F-35 News

[Penguin]

Tuesday, November 16, 2010
F-35 Software Blocks Begins Tests
http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/categor ... 71597.html

Lockheed Martin said Monday the "fundamental building block" for all future avionics software on its F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter has entered flight testing on an F-35 test jet.

"Block 1," the first of three principal software-development blocks for the F-35's mission systems, made its inaugural flight on Nov. 5 in the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft known as BF-4. The functional check flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., lasted 1.5 hours, and all planned test points were accomplished, according to the company.

"Getting this software up and flying in an F-35 is a big step in the process of validating our avionics system and ensuring that it operates in a way that gives our warfighters a clear advantage over any adversary," said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin F-35 program general manager. "The flight went as planned, and we look forward to expanded mission systems testing in the coming months."

The Block 1 software will enable most of the primary sensors on the F-35. Block 1 forms the foundation of all subsequent software blocks, enabling information fusion from the F-35's radar, electronic warfare system, distributed aperture system, electro-optical targeting system and other sensors, and provides initial weapons-release capability. Block 1 has been undergoing airborne testing since May on the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, a modified 737 airliner that incorporates the entire integrated F-35 mission systems suite.

[BrazilianMarine]

É um vídeo real ou montagem?

Se for real, o piloto é muito louco.

[]'s

HSUAHUUSHUHSUAHSH animação? Não, é o porta-aviões do Battlefield 2, pra ser mais exato, o mapa Golfo do Omã.
Tava jogando agora pouco isso ahsuhaushsa.
Reparem nas barrinhas na parte de baixo nas laterais da tela.

Obs: e por ventura os sukhoi do lado MEC (coalizão arabe) são melhores que os F-35B do lado USA.

[Penguin]

Lockheed Gets U.S., U.K. Contract for Lot IV F-35s
By DEFENSE NEWS STAFF
Published: 19 Nov 2010 18:36

Defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. has received a contract worth $3.48 billion to manufacture 31 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the U.S. and U.K. militaries, the Pentagon announced Nov. 19.

The contract for the Lot IV aircraft will cover the production and delivery of 16 short take-off, vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B Lightning aircraft for the Marine Corps, four F-35C carrier variants for the Navy, 10 F-35A conventional landing jets for the Air Force and one STOVL aircraft for the British Royal Navy, according to the announcement.

The aircraft would be delivered by March 2013 by Lockheed. The total value of the low rate initial product aircraft is $3.9 billion.

The contract award comes as the Pentagon begins a review of the F-35 program, which has been hit by program delays and cost overruns.

Company officials remained optimistic.

"We are focused on getting fifth generation fighter capability into the hands of U.S. and allied pilots as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible," Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager, said in a statement.

[Penguin]

DATE:17/11/10
SOURCE:Flight International
Israel offered 20 more F-35s to extend settlement freeze
By Arie Egozi


The US administration has offered Israel another 20 Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters as part of a "persuasion package" to encourage the Israeli government to agree to another three-month halt in building settlements in the disputed West Bank.
Washington hopes that an extension would enable it to achieve progress in talks between Israel and the Palestinian authority.
The offer, which also includes other classified military hardware, is being evaluated by the Israeli cabinet, which is facing hard opposition from right wing parties and settlers.
Israel and the USA in October signed a letter of offer and acceptance for the supply of 20 F-35s to the Israeli air force. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2017.

[BrazilianMarine]

Que paia, 20 F-35? Isso não é nada pros EUA que vão ter 2.000 unidades, assim é facil vender e dizer que é aberto pra negociações.

[Penguin]

[Penguin]

Enquanto o F-35B atrasa...

F-35C arrives at Patuxent River for trials
The first carrier variant (CV) of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has arrived at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Maryland, where it will continue expanding its flight-test envelope, the company announced on 9 November. The ferrying to NAS Patuxent River of test aircraft CF-01 on 6 November marks the beginning of US government flight testing of the F-35C, which has flown 30 hours at prime contractor Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility in Texas

[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com - 12 November 2010]

[marcelo l.]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2318169620101123

Software, production issues could slow deliveries

* Air Force could upgrade F-16s to cover any fighter gap (adds Lockheed statement, paragraph 9)

Nov 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force's top general said on Tuesday he was concerned software development and production issues could delay the service's plan to start using new F-35 fighter jets in April 2016.

General Norton Schwartz said the Air Force variant of the Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) fighter jet was doing better in testing and development than the Navy and Marine Corps' versions, but it was not clear whether software issues would delay the start of their use in combat.

Vice Admiral David Venlet, the defense official in charge of the F-35 program, briefed Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter and other senior defense officials at a three-hour meeting on Monday about the preliminary findings of his months-long comprehensive review of the program.

The Pentagon earlier this year restructured the $382 billion fighter program, adding 13 months to the development phase. Venlet's review is pointing to a further possible delay of up to three years and added costs of up to $5 billion, sources familiar with the program said earlier this month.

Schwartz, speaking at a defense writers breakfast, said he had not attended the Monday F-35 review and said another high-level meeting would be scheduled to finalize plans for the program as part of the fiscal 2012 budget process.

He said the Air Force variant of the new radar-evading fighter was ahead of schedule in terms of testing and flying hours, was reporting good software stability and had experienced no structural failures or problems.

But there were lingering software and production issues, he added, noting that the Air Force was waiting for news from Venlet about whether that would postpone the April 2016 date for the Air Force to begin fielding the new fighters.

"I'm still concerned on schedule primarily," he said. "Software appears to be a potential pacing item here and that has me concerned in terms of deliveries."

Lockheed spokesman John Kent said the company was bringing in more software engineers and adding a new test line to accelerate work on the F-35's complicated software system, which involves over 8 million lines of code on board the new plane, and 20 million lines for the overall program.

