Internationale fighter ontwikkelingen

Gestart door Lex, 19/12/2015 | 16:32 uur

Micheltje

Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 20/03/2016 | 20:53 uur
Het bevestigt wederom dat W-Europa slechts wisselgeld voor haar defensie overheeft...

Had men in NL gekozen voor de Gripen E/F dan zou een Fins-Belgische aantal ook aannemelijk zijn geweest.... al zijn velen op dit forum er van overtuigd dat het er dan 85 zouden zijn geworden....

Het zullen er dan denk ik wel veel meer zijn geworden

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: Sparkplug op 20/03/2016 | 20:30 uur
Het artikel vermeldt dat Saab meedoet aan de Finse tender met 40 stuks (ter vervanging van oorspronkelijk 64 F-18C/D Hornets) en meedoet aan de Belgische tender met 30-36 stuks. Dat zijn toch wel kwantiteiten waar je u tegen zegt  :(

Het bevestigt wederom dat W-Europa slechts wisselgeld voor haar defensie overheeft...

Had men in NL gekozen voor de Gripen E/F dan zou een Fins-Belgische aantal ook aannemelijk zijn geweest.... al zijn velen op dit forum er van overtuigd dat het er dan 85 zouden zijn geworden....


Sparkplug

SAAB Gripen program update

Dennis Spronk | 17 March 2016

During the annual Saab Gripen seminar, which was held on Thursday 17 March, Ulf Nilsson, head of Saab business area Aeronautics, and Richard Smith, head of Gripen marketing and sale, gave an update on the status on various developments on the Gripen.

.../...

Zie onderstaande link voor het complete artikel.
http://airheadsfly.com/2016/03/17/saab-gripen-program-update/

Het artikel vermeldt dat Saab meedoet aan de Finse tender met 40 stuks (ter vervanging van oorspronkelijk 64 F-18C/D Hornets) en meedoet aan de Belgische tender met 30-36 stuks. Dat zijn toch wel kwantiteiten waar je u tegen zegt  :(
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

Skunk Works pushes investment in F-22 and F-35 over new aircraft

By James Drew, Washington DC | 18 March 2016

Lockheed Martin has warned against rushing into a sixth-generation fighter programme without first boosting F-35 Lightning II numbers and implementing a "robust" modernisation programme to keep fifth-generation F-22s and F-35s capable against new counter-air threats.

The Pentagon has plans to buy 2,443 F-35s, but the programme has been delayed by six years and almost doubled in cost compared to projections in 2001 because of problems during development.

However, Lockheed's Skunks Works chief says once fully fielded, the combination of F-22s and F-35s will achieve the air dominance that America desires for the next 30 to 40 years.

"The quicker we can get a force structure that's heavily populated by fifth-generation airplanes the better," says Rob Weiss, who has led Lockheed's advanced development programmes office since 2013. "We should minimise the investment in fourth-generation airplanes: nothing beyond what is needed to maintain the force structure because obviously fourth-generation airplanes aren't leaving the force structure immediately."


US Air Force

His comments, made at a Lockheed media event in Washington DC this week, come as the air force and navy conduct an analysis of their future "air dominance" needs, more specifically, something to replace the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and perhaps F-15.

The two services are working together on common components, like propulsion systems and defensive suites, but will likely press forward with separate fighter platforms tailored to their different needs.

The air force has suggested that some companies, like Lockheed, might push block upgrades of existing aircraft as an air dominance solution instead of an entirely new aircraft, but Northrop Grumman and Boeing need some way to break back into the high-end combat jet market.

Northrop builds F-35 centre fuselages and has the B-21 strategic bomber contract, but Boeing has nothing to succeed the F/A-18 and F-15 at its military aircraft plant in St Louis, Missouri since its X-32 lost to the F-35 for the "winner-takes-all" Joint Strike Fighter contract in 2001.

Lockheed, now playing from a position of fifth-generation strength, is calling for a three-pronged approach to future fighter furnishing: procure the total number of F-35s faster, implement a more aggressive modernisation strategy for the F-22 and F-35, and spend more time maturing "revolutionary" sixth-generation capabilities before committing to a new aircraft programme.

"As we look at F-22s and F-35s, those airplanes have the capacity to maintain an advantage over the threat for the next 30, 35 to 40 years but it requires a modernisation roadmap, just like we've done with every other airplane in history, to maintain their advantage relative to the threat," says Weiss. "The pace is, in my view, too slow."


