F-35 News

[soultrain]

The government has tentatively placed an order for 14 F-35s, with the first two due to be delivered in 2014 for training purposes.

However aircraft maker Lockheed Martin says a contract for the 14 aircraft has not yet been signed.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith losing patience on delivery of Joint Strike Fighters


THE Australian government is ready to put in a new order for Super Hornet strike aircraft if there are any further delays or problems with the $16 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, Defence Minister Stephen Smith warned today.

Mr Smith reiterated in parliament today that he did not want the Royal Australian Air Force to suffer an air combat capability gap due to the United States' troublesome JSF program, which has been dogged by delays.

Responding to a question from Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Mr Smith confirmed the JSF program was now “rubbing up” against the government's cost and scheduling limits.

“We are proposing, in conjunction with our Joint Strike Fighter program partners, to do an exhaustive assessment of the delivery schedule by the end of this year,” he said.

“I'm not proposing to wait until the last minute.

“I'm proposing to recommend to the government that we make that decision next year.”



F-35 fighter strikes problem The Daily Telegraph, 12 Aug 2011
Jets left grounded as strife strikes Herald Sun, 11 Aug 2011
Air chiefs feared cuts to fighters The Australian, 5 Aug 2011
Airforce says fighter meets targets Courier Mail, 2 Aug 2011
Doubts grow over US jet fighter deal The Australian, 27 Jul 2011



The government has tentatively placed an order for 14 F-35s, with the first two due to be delivered in 2014 for training purposes.

However aircraft maker Lockheed Martin says a contract for the 14 aircraft has not yet been signed.

The F-35 - a so-called 5th generation stealth aircraft - is designed to replace the strike capability created by the retirement of the 1970s vintage F-111 fighter-bomber.

The Howard government ordered 24 Super Hornet aircraft for $6.6 billion as an interim measure pending the delivery of Joint Strike Fighters.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 6116806218

[Andre Correa]

Como dizia o velho NJ, isso é demais pra gente...
Olha só o AOA...

[Carlos Lima]

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... weaks.html

34% de redução nas encomendas do F-35... e por aí vem mais...

USAF leaders warn of further F-35 budget ‘tweaks’

By Stephen Trimble

The US Department of Defense is considering further "tweaks" to the Lockheed Martin F-35 procurement account in the fiscal year 2013 budget request, US Air Force leaders have confirmed.

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said on 20 September he expects the F-35 programme will be adjusted again through the process.

In the past two years, the DoD has removed 246 F-35s out of the original 2010 spending plan for the seven-year period between FY2011 and FY2017. This represents a 34% cut.

The cuts were carried out despite statements from both the USAF and US Congress that re-affirm their support for the F-35.

© Lockheed Martin

"Simply put, there is no alternative to the F-35 programme. It must succeed," Donley said.

But the DoD and key lawmakers continued to review the programme's budget, over concerns about the overlap of development and production. Such an overlap can increase costs, if early F-35 production models have to be modified to fix problems discovered during testing.

"We're struggling with the concurrency of this programme that has been with it for over a decade now," Donley said. "But it is actually right now that we're living this [concurrency] for these few years."

The Senate's appropriations committee also warned about the increased costs associated with the F-35 programme's "severe concurrency", although it expressed "full support" for the project.

The committee's report on the FY2012 defence budget added that 167 to 229 F-35s could be delivered to the DoD before the hardware is fully qualified. If the F-35's modification costs are similar to the F-22, the DoD could face a bill of up to $2.29 billion to retrofit these aircraft to the production standard, according to the report.

However, Tom Burbage, Lockheed's executive vice president for the F-35, said the modification costs could be significantly lower than the committee's estimates.

Lockheed plans to start building F-35s using the final production hardware configuration next year. The aircraft would be modified with a new computer processor, unspecified sensor changes and certain design changes - such as a new 496 bulkhead design for the short take-off and vertical landing model.

"We're hoping we're going to turn the corner and go up on the production ramp pretty soon," Burbage added.

The Senate's appropriators, however, sounded less optimistic in their report.

"If the [F-35] continues on the same path and its costs are not brought under control, the committee believes the programme's future could be in jeopardy," the report concluded.

On 20 September, Lockheed said test activities with the F-35 fleet had totalled 642 flights this year so far, with its sortie rate running 8% above the established target for 2011.

[]s
CB_Lima

[soultrain]

Realmente é triste ver os braços caídos e não haver alternativa a um caça medíocre na nação mais poderosa militarmente do planeta. O pior é que o F35 nos vai calhar a nós na rifa.

