The F-35

[Wolfhunter]

9 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

....could defend us against a major attack.

The little ones hurt too.

[Guest]

First used Australian fighter jets land in Cold Lake, Alta.

Two F-18 fighter jets touched down in Cold Lake, Alta., this weekend as the first of 18 interim aircraft arrive in Canada over the next three years.

Canada is getting 18 interim fighter jets over the next 3 years

CBC News · Posted: Feb 17, 2019 7:45 PM MT | Last Updated: February 17

 

Two F-18 Hornet jets arrived in Cold Lake, Alta., this weekend. (Dept. of National Defence)

Two F-18 fighter jets touched down in Cold Lake, Alta., this weekend — the first of 18 interim aircraft to arrive in Canada over the next three years.

In a press release Sunday, the Department of National Defence called the arrival of the aircraft an "important milestone and investment in sustaining our current CF-18 Hornet fleet."

The single-seat aircraft arrived from Nellis, Nevada, where they were participating in a military exercise, the department said.

Canada is buying the 18 fighter aircraft and materials from Australia for approximately $90 million to replace its ageing fleet. 

The total cost of the interim aircraft, including modifications, inspections and changes to infrastructure and program costs, is estimated to be $360 million. 

 

• Canada could be flying Australia's used F-18 fighters this summer
• Ottawa releases draft tender on purchase of new fighter jets

The Hornets are the same type Canada has now, which the defence department said can be integrated quickly into the existing fleet.

 

"The interim fighter fleet is key to ensuring the Royal Canadian Air Force can continue to fulfill their missions and ensure the safety of Canadians and Canada," said Harjit S. Sajjan, Canada's minister of defence. "We are familiar with these aircraft and are confident that they can provide the additional support our current fleet requires."

 

The remaining 16 planes will be delivered at regular intervals for the next three years. 

Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force greet the pilot of a CF-18 jet in Cold Lake, Alta., on Sunday. (Dept. of National Defence)

 

Canadian companies have been contracted to modify the planes to match the configuration of Canada's CF-18 aircraft.

The final aircraft are expected to arrive by the end of 2021.

The formal request for proposals for the future fighter jets is expected to be released in spring 2019. The Department of National Defence is aiming to award a contract in by 2022 with the aircraft to be delivered in 2025.

The City of Cold Lake is about 300 kilometres northeast of Edmonton and is home to 4 Wing Cold Lake, the busiest fighter base in Canada.

• Cold Lake mayor concerned by plans to move military aircraft testing to Ottawa

In December 2018, the federal government announced it will be moving part of the aircraft testing operations from CFB Cold Lake to the international airport in Ottawa.

Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland is concerned moving the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) will result in lost jobs for the city.

[Kip Powick]

 

 

1 hour ago, Malcolm said:

"The interim fighter fleet is key to ensuring the Royal Canadian Air Force can continue to fulfill their missions and ensure the safety of Canadians and Canada," said Harjit S. Sajjan, Canada's minister of defence.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Kip Powick

[Super 80]

At least we're taking delivery of flyable aircraft. I saw some used F-16s shrink wrapped on flat bed trucks a few years ago.

[dagger]

The actual replacement of the current fight jet fleet is getting more interesting. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are both promoting upgrades of fourth generation aircraft. Boeing is offering a non-stealth upgrade of the F-15, and now LM is trying to drum up interest in a hybrid F22/F35 which would be stealthy. This hybrid was offered to the Japanese, so presumably it would be available to other foreign buyers approved by the US.

 

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2018/08/lockheed-pitching-f-22f-35-hybrid-us-air-force/150943/

[Maverick]

What's Canada bitchin' about? Our CF-18's are barely 30 years old! 

 

RAF Tornado flypast marks active service retirement

• 19 February 2019

 

Crowds have gathered to watch the last official flights of the RAF Tornado.

The aircraft will be flown over many of the country's RAF bases in a series of flypasts before leaving active service at the end of March.

Tornados first took to the skies in 1979, seeing action in several conflicts, and were first used in live operations during the Gulf War in 1991.

Hundreds of people turned out to watch the first leg of the aircraft's final farewell.

After leaving its home base of RAF Marham in Norfolk, the aircraft was seen over Rutland, the West Midlands, North Wales, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

 

 

Although no longer to be used in active service, they will still be flown as part of air force training.

"As the Tornados have retired from frontline flying service, we at RAF Cosford have started to take them in because we can use them for engineering in years going forward," Sqn Ldr Chris Wilson explained from the base, which was among points visited on Tuesday.