US Air Force

The long-time Lockheed aeronautics executive says the US services could also make better use of the capabilities they have through human-machine teaming and the pairing of assets through "distributed networks capable of surviving in contested environments".

This could mean capabilities like the so-called arsenal plane that would essentially be an airborne standoff weapon storehouse that would launch volleys of missiles targeted by front-line fighters with targeting pods and sensors. It could also mean cooperative unmanned teammates like the Boeing QF-16 flying alongside manned fast jets.


Unmanned QF-16 Target Drone
US Air Force/Boeing

"The way to get there is to start operating manned and unmanned systems together," he says. "That's another area of modernising what we have; not necessarily having to design a whole lot of new systems, but enhancing the capability we do have, and that includes, by the way, some artificial intelligence or machine learning, and there's some of that we're doing."

Weiss pointed to the recent victory of a Google-developed artificial intelligence algorithm over the grand master of the ancient Chinese strategy game "Go" as an example of the type of machine learning that Lockheed is pursuing. The company will demonstrate its AI capabilities "in a warfighting environment" later this year, he says.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/skunk-works-pushes-investment-in-f-22-and-f-35-over-423298/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)


Paris acknowledges India may not purchase Rafale

Build F-16 in India and supply it to Pakistan, taunts a French official

Ajai Shukla  |  New Delhi 

March 19, 2016

Paris is beginning to acknowledge the possibility that India might not buy the Rafale fighter because of sharp differences over the price, and New Delhi's insistence on enforceable guarantees regarding the fighter's delivery, performance and availability.

A senior French official with a close view of the on-going negotiations between New Delhi and Paris for 36 Rafale fighters told Business Standard on condition of anonymity: "If some people in the MoD (the ministry of defence) do not want to allow the Rafale deal to go through, so be it. We are currently building it for Egypt and Qatar, and we could have another customer in Malaysia."

Read more from our special coverage on "RAFALE DEAL"
•Rafale fighter Jet deal in trouble: Heres why French govt is shirking liability
•Law ministry raises questions on India-France Rafale jet deal: Report
•Adequate funds kept for Rafale deal: Manohar Parrikar

Underlining the irritation at repeated US offers to set up an assembly line in India to build the American F-16 Super Viper, the French official taunted: "If you don't want the Rafale, go ahead and build the F-16 here. You can build it in India and supply it to Pakistan also."

He was referring to Washington's announcement last month of the sale to Pakistan of eight advanced Block 50/52 F-16 fighters for $699 million. Simultaneously, a senior Lockheed Martin official had publicly offered to "move our [F-16] production line from the US to India".

Reminded that France, too, was supplying submarines to both India and Pakistan (DCNS is building six Scorpene submarines with Mazagon Dock, after earlier selling Pakistan three advanced Agosta-90B submarines with air independent propulsion), he retorted, "That is different. Pakistan is getting a different submarine from what we are providing to India."

The official dismissed the notion that an Indian order was critical for Dassault to break-even in the Rafale project, in which tens of billion euros have been spent on developing the fighter and establishing a production line. The official claimed, "The Rafale project is commercially viable based on the numbers that the French military requires, even if there is not a single export order."

In fact, defence budget cuts have forced the French military to slash Rafale orders from over 300 originally planned to only 180 ordered so far. That is a small order, given that the Eurofighter Typhoon has over 700 aircraft on order; while more than 4,500 F-16s have been built over the years.

On New Delhi's demands for sovereign guarantees from the French government, or a bank guarantee from Dassault, to cover the possibility of delivery or performance shortfalls in the Rafale, the official declared the two countries would soon sign an inter-governmental agreement (IGA), which would function as a sovereign guarantee.

"The government of France is standing behind the sale. Surely, India is not asking for a bank guarantee when it has the word of the French government?" asked the official.

When it was pointed out that the IGA would only outline a supply agreement in broad terms, without detailed binding clauses and penalties, the official responded that the IGA was a strategic agreement between Paris and New Delhi, and that "a phrase here or a sentence there would make no difference."

"In 1917, when the United States abandoned its isolationism and sent a division of troops to France to fight in World War I, it was not because there was some document with a clause that required them to fight. It was because of a common strategic aim. New Delhi and Paris must have a common strategic aim on the Rafale."