[soultrain]

Repetindo o meu post do tópico do Su-35, aqui fica melhor:

O grande problema do F35 é o programa!!!!

Há um pormenor pouco discutido aqui, mas é de suma importância. Não foram feitos protótipos, ao contrário de todos os outros programas de caças, em que houve protótipos e pré produção. É nos protótipos que são resolvidos os major issues e quando se iniciam as unidades de pré produção já se sabe que é a versão de produção final, só se alterando pormenores de fabrico. Nessa altura a configuração está fechada e o preço também.

Neste caso, a pré produção ainda não é final e os problemas encontrados se requerem custos adicionais, tem de ser pagos por alguém. Por isso a Austrália ainda não tem uma proposta fechada para adjudicação, tem objetivos.

Não esquecer que supostamente o F35 seria muitíssimo mais barato que o F-22, porque é apenas LO (low observable) e não VLO (very Low) como o F-22. Além disso teria uma escala de produção muito maior.

Quem quiser apostar no preço do F-35, tem grandes probabilidades de errar feio.

Isso tudo por uma aeronave que promete pouco mais que o EF ou Rafale (em vários itens muito menos, basicamente a vantagem é carregar algumas armas internamente). Por isso e julgo que com propriedade, estes dois Europeus se têm intitulado 5ª geração.

[soultrain]

Outro:

Quem se interroga pela colocação do EF e do Rafale como 5ª geração leia isto:






Faz parte deste artigo da Eurofighter:

http://www.eurofighter.com/fileadmin/we ... 0b_Low.pdf


Concordo em muito e acrescento que o F35 nem sequer é VLO, é LO.

[Sterrius]

o rafale se nao estou enganado so nao atende os 3 primeiros quesitos (Supercruise).

[Luís Henrique]

o rafale se nao estou enganado so nao atende os 3 primeiros quesitos (Supercruise).

O Rafale atende tanto quanto o EF estes quesitos.
E ambos ficam atrás do F-22.

Ou seja, supercruise abaixo de 1.5 mach e o F-22 fica acima disso.

[cabeça de martelo]

[J.Ricardo]

Uma ótima notícia, principalmente para marinhas da itália, Espanha...

O primeiro jato F-35B Lightning II fez seu primeiro pouso vertical a bordo do navio de assalto anfíbio USS Wasp (LHD 1) no dia 3 de outubro de 2011.

O F-35B é a variante do Marine Corps Joint Strike Force para decolagem curta e pouso vertical (STOVL) a bordo dos navios anfíbios da USN.

Este pouso vertical é parte das provas iniciais do F-35B no mar, que começaram nesta segunda-feira, dia 3 de outubro e deverão durar duas semanas. O objetivo é coletar dados de desempenho da aeronave em decolagens curtas, pousos verticais em navios no mar, determinando como o caça se integra aos sistemas de pouso do navio, operações no convoo e hangar. Trata-se do primeiro de três períodos de testes no mar agendados.

Neste ano, o Wasp foi equipado com instrumentação especializada para colher dados ambientais de efeitos no convoo durante o período de testes. Em 2007, o Wasp já havia sido usado para os testes do V-22 Osprey.

FONTE: contém um vídeo muito legal: http://www.naval.com.br/blog/2011/10/03 ... -de-navio/

[soultrain]

F-35: a game changer in modern warfare


By Lee Tae-hoon

Officials of Lockheed Martin say that the F-35 Lightning II is a game changer in 21st century warfare where most nations are trying to reduce their defense budgets amid a volatile economic climate.

They claim that the F-35 is the only fighter jet available on the market with all-aspect stealth, first-look, first-shot, first-kill capabilities at an affordable price to purchase and sustain over the next few decades.

“The F-35’s very low observable (VLO) stealth feature revolutionizes the way pilots engage or fight adversaries,” said David Scott, director of the company’s F-35 international customer engagement office.

He made the remarks against claims from its rivals, EADS and Boeing, that the F-35’s stealth capability may become obsolete as the latter’s Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars or other advanced radars can detect the stealth aircraft upon the opening of its internal weapons bay to fire a missile.

Dogfight debate

“They are saying that it is not valuable to detect somebody at a long range, but it is,” Scott argued.

“It allows you to have a better situation awareness of the battle, allowing you to determine whether you close in and fight, disengage, swing around and come in from the side or from the back where the enemy cannot see you.”