"Although they won't fly with the air force going forward, they will continue giving excellent service on the ground for many years to come."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-47291557?fbclid=IwAR3XXC22dCihdV19os02jmn8PDf5vWZ99l-f1wmlLG7P1rZ994hQYBPcrcU

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Maverick

[Guest]

National Defence lowballing cost of used Aussie fighters: budget officer

by The Canadian Press

Posted Feb 28, 2019 8:00 am MST

Last Updated Feb 28, 2019 at 8:22 am MST

 

OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget officer is poking holes in the Defence Department’s cost estimates for buying and operating second-hand fighter jets from Australia, saying its own figures put the cost 22 per cent higher than reported.

Budget watchdog Yves Giroux says the federal government will pay nearly $1.1 billion to buy, upgrade and fly the 18 aircraft alongside Canada’s existing CF-18s over the next decade.

Giroux says that’s $200 million more than the Defence Department’s own estimate because he believes it will cost more to extend the lives of the 30-year-old Australian planes than officials have said.

Giroux’s study comes less than two weeks after the Royal Canadian Air Force officially received the first of two Australian planes at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in Alberta.

The Trudeau government is buying the 18 Australian planes and up to seven spares to bolster Canada’s aging CF-18s until the entire fleet can be replaced with brand-new jets in the coming decade.

The purchase is going ahead despite the federal auditor general last fall saying the air force did not have enough pilots and mechanics to operate the 76 CF-18s it has now.

[Guest]

Not buying the F-35 is looking like the way to go.

eed Martin F-35 and F-22 to miss 80% mission capability rate

• 17 July, 2019
• SOURCE: Flight Dashboard
• BY: Garrett Reim
• Los Angeles

The US military’s fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters will fail to meet a 80% mission capability rate by September 2019 as directed by US Department of Defense (DoD).

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis ordered the USAF and US Navy (USN) in September 2018 to increase mission capable rates for the F-35, F-22, F-16 and Boeing F/A-18 to more than 80% by the end of September 2019. The mission capability rate is defined as the percentage of a fleet of an aircraft that are able to perform at least one assigned mission over a period of time.

Mark Esper, who is nominated be secretary of defense, wrote in prepared testimony for the US Senate Armed Services Committee’s confirmation hearing that the USAF’s leading combat aircraft are not expected to meet the 80% mission capability rate.

“The F-22 fleet is still challenged by the lack of low-observable maintenance capacity, exacerbated by the extreme damage at Tyndall Air Force Base from the effects of Hurricane Michael,” he says. “Although F-22 mission-capable rates are improving, the fleet is not expected to achieve the 80% goal this year. Improving mission capable rates for both fleets required additional funding investment for this fiscal year.”

The F-35, which has also struggled with operating costs, also will not meet the required mission capability rate, says Esper.

“Transparency (canopy) supply shortages continue to be the main obstacle to achieving this,” he says. “We are seeking additional sources to fix unserviceable canopies.”

Lockheed Martin had previously told FlightGlobal that canopies were one of the stealth aircraft’s trouble areas, resulting in higher operating costs. GKN Aerospace is the manufacturer of the F-35 canopy.

Lockheed Martin’s other combat aircraft, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, is expected to exceed the 80% mission capability rate goal. That is the result of the USAF increasing its parts supply and adding maintenance shifts.

The USN is also on track to meet the 80% mission capability rate goal for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler by September 2019. Esper says to meet the DoD goal the USN reformed its periodic inspection processes, added extra maintenance personnel, improved the process for component production, and bettered supply chain data collection and circulation, among other initiatives.

[Guest]

Airbus pulls out of Canada's fighter jet competition

There are now only three companies bidding to replace Canada's fleet of fighter jets. Airbus Military has announced it is pulling out of the competition, citing the high cost of complying with NORAD requirements and a sense that the industrial benefits it was prepared to offer would not be "sufficiently valued."

• https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/airbus-canada-fighters-1.5265665?cmp=rss

Company claims the cost of meeting NORAD requirements was too steep

[Guest]

The F-35 Lightning II can’t fly in lightning once again

By: Valerie Insinna    1 hour ago

1047

 

 

Deploying pilots with the 388th and 419th fighter wings prepare for launch at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on May 20, 2020. (R. Nial Bradshaw/U.S. Air Force)

 

WASHINGTON — The most widely used variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is currently unable to fly in thunderstorms after the discovery of damage to one of the systems it uses to protect itself from lightning, its prime contractor Lockheed Martin said Wednesday.