French officials argue that if Dassault is required to provide a bank guarantee against possible shortfalls in delivery and performance, India should cover that cost, which is normally three-four per cent of the guarantee amount.

Meanwhile, the Cost Negotiation Committee on the Rafale has made little headway in bridging the gap between the French demand and Indian counter-offer, which are believed to be around euro 12 billion and euro 9 billion, respectively. Issues of liability are further complicating the likelihood of a deal soon.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while visiting Paris last April, had requested for 36 Rafales, after a breakdown in negotiations for a much larger order for 126 Rafales. The Indian Air Force had chosen the Rafale on January 31, 2012, after an exhaustive evaluation of six fighter aircraft.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/paris-acknowledges-india-may-not-purchase-rafale-116031700447_1.html#.VuxZCdnCfsA.twitter

Sparkplug

Lockheed's long-running F-16 line in Fort Worth going cold

By James Drew, Washington DC | 18 March 2016

On the 45th anniversary of the F-16 lightweight fighter's first flight, Lockheed Martin faces the very real prospect of turning off "Fighting Falcon" production as prospective customers like Pakistan struggle to clear the US government's regulatory and funding processes.

After assembling more than 4,500 F-16s in almost 140 different configurations, the Fort Worth, Texas production line is thawing from hot to lukewarm and could go cold by "about the end of 2017" after Lockheed delivers the remaining seven of 36 Iraqi F-16IQs.


Iraqi F-16IQ
US Air Force

Lockheed's F-16 programme chief Susan Ouzts said this week that several countries have expressed a strong preference for the F-16 to the US government but the nearest opportunity is an almost $700 million deal with Pakistan for eight Block 52 jets powered by Pratt &Whitney F100-229s.

It recently cleared a 30-day notification period in Congress after being approved by the US State Department in February, but concerns about the "foreign military financing" of the arms package means Pakistan may need to come up with the money on its own.

"We are working hour by hour, day by day with the US government to try and get through the political wickets," says Ouzts. "There's still a hoop of what's affordable from a Pakistan-fully funded programme perspective. We're anticipating that before the end of May we will have a positive indication back from Pakistan that they are buying some quantity of jets that we hope is eight."


General Dynamics YF-16 over Edwards AFB, California in 1974
US Air Force

Lockheed has already begun procuring vital long-lead components in the hope of securing another contract, but without locking in new customers soon, production will be turned off next year.

"If we started a contract tomorrow there would still be a few months of gap," says Ouzts. Asked if Lockheed would consider funding a handful of new aircraft itself as Boeing did before its C-17 line closed, Ouzts says "we haven't gone that far" yet.

"There would always be a consideration of that depending on the opportunity in the future for us," she says. "We are certainly making sure any really long-lead or any items that would be a high risk of obtaining, that we're staying in close contact with those subcontractors or are procuring parts."

Lockheed finds itself at a crossroads with the F-16 as it seeks to extend production indefinitely while also push investment in its fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II, which is currently being procured in far smaller quantities than the company expected due to its high cost and development delays.

At peak production in 1987, under the stewardship of General Dynamics, which sold its aircraft manufacturing business to Lockheed in 1993, Fort Worth was pumping out one aircraft per day. Last year, Lockheed delivered just 11 aircraft, down 35% from the 17 delivered in 2014.


F-16V features a modern cockpit and new AESA fire control radar. It first flew in October 2015 and is offered as an upgrade option or new-build
Lockheed Martin

The latest "Viper" variant, the F-16V, which first flew in October, will become only an upgrade option if Lockheed can't find a buyer quickly.

"There will be some amount of loss for us, of ungained opportunity," says Ouzts. "We still believe the F-16 is incredibly relevant."

She notes that some fighter customers simply can't afford the F-35 or don't need its advanced stealth fighting capabilities. The US government has also promised not to export the Lightning II to any nation in the Middle East except Israel.

"The [F-16] quantities could be fairly significant; it just depends on getting it started and getting the ball rolling," she says.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/lockheeds-long-running-f-16-line-in-fort-worth-goin-423293/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Saving Money on the F-22 Fighter Jet May Cost America a Hell of a Lot

By Ryan Faith

March 18, 2016 | 4:17 pm

The United States Air Force is not in great shape. For starters, officials estimate it has 500 fewer pilots than it should ideally have. Plus, many of the planes those pilots would be flying aren't in great shape. The newest jet, the F-35, is continually hammered for schedule, cost, and technological issues. The slightly older F-22 is considered the best fighter jet in the world, but it was purchased in relatively small numbers. And the aging F-16 and F-15 counterparts will need a lot of expensive upgrades to remain relevant.