The F-35 is currently capable of carrying a full complement of 8,278 kilograms of fuel and four AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) internally. Lockheed Martin claims that its research shows the F-35 has the capability to carry up to six AMRAAMs internally.

According to a calculation by a senior EADS radar expert, the Captor-E, which will use 1,426 T/R modules and is scheduled to be integrated onto the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2015, is capable of recognizing the F-35 at around 59 kilometers away.

He acknowledged that the chance is high for the F-35 to detect and fire missiles first against fourth-generation jets, such as the Eurofighter or Boeing’s F-15, but claimed that the latter are capable of dodging missiles and successfully counterattacking at such a long range.

His calculation shows that the F-35’s APG-81, which allegedly has 1,400 T/R modules, will be able to recognize the Eurofighter or semi-stealth fighter at 120 kilometers or farther based on the assumption both radars have the same capability.

In this regard, Scott said that an advanced fighter might be able to lock on to the F-35 momentarily upon its launching of a missile, but will not be able to keep track of it due to the latter’s inherent low observable stealth design and as it would be busy dodging the missile for survival.

“Once the F-35 opens its weapons bay and fires a weapon, the enemy may be able to see something for a moment, but it disappears again,” Scott said.

“Being detected doesn’t mean that you are being tracked and targeted with weapons. Now they know you are out there. They don’t know where you are and will be busy avoiding the missile you just launched.”

Stephen O’Bryan, Lockheed's vice president for F-35 business development, claims that it is unrivaled in air-to-surface capability, and is second only to the F-22 in air-to-air capability.

“Using U.S. Government analysis tools and highly accurate and classified data, the F-35 has been shown to be six times more capable in air-to-air engagements than any fourth Generation aircraft,” he said.

Low price to purchase, sustain

O’Bryan stressed that the average unit recurring flyaway cost of the F-35 will be approximately $65 million when measured in 2010 economics.

“The economies of scale, coupled with the benefit of commonality, represent the opportunity for great savings for Korea regarding F-35 operations and support costs when compared to the other FX-III competitors,” he said.

O’Bryan noted that though it does not account for annual inflation projections, the $65M price tag includes much more than some media often speculate.

“It includes the engine and all mission systems such as the APG-81 AESA radar, internally mounted targeting system, electronic attack and warfare systems, self-protection systems, infra-red missile warning system, communication and navigation equipment, and the helmet mounted display that is also used as a night vision system.”

He said that many of the mentioned systems are added on to the price of fourth-generation aircraft.

8,000 hour stealth guarantee

Randy Howard, Lockheed Martin’s director of the Korea F-35 Campaign, said that the F-35 was designed from the very beginning to be VLO and its stealth coating is resilient enough that the aircraft's radar cross section will not suffer after numerous day-to-day operations.

“You can even take a knife and hardly scratch the finish of the F-35,” he said.

“Given what we know, it comes with a guarantee of the radar cross section at the end of 8,000 flight hours. It’s essentially guaranteed to be a VLO for the life of the aircraft.”

Howard said even if there is a scratch, there is a tool that allows mechanics to quickly find the impact of the scratch and whether it needs to be fixed.

“It is twice as cheap in maintaining the aircraft to remain as a VLO compared to the F-22. It is significantly supportable, cheaper and better than the F-22,” he said.

“It is a 21st century tool for 21st century aircraft to maintain VLO.”

Howard added that the techniques and tools that maintain VLO will be locally trained so that it will be easier to maintain.

He also stressed that the F-35 provides an inherent capability to collect intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data and perform many of the command and control functions found on traditional high value but vulnerable assets.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na ... 97236.html

[Penguin]

Para que um "bombardeiro pouco manobrável" necessitaria de uma assento tão reclinado?!
Talvez seja para o piloto tirar uma siesta enquanto os sistemas fazem o resto.

[sapao]

Com certeza é para a ergonomia, voar sem reclinar ninguem merece...

[Justin Case]

Amigos, boa tarde.

Assentos reclinados são indicação de operação autorizada com 9,0 G contínuos, utilizando apenas o anti-g normal (abdômen e pernas).
Alguns aviões sem assentos reclinados podem operar acima de 7,5 G , mas com auxílio de anti-G especial.
Para aviões que não têm anti-G, a operação normalmente não permite acelerações continuadas acima de 5G.
Esses valores são estimativas minhas, sem precisão. Uma busca na Internet pode revelar resultados mais precisos.
Abraços,

Justin

[soultrain]

Justin,

A reclinação também não tem a ver com a ejecção?