]

The Israeli F-35s will mostly be paid for by the United States

[P44]

epa, é F-35 pagos pelos EUA, Submarinos pagos pela Alemanha, rica sorte!!!!!!!

[cabeça de martelo]

Não é para todos...

[P44]

povo eleito é povo eleito!!!!

[sapao]

eleito para ser o representante de ... Interesses em uma região muuuito complicada!!!!

[Penguin]

US Foreign Military Financing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... _Financing

[marcelo l.]

Flight Global’s Steve Trimble is at it again today. He’s got a great and simple breakdown of the tech differences between the air superiority rock star F-22 Raptor and its jack of all trades 5th generation cousin, the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Most interesting is his listing of the software and sensor differences between the two jets and the fact that Lockheed is proposing making the planes a lot more similar.
F-35 detractors often point to the fact that its slower and less maneuverable than the Raptor. JSF supporters constantly point to the jet’s suite of pretty damn impressive sensors and data sharing tools as giving it a distinct edge over any other fighter. During a recent test flight over Virginia, the plane’s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) of infrared sensors, that give the pilot a 360-degree bubble of IR coverage, tracked a missile launch out of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Lockheed Martin now wants to make it easier for the jets to share information and receive software upgrades by commonizing their computer architecture.
The concept involves installing the F-35 computing architecture and certain hardware in the F-22. Even Lockheed acknowledges the idea would require “significant initial investment”, but could yield “some cost savings” in the long-term. Discussions with the US Air Force are underway.
“Say, if we want to add something to [the F-22 Communication, Navigation, Identification] suite, F-35 could take that wholesale with minimal modifications,” says Jeff Babione, vice-president and deputy general manager of the F-22 programme. “So you’ll see this bouncing back and forth where F-22 develops something for F-35, and F-35 develops something for F-22.”
While this won’t make the F-22 the flying ISR monster that is the JSF and it won’t make the F-35 a pure air superiority machine, it would make it easier for the two to work together in doing things like passing data back and forth undetected in enemy airspace.
Considering we’ve only got a limited number of F-22s and the fact that the F-35 will be our — and our allies’ — predominant stealth fighter for decades, this idea makes a lot of sense, especially if Lockheed can find a way to keep the cost down. (If you’ve tracked the F-35 program, you’ve got to be skeptical about its ability to do that. Though, it does appear the company is getting a handle on JSF costs.) The same idea also applies to linking the fighters to our B-2 bombers and whatever stealth UAVs are in development.
Collaboration and information sharing give modern militaries a serious edge on the battlefield. If you can successfully link the planes in combat environments — and make it easy to upgrade their software with a shared architecture – they’ll be able to play to each other’s strengths for decades to come in ways we haven’t even thought of.
Here’s Trimble’s post.


Read more: http://defensetech.org/2010/10/29/our-s ... z13rQ8uTsN
Defense.org

[P44]

Pentagon May See Higher F-35 Costs, Delays Up to Three Years (edited excerpts)


(Source: Bloomberg newswire; published Nov 2, 2010)



Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon’s costliest program, may see more price increases and new schedule delays of as much as three years, two government officials familiar with the matter said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to be briefed tomorrow (Nov. 3 – Ed.) on new cost and schedule assessments for the F-35 and other aircraft, said the officials, who requested anonymity because details aren’t public. Software, engineering and flight difficulties are greater than expected, the officials said.

The projections are based on a preliminary analysis of test and production data, the officials said. The F-35 “Technical Baseline Review” is being prepared for an in-depth examination of the $382 billion JSF program, set for Nov. 22 by the Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board, the officials said.

…/…

New delays and higher prices would add to the struggles in development and combat testing of the F-35, which is more than four years behind schedule. Designed for missions including bombing and aerial combat, the JSF will be used by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

…/…

Tomorrow’s briefing with Gates will draw in part on a review prepared by the F-35 program manager, Vice Admiral David Venlet, who won’t be present, the officials said. When finished, his review will disclose broad ranges of potential expense growth, they said.

…/…

The $50 billion development phase may cost as much as $5 billion more, and Pentagon analysts now estimate the JSF may be as much as 1 1/2 times more expensive to maintain than the warplanes it will replace, according to preliminary estimates in Venlet’s review, the officials said.

Different Models

Slippage in the JSF’s timetable may be as much as one year for the Air Force and Navy versions and two to three years for development of the Marine Corps model capable of short takeoffs and landings, the officials said.