What the Air Force lacks in performance, it won't be making up for in quantity. Today it has only enough money to keep 55 combat-coded fighter squadrons operational (as opposed to the 134 squadrons they had back in 1991). Only half of those 55 are considered ready to go toe-to-toe with a peer opponent like Russia or China. According to a recent report from the RAND Corporation, the US hasn't had the capability to achieve 24/7 air dominance over China in a potential Taiwan Straits conflict since 2010 — something the US has been able to do in every conflict it has fought in the last quarter century.

Another report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies backs up the RAND report, arguing that in the Asia-Pacific region, the "balance of military power [is] shifting against the United States."

So how has the world's most lavishly funded air force gotten itself into such a pickle?

Way back in the day, when it was all about the US and Soviet Union battling over the fate of the human race, things in the high-tech killamajig industry followed a predictable pattern. One side would release a new piece of equipment, like a fighter or ship or whatever. Then the other side would learn about the new capabilities (real or imagined) of that equipment and come up with clever ways to beat it. Then they would incorporate those clever ways into their own next round of equipment, and the cycle would repeat.

The F-15 Eagle has been the US Air Force's fourth-generation fighter jet for the last few decades and was due to be replaced by the new fifth-generation F-22 Raptor. If things proceeded according to script, those several hundred F-22 aircraft would then be replaced by a fleet of brand-new sixth-generation fighter jets after a few decades, and so on.

Related:Do Israel's New Fighter Jets Mean Stealth Is Going Out of Style?

But instead of continuing to hold up its end in the battle for the future of humanity, the Soviet Union collapsed 25 years ago, ending the Cold War. Meanwhile, the US eventually found itself hip-deep in ugly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that carried with them approximately zero likelihood of slugging it out head-to-head with a top-flight Russian or Chinese fighter.

So, in 2009, after years of criticism directed at the F-22 for being a shockingly expensive aircraft suited to a Cold War threat that had disappeared decades ago, then–Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and newly elected President Barack Obama decided to cap production at 187 aircraft. In 2012, production was shut down.

Unfortunately, a mere two years after the last F-22 rolled off the line, Russia executed the Great Crimean Heist in Ukraine and basically rebooted the Cold War. Meanwhile, China tried shoplifting the majority of the South China Sea and threatened to shoot anyone who had a problem with it. All of a sudden, the Pentagon is looking around and wishing it had a lot more top-notch fighter jets.

The Air Force's newest jet, the F-35, is still being hammered in the press. The F-35 was never built or intended to be a pure air superiority fighter; it's a multi-role aircraft that can shoot down other planes, but it doesn't specialize in it.

This all raised a question — why not turn the F-22 production line back on and start making more? The answer is, because that's one of those ideas that sounds perfectly doable in theory, but really sucks in practice. When a production line for something like the F-22 is shut down, it's shut down for good. For instance, even though the US built five Space Shuttles, deciding later to build a new one would have meant starting from scratch because shutdown involved scrapping tools, shredding documentation, and letting go of highly skilled workers.

When production of the F-22 was put on hold, lawmakers did tell the Pentagon to save as much of the stuff as they could in case the US decided it wanted more of them, though there are reports that everything is not nearly as well preserved as advertised. Regardless, the idea that the line could be restarted isn't beyond the realm of the possible.

Watch VICE News' Troops and Tanks in Moscow: Russia's Victory Day

Lockheed Martin, the maker of the F-22, swears that it could get the production line up and running for a mere $200 million — though it doesn't say how much producing planes would cost. RAND suggests that restarting the line would cost about $560 million. That is a lot more. RAND also says that when you throw in the cost of 75 new aircraft, the total cost would be a cool $17 billion. That is really a lot more.

Roughly speaking, according to RAND, the first F-22 jets to come off the production line could run a bit shy of $200 million (in 2016 dollars) in "unit flyaway cost," which is basically the price of the plane itself and a portion of the tooling and machinery needed to make that plane. If production hadn't ever been shut down, however, those 75 jets would have cost roughly $150 million a pop, using the same measure.

