Internationale fighter ontwikkelingen

[Huzaar1]

Als het Pentagon dat zelf al niet doet lijkt het aannemelijk dat de politiek het afdwingt. Zeker nu de F35 meer en meer een jachtbommenwerper blijkt te zijn..lijkt het me voor de Amerikanen niet verkeerd om de balans met de luchtverdedigingsjagers iets meer in evenwicht te brengen. Het is denk ik geen moetje...maar strategisch denk ik wel een sterke zet.

Nou ja. Ik denk dat dat jachtbommenwerper een imago zaak is die niet voortkomt uit de kwaliteiten van de F-35. Maar door het opgelegde imago door invloed van afnemers .

[Elzenga]

Waarom?
De F22 is veel verder ontwikkeld dan de YF23.
Die nieuwe batch zou er best kunnen komen. En ondanks alle moeite best eens makkelijker kunnen zijn dan helemaal opnieuw beginnen. Al is at niet altijd het geval.

De andere projecten lopen ook echt zo'n vaart niet.

Als het Pentagon dat zelf al niet doet lijkt het aannemelijk dat de politiek het afdwingt. Zeker nu de F35 meer en meer een jachtbommenwerper blijkt te zijn..lijkt het me voor de Amerikanen niet verkeerd om de balans met de luchtverdedigingsjagers iets meer in evenwicht te brengen. Het is denk ik geen moetje...maar strategisch denk ik wel een sterke zet.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Waarom?
De F22 is veel verder ontwikkeld dan de YF23.
Die nieuwe batch zou er best kunnen komen. En ondanks alle moeite best eens makkelijker kunnen zijn dan helemaal opnieuw beginnen. Al is at niet altijd het geval.

De andere projecten lopen ook echt zo'n vaart niet.

Zou vast en zeker kunnen, ik zou het ook meer dan prima vinden. Het verhaal van de keuze tussen YF22 en YF23 is dat de laatste in vrijwel alle opzichten de beter kist was maar de USAF destijds voornamelijk om esthetische redenen voor de F22 heeft gekozen.

[dudge]

Gemakkelijker gezegd dan gedaan. F22A met zware modificaties tot F22C?, dan zijn we vermoedelijk diep in de jaren twintig beland, dit terwijl de 3 grote spelers allen op een volgende generatie kist aan het broeden zijn.

Voor LM is het wellicht een attractieve gedachte, Boeing en Northrop Grumman denken hier vermoedelijk anders over,

Mocht men toch serieus overwegen om de F22 nieuw leven in te blazen dan zou ik een voorkeur willen uitspreken voor de F-23 Black Widow,  hiervan  liggen de blauwdrukken immers ook in de kluis.

Waarom?
De F22 is veel verder ontwikkeld dan de YF23.
Die nieuwe batch zou er best kunnen komen. En ondanks alle moeite best eens makkelijker kunnen zijn dan helemaal opnieuw beginnen. Al is at niet altijd het geval.

De andere projecten lopen ook echt zo'n vaart niet.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Als de Amerikanen de F-22 lijn niet heropenen is er grote kans dat hun luchtmacht haar eerste plaats in de wereldranglijst zal moeten afstaan.

Gemakkelijker gezegd dan gedaan. F22A met zware modificaties tot F22C?, dan zijn we vermoedelijk diep in de jaren twintig beland, dit terwijl de 3 grote spelers allen op een volgende generatie kist aan het broeden zijn.

Voor LM is het wellicht een attractieve gedachte, Boeing en Northrop Grumman denken hier vermoedelijk anders over,

Mocht men toch serieus overwegen om de F22 nieuw leven in te blazen dan zou ik een voorkeur willen uitspreken voor de F-23 Black Widow,  hiervan  liggen de blauwdrukken immers ook in de kluis.

[JdL]

Als de Amerikanen de F-22 lijn niet heropenen is er grote kans dat hun luchtmacht haar eerste plaats in de wereldranglijst zal moeten afstaan.

[Sparkplug]

USAF warms to F-22 Raptor revival proposal

By James Drew, Washington DC | 26 May 2016

At a time when budget constraints are driving the US Air Force to divest fighter and attack aircraft faster than they can be replaced with the Lockheed Martin F-35, outgoing chief of staff Gen Mark Welsh says it would not be a "wild idea" to resume production of an improved version of the F-22 Raptor air superiority jet.