To safely fly in conditions where lightning is present, the F-35 relies on its Onboard Inert Gas Generation System, or OBIGGS, which pumps nitrogen-enriched air into the fuel tanks to inert them. Without this system, a jet could explode if struck by lightning.

However, damage to one of the tubes that distributes inert gas into the fuel tank was discovered during routine depot maintenance of an F-35A at Hill Air Force Base’s Ogden Logistics Complex in Utah, Lockheed said in a statement.

Lockheed slated to miss F-35 delivery target in 2020 as supply chain struggles to keep up

Lockheed Martin is under contract to deliver 141 F-35 jets this year. Amid COVID-19 restrictions, it's unclear whether that will happen.

By: Valerie Insinna

Lockheed temporarily paused F-35 deliveries June 2-23 as the company validated whether it was properly installing OBIGGS systems. However, “it appears this anomaly is occurring in the field after aircraft delivery,” Lockheed said in a statement.

Lockheed has since delivered two F-35s, company spokesman Brett Ashworth said.

 

Because it cannot be confirmed that the OBIGGS system would function properly if the jet was hit by lightning, the F-35 Joint Program Office has opted to institute flight restrictions.

“As a safety precaution, the JPO recommended to unit commanders that they implement a lightning flight restriction for the F-35A, which restricts flying within 25 miles of lightning or thunderstorms,” Lockheed said. “We are working with the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) on a root cause corrective action investigation to determine next steps.”

The issue only seems to affect the F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant, which is used by the U.S. Air Force and the majority of international customers. The OBIGGS design is slightly different on the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant due to the aircraft’s lift fan, and the problem has not been observed on F-35C carrier-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, Ashworth said.

Bloomberg, which obtained a JPO memo dated June 5, reported that flawed tubes were found in 14 of the 24 “A” models inspected.The JPO did not respond immediately to a request for comment.For a plane nicknamed “Lightning II,” the F-35′s lightning protection systems have, ironically, become an embarrassing problem issue for the jet at times throughout its development.

The F-35 was prohibited from flying within 25 miles of lightning in the early 2010s after the Pentagon’s weapons tester discovered deficiencies with the original OBIGGs system in getting enough inert gas into the fuel tanks. Those restrictions were rescinded after the OBIGGS was redesigned in 2014.

[Guest]

Looks like Turkey got a good deal.

 

It’s official: US Air Force to buy Turkish F-35s

By: Valerie Insinna    4 hours ago

 

 

 

A mock-up of the F-35 cockpit is on display at an air show in Cigli, Turkey. (dardanellas/Getty Images)

 

WASHINGTON — After a year of speculation about what would happen to Turkey’s F-35s after the country was ousted from the joint strike fighter program last year, the Defense Department gave its definitive answer Monday evening in a characteristically anticlimactic manner — through its daily contract announcements.

The U.S. Air Force will officially buy eight F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets originally built by Lockheed Martin for Turkey as part of a $862 million contract modification. The deal also contains an additional six F-35As built for the Air Force and modifications that will bring the Turkish jets in line with the U.S. configuration.

 

US could buy Turkey’s Russian-made S-400 under Senate proposal

The U.S. would be able to buy Turkey’s Russian-made S-400 air defense system under legislation proposed in the Senate last week.

By: Joe Gould

The contract modification uses funding from the fiscal year 2020 budget to pay for the jets, which roll off the production line as part of Lot 14. The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin finalized a deal for lots 12, 13 and 14 in October 2019, which set the price of an Lot 14 A model at $77.9 million per copy.

Turkey had planned to buy 100 F-35As over the course of the program, but was ejected from the program last July after accepting the S-400 air defense system from Russia after repeated warnings from U.S. officials. At that point, Turkey’s first F-35s had already rolled off the production line and its pilots and maintainers were training to fly and fix them stateside alongside U.S. personnel at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. However, the aircraft were never officially delivered to Turkey.

Since then, the fate of Turkey’s jets had been an open question. In January, Defense One reported that 24 Turkish F-35s were in some stage of production, but top Pentagon weapons buyer Ellen Lord told reporters then that Washington and Ankara had not come to an agreement on what would happen to them.

 

In the FY20 version of the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress gave the Pentagon permission to spend up to $30 million to fly the first six Turkish F-35s to a location where they could be stored and preserved until the department came up with a plan for their use. The Senate’s version of the FY21 NDAA, which is still working its way through Congress, contains additional language that would allow the Air Force to accept, operate or even modify the first six Turkish F-35s.