The potential increases would be on top of changes unveiled this year by the Pentagon: a 13-month extension to the current development phase to November 2015, shifting of $2.8 billion in production funds for continued research and delaying the purchase of 122 jets to beyond 2015. (end of excerpt)


Click here for the full article, on the Bloomberg website.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... nears.html

[Penguin]

Ares Blog
A Shocking And Unexpected Development
Posted by Bill Sweetman at 11/2/2010 5:50 AM CDT

Defense Secretary Bob Gates will be told in a meeting today that development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be further delayed, on top of the 13-month slippage that was disclosed in March.

According to Pentagon critic Winslow Wheeler, corroborated by Bloomberg and the New York Times, the USAF/international F-35A and Navy F-35C will be delayed another 12 months and the Marine's F-35B - still suspended from powered-lift flight and reeling from last months' bail-out by the UK - will be two to three years late. It's not clear whether that refers to the completion of development testing or to the initial operational capability (IOC) date.

The operations and support costs for the F-35 will be re-budgeted as 1.5 times the aircraft it replaces, more than twice what was originally hoped for and 50 percent more than the most recent projections.

The changes are apparently the result of the Technical Baseline Review that the JSF Project Office launched in April, headed by new program manager Adm Dave Venlet and his new management team and supported by experienced personnel from Navair and Air Force Materiel Command.

The need for more time to mature the aircraft's complex software is a big driver, although the longer delay to the F-35B points to flight-sciences or mechanical challenges with the powered-lift system. (At the International Powered Lift Conference last month in Philadelphia, engineers confirmed, for example, that a new driveshaft was still in the design stage.)

The direct financial impact is expected to be a $5 billion increase in research and development costs (currently budgeted at around $50 billion in then-year dollars). However, the damage to the program as a whole will be much greater and much of it is beyond the control of the JPO, the Department of Defense or even Congress.

The delays are almost certain to affect the ramp-up of production. As with the delay announced earlier this year, the added R&D costs are likely to be paid for by cutting US low-rate initial production (LRIP) orders, increasing the prices of those aircraft. Combined with delays in IOC dates, this will accelerate the pace at which international partners are moving their deliveries to the right.

The new Congress, meanwhile, may take action to prevent the delays from increasing the concurrency in the program. Under today's production schedule, a one-year slip in completing development testing means that 150-plus more aircraft will be fully contracted for before DT is completed (the LRIP-8 batch, due to go on contract in early 2014) and 200-plus more before operational testing is done.

Customers will also have to figure out how many aircraft they can afford to operate, with basically flat budgets suggesting that total force requirements will have to be reduced by one-third. This will put at risk the 200-plus annual production rates on which the program's projections of low average procurement unit costs have been based. For the USAF, this could mean other extra costs to extend the life of older fighters.

Finally, the entire management structure and culture of the Pentagon's largest project, up to the highest levels, will come under scrutiny. The Pentagon's Joint Estimating Team reported that the program was in trouble in September 2008, but was pooh-poohed by the JPO, Lockheed Martin and senior Pentagon leaders, including deputy defense secretary Gordon England and then acquisition chief John Young. In its second report, in November 2009, the JET warned of a 30-month delay - but that conclusion was watered down, once again, after the JPO and Lockheed Martin promised better performance.

Now it seems that the JET had it right more than two years ago. How many billions would have been saved if Gates had acted on those recommendations?

[Marino]

Poder Aéreo
F-35: mais atrasos e custos mais altos
3 de novembro de 2010

A agência de notícias Bloomberg noticiou que o Secretário de Defesa dos EUA, Robert Gates, foi informado ontem sobre um novo relatório do Programa F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, que indica que atrasos e custos mais elevados são esperados.

O “Technical Baseline Review” do F-35 está previsto para publicação em 22 de novembro e foi compilado pelo vice-almirante David Venlet, Diretor Executivo para o F-35 Lightning II.

Autoridades ligadas ao programa dizem que Gates foi informado sobre “dificuldades de engenharia de software e de voo” e atrasos de até três anos para a variante F-35B Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL). Segundo o relatório, o projeto já está quatro anos atrasado.

Acredita-se que a fase de desenvolvimento de US$ 50 bilhões (€36 bilhões) pode custar até US$ 5 bilhões a mais, mas os analistas temem que o F-35 pode ficar 1,5 vezes mais caro de manter do que as aeronaves que irá substituir.

Uma nova revisão de custos pode levar a menos aeronaves adquiridas pelos EUA nos anos iniciais de produção, mantendo a pressão sobre as frotas de caças existentes da Força Aérea, Marinha e Fuzileiros Navais.

FONTE: AirForces Monthly

[Viktor Reznov]

Nossa, tá pior do que o retrofit do Almirante Gorshkov que a Rússia está fazendo pra Índia.