Right now, the Air Force is saying that they're totally over the F-22 and want to focus on the new hotness, a sixth-generation replacement with the astonishingly bland name of Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter. It was concerns about cost that put the F-22 in hot water to begin with, and a newer jet with even fancier stuff is not likely to be cheaper. Nevertheless, engineer and scientist types are getting all excited about a host of new technologies that they hope to see in a sixth-generation Fighter Jet of Tomorrow. Hypersonic speed that makes it impossible for air defenses to intercept, on-board lasers to fry incoming missiles —really neat and probably enormously expensive stuff.

It's reasonable to assume that all those new bells and whistles will probably cost a fortune and end up pushing deployment of a sixth-generation fighter closer to 2030. If that's the case, the only way the US will have enough aircraft to meet demands is by revamping the fleet of increasingly elderly fourth-generation aircraft like the F-15, which could be 60 years old by the time a new replacement hits the skies.

The Air Force is aware of this potential pitfall. During a modernization hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lieutenant General James M. Holmes responded to these concerns, stating that, along with brand-new designs, the Air Force would be looking at adapting existing jets and doesn't plan to include any major new technological developments in its next fighter. This return to evolutionary weapons development, rather than hunting for revolutionary breakthroughs, has already been seen in the Air Force's new bomber, the B-21, and the Navy's Virginia-class submarine.

Related: Industry Giant Northrop Grumman Wins Big, Fat Contract For Big, Fat US Air Force Bomber

Folks have learned a great deal about stealth and made vast improvements in electronics since the F-22 was being designed back in the 1990s. So, if the US is thinking about restarting F-22 production, it couldn't hurt to spend a couple years upgrading the electronics, avionics, and stealthy bits. (The precedent for this was Ronald Reagan's restart of production of the B-1 bomber as the upgraded B-1B.)

This all sounds like a pretty reasonable deal: Upgrade the plane using the benefit of experience and new technology, write off a lot of the previous costs of the airplane to drive down the new sticker price, and voila! A brand-new top-end fighter jet to counter advanced Russian and Chinese jets.

However, if the Air Force restarted F-22 production or went to an upgraded F-22, it would almost certainly suck all the available funding away from development of a true sixth-generation fighter. And the longer the sixth-generation jet takes to produce, the more time enemy counter-stealth technology will have to erode the F-22's stealth advantage.

So the Air Force has three options: It can keep its ancient F-15s in the air a while longer with some upgrades until a brand-new replacement jet comes online. It can restart production of the existing F-22 to fill the gap until the next plane is ready. Or it can start production of an upgraded F-22.

And all of those alternatives suck in their own special ways.

Restarting the F-22 production line or upgrading it will delay the next-generation fighter, and in a world where stealth will be a less and less dominant technology, delaying the sixth-generation fighter is a lousy idea. But trying to focus on getting a new sixth-generation fighter and putting the F-22 to bed means the US could find itself at a severe disadvantage, pitting revamped but still ancient F-15s against newer, more modern Russian and Chinese jets for the next two decades.

At the margins, there may be ways to combine capabilities of aircraft like the F-35 and F-15 to make the F-15 more effective and make up for some of the shortfalls against modern Russian and Chinese aircraft, but that's a Band-Aid, not a proper solution.

So the Air Force is faced not with solutions, but with varying degrees of disappointment. Perversely enough, it may turn out that the most expensive decision made in the F-22 program was the decision to stop spending money on it.

https://news.vice.com/article/f-22-fighter-jet-production-line-pentagon-saving-money

Sparkplug

Possible Delays Loom for Danish Fighter Buy

Gerard O'Dwyer, Defense News | march 17, 2016

HELSINKI — Unresolved issues over the funding of the Danish fighter replacement program (FRP), and uncertainty concerning the stability of Denmark's minority backed government, are raising fresh fears about further delays in the decision-making process.

.../...

Zie onderstaande link voor het complete artikel.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/europe/2016/03/17/possible-delays-loom-danish-fighter-buy/81939168/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

Air Force Clarifies A-10 Retirement Plans

Lara Seligman, Defense News | March 17, 2016

WASHINGTON — Amid some confusion over when the Air Force will retire the A-10 attack plane, top service officials this week clarified the plan to start drawing down Warthog squadrons in fiscal 2018.

.../...

Zie onderstaande link voor het complete artikel.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/03/17/air-force-clarifies--10-retirement-plans/81902954/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

IAI took a surface-to-surface rocket and convert it into an airborne missile

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has a family of artillery rockets and it has now converted one of them into a air-to-surface missile for carriage on a wide range of fighter aircraft.