The Pentagon's latest aviation inventory and funding plan says the flying branch has "insufficient resources" to maintain the 1,900 warplane level mandated by Congress beyond the current five-year budget blueprint that extends to fiscal year 2021.

The number of combat-coded fighter jets and their associated squadrons "will substantially drop" between 2022 and 2026 before hitting its lowest level in 2031 as the Fairchild Republic A-10 "Warthog" and other long-serving fighters are retired to the boneyard.

Asked about solutions to reverse this trend at an Air Force Association forum in Washington DC on 26 May, the general who flew the F-16 and A-10 says money is the main issue. America, he says, needs to decide if it wants to continue to be a globally deployed superpower in the next 20, 30 or 50 years and then fund its military accordingly.


US Air Force

The air force currently spends most of its aircraft procurement dollars on the F-35A multi-role fighter, Boeing KC-46A tanker and Lockheed C-130J tactical transport, but Lightning II production rates have been truncated at 48 aircraft per year through this decade, only rising to 60 copies per year in 2021 from Fort Worth, Texas. The service has no plans to buy more fourth-generation Lockheed F-16s or Boeing F-15s, and has slowed its pursuit of a sixth-generation type as it considers the best way to proceed in a tight budget environment.

One answer could be to resume Raptor production, with just 195 of those supermanoeuvrable combat planes delivered by the Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics F-22 industry team from Marietta, Georgia through 2012. It is powered by the Pratt & Whitney F119.

The programme was terminated by then defence secretary Robert Gates in a move described by the current head of US Air Combat Command as perhaps the "biggest mistake ever". Until recently, Welsh and the secretary of the air force Deborah Lee James have been saying that reviving the F-22 line would be "cost-prohibitive" and a "non-starter". Now, the air force appears to be changing its tune.

"I don't think it's a wild idea," says Welsh, who notes that the air force is already working with Lockheed to figure the exact cost and the "pros and cons" of such a scheme. "I think it's proven that the airplane is exactly what everybody hoped it would be.

"We're using it in new and different ways. It's been spectacularly successful and its potential is really, really remarkable," he continues.

Congress is considering a provision in its fiscal year 2017 defence policy bill that would require the air force to provide a cost breakdown and even consider foreign involvement in the project by 1 January 2017, but Welsh expects an answer about the cost much sooner.

"It's not a crazy idea," he says. "I think you've heard the secretary in the past say, and the air force say, that we think it's cost-prohibitive. We're going back right now and looking in detail at the number."

The F-22 was conceived in the 1980s as an advanced F-15 replacement and it first flew in 1997. The aircraft was beset by technical difficulties and costs quickly escalated as the Pentagon's F-22 requirement dropped from 749 to 381 and finally 187 production units.

The programme was terminated in favour of other investments, such as delivering the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which the service will declare ready for combat later this year.

Asked on 24 May if investment in costly stealthy technology, which is inherent in pricey aircraft like the Northrop Grumman B-2 and Lockheed F-22 and F-35, is causing structural budget problems and forcing fighter numbers down, US Defense Department acquisition czar Frank Kendall said it was more of topline budget issue, caused by sequestration and the Budget Control Act of 2011.

"Unless something is done about the budget situation, it's going to be very, very difficult for us to support [the American military strategy]. What we're buying with the F-35, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, is the most combat power we can get for our dollar," Kendall contends.

"It's not just about the numbers, it's about the capability. From the stories we've heard here from the operators about the effectiveness of the F-35 against fourth-generation aircraft were extremely impressive. Having a less expensive and less capable aircraft is not the answer to our problems.

Lockheed Skunk Works, which is leading the world's largest defence contractor's F-X efforts, has proposed upgrades to existing types like the F-22 and F-35 as the best way to achieve air superiority in the 2030s. Other combat aircraft manufacturers like Northrop Grumman and Boeing would probably prefer a competition to introduce a next-generation warplane.

Welsh suggests that an improved F-22 might be preferable and more affordable than some type of sixth-generation fighter.

"Rather than thinking of a sixth-generation fighter, can you modify the F-22 and re-open the line cheaper and keep the numbers up?" he says. "I don't know. We're working on that right now. We've got to open the spectrum a little wider about how we're going to get the job done 20 years from now."

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-warms-to-f-22-raptor-revival-proposal-425794/

[StrataNL]

Als het in 2019 is opgelost heb ik er geen moeite mee.