[Guest1]

Correction 2/12/2021 at 6:23 p.m. EST: In an earlier version of the story, a defense official gave an erroneous target for power module production. The story has been revised with the correct number.

WASHINGTON — The F-35 joint strike fighter program is grappling with a shortage of the jet’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, and it could be months before the situation starts to improve, a defense official said Friday.

The problem, according to the F-35 joint program office, is twofold. First, the F135 Heavy Maintenance Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., has not been able to process engines through scheduled depot maintenance as quickly as projected.

Second, maintainers are discovering “premature distress of rotor blade coatings” in a “small number” of engine power modules, creating more repair work and contributing to the backlog.

An engine shortage is the newest problem to hit the F-35 enterprise (defensenews.com)

[J.O.]

This was quite the operation.

The Navy Extracted a Jet Fighter from 12,400 Feet below the South China Sea - Scientific American

[Kip Powick]

22 minutes ago, J.O. said:

This was quite the operation.

The Navy Extracted a Jet Fighter from 12,400 Feet below the South China Sea - Scientific American

Why wouldn't "secret" aircraft have a "self destroy" mechanism that can be armed for different circumstances, for example.... over water, over enemy territory.... What is the US going to do if one goes down in an unfriendly country ???

[Guest1]

Just now, Kip Powick said:

Why wouldn't "secret" aircraft have a "self destroy" mechanism that can be armed for different circumstances, for example.... over water, over enemy territory.... What is the US going to do if one goes down in an unfriendly country ???

Protection against finger or other accidental activation. 

[Kip Powick]

Just now, Kargokings said:

Protection against finger or other accidental activation. 

If they can make a nuke launch "error" safe, they can make an aircraft "self destroy" safe.

[Guest1]

2 hours ago, Kip Powick said:

If they can make a nuke launch "error" safe, they can make an aircraft "self destroy" safe.

I agree they could but we still read about an occasional jettison seat unplanned launch.  Nuc. launches normally need at least 2 codes to agree to activate the launch.  However science marches on. 

[Guest1]

Interesting number of personel vs number of aircraft.

Vermont F-35s to fly Europe air policing missions

2h ago

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ress

 

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The first overseas deployment of the Vermont Air National Guard’s F-35 fighter jets will have the pilots and their aircraft patrolling the skies of Europe during one of the most tense periods in recent history.

More than 200 Vermont air guard personnel, their equipment and eight F-35s are now in Europe, where the pilots will fly what are called enhanced air policing missions along NATO’s eastern flank to monitor the area for intrusions by Russian aircraft.

Vermont F-35s to fly Europe air policing missions | CityNews Toronto

 

[Guest1]

Most US F-35s temporarily grounded as ejection seat issue threatens jets worldwide

Air Force discovered defect in April but didn’t know its full scope

By Rachel S. Cohen

 Jul 29, 12:51 PM

 

U.S. Air Force and South Korean air force F-35A Lightning II aircraft soar in a tight formation over Korea, July 12, 2022. (Senior Airman Trevor Gordnier/Air Force)

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 8:52 p.m. on July 29, 2022, with more information from the ejection seat manufacturer and the U.S. military.

The U.S. military discovered a problem with the ejection seats used across its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet in April, but waited three months to ground those aircraft flown by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to fully investigate the issue, multiple sources told Air Force Times Friday.

Officials initially saw the problem as a potentially isolated incident. But an ongoing investigation sourced the issue to the production line, prompting waves of temporary stand-downs this week.

“During a routine maintenance inspection at Hill [Air Force Base, Utah,] in April ‘22, an anomaly was discovered with one of the seat cartridge actuated devices in the F-35 seat,” Steve Roberts, a spokesperson for seat manufacturer Martin-Baker, said Friday. “This was quickly traced back to a gap in the manufacturing process, which was addressed and changed.”

Cartridges are the ejection seat component that explode to propel an aviator out of the cockpit and prompts their parachute to open. The defective part was loose and missing the magnesium powder used to ignite the propellant that shoots someone to safety, Roberts said.

[Guest1]

I imagine other customers will also ground their F-35s until the problem is resolved.

Quote

Israel grounds F-35s over pilot ejection seat concerns

54m ago

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli Air Force announced a temporary halt in its stealth fighter F-35 aircraft activity on Saturday, following U.S. concerns over defects in pilot ejection systems.

 

© Reuters/Axel SchmidtFILE PHOTO: A Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft is seen at the ILA Air Show in Berlin

Aircraft will undergo inspections that will last a few days, the Israeli Air Force said on Twitter, and any individual F-35 operations will be conducted by special authorisation of the air force chief.