Dubbed SkySniper, the missile is able to neutralize enemy air defense sites from a range of 81nm. It has GPS/INS guidance and each fighter can carry up to 4 Skysnipers under wing pylons.

http://alert5.com/2016/03/17/iai-took-a-surface-to-surface-rocket-and-convert-it-into-an-airborne-missile/

Extra info :
http://www.iai.co.il/2013/34225-46386-en/Groups_SystemMissileandSpace_MLM_Products_PrecisionStrikingSystems.aspx


Sparkplug

USAF working on new defensive missile for fighters

By Stephen Trimble, Washington DC | 16 March 2016

US industry could be competing within three years to develop a new self-defence missile for fighters aimed at countering the latest generation of Russian- and Chinese-made air-to-air weapons, says a top Lockheed Martin executive.

For several years, the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and several contractors, including Lockheed, Raytheon and Boeing, have been researching concepts and subsystems that could be used in a new kind of air-to-air weapon.

In Lockheed's concept, this miniature self-defence munition (MDSM) – about half the size of a 3.7m (12ft)-long Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM – would boast a limited capability to shoot down opposing aircraft in short-range engagements, says Frank St. John, vice-president of tactical missile and combat manoeuvre systems, speaking on 15 March at Lockheed's annual Media Day.

But the main purpose of the weapon, also known as the small advanced capabilities missile (SACM) would be to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles, such as the long-range, Chinese-made PL-12 and Russian-made Vympel RVV-BD.

"I know that MSDM and SACM and all of those things are responses to those threats in some way as a self defence capability for our aircraft," St. John says.

St. John estimates the air force could be ready to launch a competition in 18 to 30 months for the new weapon, which, if funded, would add to the internal-carriage arsenal of the F-22 and F-35.

Lockheed's concept is based on a hit-to-kill weapon that destroys a target with kinetic power alone. Powered by a small rocket motor, it would leverage technology developed for the upgraded PAC-3 missile segment enhancement (MSE) Patriot missile. Lockheed is continuing to study radar and imaging-based sensors for terminal guidance, St. John says.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-working-on-new-defensive-missile-for-fighters-423185/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

StrataNL

Morgenochtend 8.30 - 9.30 is het jaarlijkse Gripen seminar online te volgen waarin ook de laatste stand van zaken van de Gripen E aan bod zal komen.

http://saab.com/gripenseminar
-Strata-
Je Maintiendrai! Blog: Krijgsmacht Next-Generation

Sparkplug

Light F-35 Helmet Tests Begin, DOD Aims To Fix Escape System This Year

Lara Seligman, Defense News | March 14, 2016

WASHINGTON — The F-35 joint program office will begin testing the first prototype of the new, lightweight Generation III helmet later this month, with the hope of resolving by November issues with the jet's escape system that have kept some pilots grounded.

.../...

Zie onderstaande link voor het complete artikel.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/03/14/light-f-35-helmet-tests-begin-dod-aims-fix-escape-system-year/81646430/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Pentagon Mad Scientists Have Made the F-16 Even More Lethal

David Axe / March 11, 2016

In the middle of June 2015, a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter took off from an air base in Alaska and flew over a military training range at 430 miles per hour. On command, something burst from the fighter's flare dispenser—a drone roughly the size of a soda can and weighing just one pound.

The tiny, orange- and black-colored robot fluttered toward the ground trailing a parachute. After a few seconds, the chute separated from the drone, the robot's wings—which had folded into the body for compactness—extended outward. An inch-wide propeller began spinning, propelling the diminutive machine forward.

The drone is called "Perdix." It's the latest product of the Strategic Capabilities Office, a secretive Pentagon organization, formed in 2012, whose job is to find new ways to deploy existing weapons.

One of the office's ideas is to transform F-16s and other fast jets into high-speed launchers for swarms of small drones that could confuse enemy defenses or perform surveillance.

"Just imagine an airplane going in against an [integrated air defense] system and dropping thirty of these out that form into a network and do crazy things," Bob Work, the deputy defense secretary, told trade publication Breaking Defense. "We've tested this. We've tested it and it works."

The Perdix drones are 3D-printed out of Kevlar and carbon-fiber. Powered by lithium-ion batteries—the same kind you'd find in a cell phone—the Perdixes launch from a standard flare dispenser, like on the F-16, F/A-18 and other warplanes.