Niet raar opkijken als het tot 2020+ door loopt. Men is bezig nu fouten in 2B 3i, én 3f op te lossen, terwijl 3f op de eerste twee gebaseerd is, het is eigenlijk gaten met gaten vullen. In plaats van dat ze nu eens zorgen dat in ieder geval 2B of 3i opgeschoond wordt blijven ze ondertussen aan 3F sleutelen om de milestones te halen.... met tot gevolg een corrupt softwarepakket vol fouten uit 2B en 3i.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Dat zat er al een tijdje aan te komen...werd in het rapport over 2015 al voor gewaarschuwd.

Als het in 2019 is opgelost heb ik er geen moeite mee.

[StrataNL]

Dat zat er al een tijdje aan te komen...werd in het rapport over 2015 al voor gewaarschuwd.

[Harald]

Final F-35 Testing Slips To 2018 
(... ca. 6 maanden uitstel van IOT&E, eerst was start in 2017, wordt nu 2018 .. verschuiving heeft te maken met de problemen en het oplossen ervan in de software 3i, welke weer moet leiden naar de definitieve 3F welke gebruikt moet worden in de IOT&E en de aanpassingen in de F-35 toestellen )

The military's top weapons tester has been warning for months that the F-35 will not be ready for its final major test phase until 2018 at the earliest. Today, the Pentagon officially acknowledged the schedule slip.

"We reviewed the status of operational test planning, and there is consensus that that is likely to occur in calendar year 2018 given the realities of the schedule at this time," said Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's top acquisition official, during a Tuesday conference call. "The target was the middle of 2017, but it's clear we're not going to make that."

This slip reflects a six-month delay for initial operational test and evaluation, or IOT&E, the last major period of testing before full-rate production.

..../....

Voor het gehele artikel, zie onderstaande LINK
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/05/24/final-f-35-testing-slips-2018/84885820/

[Sparkplug]

U.K. Planning Four Front-Line F-35 Squadrons

Tony Osborne | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report | May 19, 2016

LONDON—The U.K. is planning to build a future force of four front-line F-35 squadrons, now that the country has committed to a fleet of 138 aircraft.

The U.K. will build a front-line fleet of 48 aircraft, 12 per squadron. A fifth unit, also with 12 aircraft, will be formed as an operational conversion unit (OCU), Air Cmdr. Harvey Smyth, the commander of the U.K.'s Lightning Force, told reporters on the sidelines of an F-35 training conference here May 19.

An additional three aircraft will serve with 17 Sqn, an operational test and evaluation unit which will be based at Edwards AFB, California. This means the U.K. will have an operational fleet of around 63 aircraft, less than half of the total number of F-35s that the U.K. has agreed to purchase under last year's Strategic Defense and Security Review. But Smyth pointed out that the total number would cover attrition replacements and the so-called sustainment fleet, which is defined as additional aircraft required to sustain the fleet to its out-of-service date as well as to cover maintenance. Other U.K. combat aircraft also have large sustainment fleets.

The U.K. is in the process of establishing its first front-line unit, 617 Sqn., which will be stood up at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina in January 2018. The squadron will move to the U.K. that summer and achieve an interim operating capability on land by that year's end.

"Once the squadron is formed up, they have six months to get things squared away before starting a transition back to the U.K. starting in June of 2018," Smyth told delegates.

Smyth said the U.K. does not plan to disperse its F-35s to other bases. All F-35 operations will be concentrated at RAF Marham, Norfolk, currently the U.K.'s main Panavia Tornado operating base. Over the coming years Marham's infrastructure will undergo an about £500 million renovation. It will include the construction of an integrated training center and maintenance facilities, as well as improvements to runways, taxiways and the construction of three hover pads.

U.K. operations will be conducted from hardened aircraft shelters (HAS), each of which can house two aircraft. Two HAS sites at Marham with multiple shelters will eventually each house two squadrons.

The OCU unit, which has not been given a squadron number, will begin training in the U.K. in the third quarter of 2019. The second front-line squadron, 809 Naval Air Squadron, will not form until April 2023.

The F-35s will form the backbone of the U.K.'s carrier strike capability, using the two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. So the Lightning Force will also have to begin preparing to go to sea. First sea trials with F-35s operating from the ship are planned for late 2018 off the U.S. East Coast. A maritime initial operating capability at sea is expected in late 2020.