Sources familiar with the program earlier this month said the need for additional testing would add up to a year to the development program for the Air Force and Navy versions of the plane, and up to three years to the Marine Corps' version.

Schwartz said the Air Force would examine the need to upgrade its existing F-16 fighters through structural modifications, and radar and avionics improvements, if the F-35 fighter wound up being delayed.

Asked if such moves would siphon off needed funding from the F-35 program, Schwartz said: "If the airplanes are not ready to put on the ramp, we'll work alternatives. It's not the preferred solution to be sure, but we'll do what's required."

Joe Dellavedova, spokesman for the F-35 program office, said Monday's meeting was not intended to come to any decisions about the program. He said another meeting of the Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board would be scheduled in coming weeks.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said on Tuesday no date for that meeting has yet been set.

[marcelo l.]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0114345920101201

UPDATE 1-Pentagon "not happy" with Lockheed fighter costs

T

Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's chief arms buyer on Wednesday said he is "not happy" with the current state of Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 fighter program and is working with company officials to lower costs.

"We have to get costs under control," U.S. Defense Undersecretary Ashton Carter said, adding that prospects for flat overall defense budgets were putting increased pressure on the department to make its weapons programs more affordable.

"I'm not happy with the situation we're in now," Carter told an investment conference sponsored by Credit Suisse and Aviation Week, when asked about the Lockheed fighter.

He said the new radar-evading fighters were initially slated to cost $50 million a piece, but cost growth was threatening to drive the price to around $92 million -- a level the Pentagon could not afford.

"This is an example of an activity where we simply cannot accept what I call ... "will cost," Carter told the conference. "We're not going to pay more for the airplane. There isn't going to be ever more money."

Carter said Vice Admiral David Venlet, the Pentagon's new F-35 program manager, was about 80 percent done with what he called "the most thorough and bottom up" review ever done of the program, which was helping to address cost growth issues.

Venlet presented his preliminary findings to Carter and other top defense officials at a meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board on Nov. 22, but decisions about the program's funding level in the fiscal 2012 budget will not be finalized until another high-level meeting in coming weeks.

The Pentagon this year already restructured the $382 billion fighter program, adding 13 months to the development phase, but Venlet's review is pointing to a further possible delay of up to three years and added costs of up to $5 billion, sources familiar with the program said last month.

Carter said he believed costs on the new fighter jet could be reined in, calling Venlet "a real black belt" when it came to running big weapons programs.

Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said no date had yet been set for the next meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board.

[AlbertoRJ]

The Navy's Latest F-35 Problem…


(Source: Politico; issued Nov. 30, 2010)



The jet's [F135] engine is too big to fit in the C-2 Greyhound resupply planes that fly spare parts out to aircraft carriers at sea, reports Bill McMichael of Navy Times. That goes for the [F-136] alternate engine, too.

Technicians can break the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine down into components and fly them out that way, but nobody wearing brown shoes is wild about the risks of disassembling, shipping and reassembling something so essential.

McMichael picked up the info at the annual Tailhook convention in September, he writes; the head of the F-35 program acknowledged to his audience of aviators that transporting the Lightning II's engine is a "huge challenge."

The Navy needs to be able to fly replacements out to its ships to account for natural wear and accidents.

This wrinkle will be further complicated if Congress forces the Pentagon to buy the alternate engine, which could create a parallel universe of logistics and maintenance for squadrons.


Full story on the Navy Times website: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/11/n ... g-112910w/

-ends-

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

Isso que dá. Em vez de bimotor, criaram um caça com um turbinão só.

[gaitero]

É um vídeo real ou montagem?

Se for real, o piloto é muito louco.

[]'s

HSUAHUUSHUHSUAHSH animação? Não, é o porta-aviões do Battlefield 2, pra ser mais exato, o mapa Golfo do Omã.
Tava jogando agora pouco isso ahsuhaushsa.
Reparem nas barrinhas na parte de baixo nas laterais da tela.

Obs: e por ventura os sukhoi do lado MEC (coalizão arabe) são melhores que os F-35B do lado USA.

Este jogo parece ser muito realista.

[cabeça de martelo]

[Túlio]

The Navy's Latest F-35 Problem…


(Source: Politico; issued Nov. 30, 2010)



The jet's [F135] engine is too big to fit in the C-2 Greyhound resupply planes that fly spare parts out to aircraft carriers at sea, reports Bill McMichael of Navy Times. That goes for the [F-136] alternate engine, too.


Isso que dá. Em vez de bimotor, criaram um caça com um turbinão só.

O mais incrível é que SÓ AGORA se deram conta que o avião não pode transportar a turbina inteira. Sei não, esse programa cada vez mais se enrola em custos, prazos e dificuldades técnicas...

[Sterrius]

realmente nao ver que o PA nao suportaria receber peças de reposição é quase que erro de amador.

Se preocupar em como repor as peças e levalas ao avião é obviamente algo BASICO quando se planeja uma maquina de guerra. Basico ao menos quando se tem dezenas de pessoas de nivel tecnico altissimo recebendo bilhões pra isso.

[LeandroGCard]

realmente nao ver que o PA nao suportaria receber peças de reposição é quase que erro de amador.

Se preocupar em como repor as peças e levalas ao avião é obviamente algo BASICO quando se planeja uma maquina de guerra. Basico ao menos quando se tem dezenas de pessoas de nivel tecnico altissimo recebendo bilhões pra isso.

Não sei se esta questão do transporte dos motores em avião é tão importante como se discute, já viram o tamanhos dos porta-aviões deles? Vai ver desde o início o plano era levar logo umas 50 turbinas de reserva à bordo, e acabou-se o problema. Manter aqueles monstros flutuantes tem que trazer alguma vantagem.


Leandro G. Card