Toughness was a key design requirement. A Perdix must survive forceful ejection from a high-speed launcher and right itself in turbulent winds.

The drones were originally developed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011. The students tested the Perdixes from balloons and envisioned the small unmanned aerial vehicles supporting environmental monitoring.

But it was the military that was most interested in the tiny machines. The Virginia-based Strategic Capabilities Office—a twenty-six-person team led by William Roper, a physicist who previously worked for the military on missile defense—began experimenting with Perdix in 2014.

The Alaska sortie was the first in a rapid-fire series of flight tests. As part of the Northern Edge war game last June, fighters launched Perdix drones 72 times. After deploying, a swarm of potentially dozens of the Perdix robots connect via radio datalink—and pursue their objective.

"The specifics of what the mini-drones can do are classified, but they could be used to confuse enemy forces and carry out surveillance missions using equipment that costs much less than full-sized unmanned aircraft," the Washington Post reported.

Fighter-launched robotic decoys are not new, per se. The F-16 was one of the first U.S. military aircraft to carry the Miniature Air-Launched Decoy, a roughly 10-foot-long, radar-spoofing drone, starting in the late 1990s.

The difference is the swarm. While an F-16 might launch only a couple of MALDs, the same plane could deploy up thirty Perdixes—thirty is the flare capacity of the standard ALE-47 countermeasures dispenser—making the smaller drones much harder to destroy and potentially much more effective.

Not to mention cheaper. A single ADM-160B MALD costs more than $300,000. Two years of testing involving potentially hundreds of Perdixes has cost the government just $20 million, thanks in part to the initiative's heavy reliance on existing technology.

"We don't have to develop fundamentally new weapons," Roper told The Washington Post. "But we have to work the integration and the concept of operation. And then you have a completely new capability, but you don't have to wait long at all."

David Axe is a contributor to War is Boring, where this article first appeared.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/pentagon-mad-scientists-have-made-the-f-16-even-more-lethal-15470

Sparkplug

Dassault: French Sale of Rafales to India Still Being Negotiated

By Thierry Dubois | March 10, 2016


Egypt, the first export customer of the Dassault Rafale, has received six fighters, and production is ramping up. (Photo: Dassault Aviation)

The contract for the sale of 36 Rafale fighters to India has not yet been signed, manufacturer Dassault Aviation said March 10. Four weeks was thought to be enough time to conclude the transaction when the heads of state of France and India reached agreement on the sale in late January.

"We are getting closer; we are trying to finalize the price," CEO Eric Trappier said during Dassault's annual press conference, held at its Paris headquarters. The Indian government is "always wanting more" but "at some point, one has to make up his mind," Trappier added.

Referring to the Indian government's "Make in India" policy, Trappier said Dassault and its French partners are looking for local companies in India capable of manufacturing Rafales. Offsets are being devised to pave the way for a hoped-for 90-aircraft deal in the mid term. "It would not be worth it for them to gear up for 36 examples but it will be for 90," he said. 

Last year, two Mirage 2000s were upgraded and delivered in France to the Indian Air Force. The remaining upgrades will be performed by Hindustan Aeronautics in Bangalore, Trappier pointed out.

The other hot prospects for Rafale sales are Malaysia and UAE, but Trappier did not elaborate. In Switzerland, after a referendum thwarted a deal with Saab for 22 Gripens, talks have resumed there, he said. The need would be to replace two fighter types—the Boeing F/A-18 and the Northrop F-5. Dassault has also received a request for information from Belgium and has opened an office in Brussels.

Egypt, the first export customer of the Rafale, has received six fighters. The latest three were delivered in January. "All are fully operational, flown by Egyptian pilots," Trappier said. The next three will be delivered next year.

Qatar, the second export customer of the Rafale, paid a first deposit late last year. The first delivery is scheduled for 2018, a year that will see a sharp increase in deliveries. Production is now ramping up, approaching two Rafales per month. Deliveries, however, will be slow in 2016 and 2017, at nine and then four Rafales. This will include six and then one delivery to French forces.

The Rafale's firm backlog now stands at 83 fighters. Dassault is developing the F3R version, equipped with the air-to-air Meteor missile, a new-generation laser targeting pod and a new refueling pod, aiming for operational capability in 2018.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2016-03-10/dassault-french-sale-rafales-india-still-being-negotiated
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.