Smyth told delegates the Lightning Force would face some challenges training in U.K. airspace. The U.K.'s increasingly crowded skies means that performing large-scale exercises with multiple flights would likely have to be done overseas or in a synthetic environment.

Overseas options include the Red Flag exercises in Nevada or Alaska or Maple Flag at Cold Lake in Canada. Australia is also considering conducting exercises in its extensive Woomera ranges, where the U.K. tested its Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator.

"In the good old days ... we could put 40-50-60 aircraft into Scotland and run a pretty good joined up exercise and everyone would have their own piece of airspace and we'd get lots of good training out of it," Smyth told delegates.

"I can pretty much take up that airspace with an F-35 four-ship, so when we start talking about putting multiple four-ships out of Marham or Lakenheath, the U.K. simply isn't big enough. If the U.K. itself was a range, we would struggle," Smyth said.

Training was also handicapped by the possibility of adversaries listening to electronic emissions.

"Our Typhoon force is already strongly handcuffed" because of "collectors sitting in the North Sea. We are keen not to give away our crown jewels," Smyth added.

http://aviationweek.com/defense/uk-planning-four-front-line-f-35-squadrons

[Sparkplug]

Italië heeft weer een primeur. Als eerste met twee F-35A's de Atlantische oceaan oversteken.

F-35: second flight from Cameri to the USA

Italian Ministry of Defence | 18 May 2016

Two Italian Air Force F35A Lightning II have taken off today from Cameri Air Base. After a stop-over in Lajes (Azores) they will land at Luke AFB, Arizona

The Italian aircraft – entirely assembled at Cameri  FACO (Final Assembly & Check-Out) facility– are flying in formation with two tankers (to ensure air-to-air refuelling during the flight). They will land at Luke AFB, Arizona, where the international pilot school dedicated to the new assets is already operational.

Last February an Italian F35 – code name AL-1- was the first F35 to cross the Atlantic. All three aircraft will be part of the international air fleet deployed at Luke's multinational F-35 pilot training centre. 

Luke AFB is the only pilot training centre for all the countries that have joined the JSF programme.

The two Italian pilots will join their colleagues who are already stationed at the US Air Force base.

http://www.difesa.it/EN/Primo_Piano/Pagine/Luk.aspx

[Sparkplug]

Maar dat is inclusief de uitgeleasde toestellen toch?
Op hun eigen website vermelden ze 3 squadrons, waarvan er bij 1 staat dat deze rond de 20 toestellen heeft, de andere twee vermelden geen aantallen.

Dit aantal van 98 stuks is exclusief de geleasde toestellen. Bron is Flightglobal World Air Forces 2016.

[Harald]

Boeing says "incomplete and possibly flawed data" was used in Danish fighter evaluation

A Boeing official told a Danish parliamentary committee on May 19 that the Danish government had used "incomplete and possibly flawed data" to conclude that the Super Hornet was more expensive to operate than the F-35.

Boeing still hopes Denmark will buy its Super Hornet jets

COPENHAGEN • Boeing has challenged the Danish government's recommendation to buy 27 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, questioning data used to suggest its St. Louis-made Super Hornet fighter jet was more expensive than the F-35.

Boeing told a Danish parliamentary committee on Thursday that the recommendation was based on "incomplete and possibly flawed data."

The Danish minority government announced last week its recommendation to buy Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet rather than Boeing's older F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

"We have asked the Danish Ministry of Defense to reassess its evaluation of the cost. We think their report has made the cost of the Super Hornet 50 to 100 percent more expensive than in reality," said Boeing vice president Debbie Rub.

The ministry report evaluating each fighter jet candidate was based on data estimating that the Super Hornet would have a service life of 6,000 flying hours, while Boeing thinks the right figure for Denmark is 9,500 hours.

The report also compared a one-seater fighter jet F35 to a two-seater rather than a one-seater Super Hornet, Rub told Reuters.

Danish defense minister Peter Christensen told Danish broadcaster TV2 that Boeing's critique would not change the government's recommendation to buy Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The report concluded that the total cost of the F-35 jet is 42.2 billion Danish crowns ($6.4 billion while the Super Hornet would cost $9.1 billion.60.6 billion crowns.

"We were much surprised and puzzled that our aircraft should be more expensive. Of course we hope that the Danish parliament in the end will pick our aircraft," Rub said.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_9949ebb7-96a4-5ea4-a64a-0a348c4af419.html