Internationale fighter ontwikkelingen

[Harald]

Japan Britain and Italy forge tri-nation partnership for next-generation air-to-air missile

Japan has initiated a joint project with NATO members Britain and Italy to develop a new generation of air-to-air missile for upcoming fighter jets. This collaboration is set against the backdrop of increasing global security issues, such as Russia's activities in Ukraine and China's military expansion.

The primary objective of this tri-nation collaboration is to engineer a new air-to-air missile. Initial studies by Japan and Britain suggest that the missile in development could offer enhanced performance at a potentially lower cost compared to the existing Meteor missile. The Meteor program itself is a significant European defense collaboration involving six countries, including Britain and Italy. Unlike conventional air-to-air missiles, the Meteor utilizes a ramjet to maintain thrust at speeds exceeding Mach 4, thereby increasing its range and effectiveness. It is currently compatible with Europe's frontline fighter aircraft such as the Gripen, the Eurofighter Typhoon II, and the Rafale.

The new missile inspired by the Meteor and expected by Japan, is currently in the design phase and aims to incorporate advanced radar and other systems. It is expected to be capable of receiving targeting information from multiple platforms, including drones and airborne early warning and control aircraft.

Key features under consideration include advanced radar systems for improved target detection, seamless integration with other military assets like drones, and the utilization of gallium nitride semiconductors to enhance radar performance. Additionally, a new engine is under development to increase the missile's range and speed. The missile is also anticipated to be compatible with Japan's future 6th-generation fighter jets, although specific technical details are yet to be finalized.

This missile development is part of a broader defense strategy that also includes the creation of a 6th-generation aircraft. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the primary developer of this new aircraft, unofficially known as the F-X or F-3. BAE Systems is actively participating in this project, which aims to replace Japan's aging fleet of Mitsubishi F-2 jets by the mid-2030s.

Initially, Japan and Britain had laid out plans to jointly develop next-generation fighter jets with stealth capabilities and drone coordination technology. Italy later joined the effort, making it a tri-nation initiative. Lockheed Martin Corp. from the United States was initially considered for technical support but was ultimately not chosen due to confidentiality concerns related to defense and security information.

With the initiation of this next-generation air-to-air missile project, the collaboration between Japan, Britain, and Italy appears to be oriented toward long-term engagement. This tri-nation partnership extends beyond a single project and could potentially encompass future technological developments in defense. The alliance reflects a mutual interest among the three countries in addressing global security concerns through cooperative efforts. As such, the collaboration is expected to continue, given the shared objectives in the evolving landscape of international security

https://www.airrecognition.com/index.php/news/defense-aviation-news/2023-news-aviation-aerospace/august/9186-japan-britain-and-italy-forge-tri-nation-partnership-for-next-generation-air-to-air-missile.html

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

U.S. Navy's F/A-XX in Design Maturation, Competing Companies Announced

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/us-navys-fa-xx-design-maturation-competing-companies

[Harald]

https://gagadget.com/nl/299717-saoedi-arabie-koopt-mogelijk-100-200-franse-rafale-gevechtsvliegtuigen-omdat-duitsland-leveringen-van-eurofighter-typhoon/

Saoedi-Arabië koopt mogelijk 100-200 Franse Rafale-gevechtsvliegtuigen omdat Duitsland leveringen van Eurofighter Typhoon blokkeert

Saoedi-Arabië heeft problemen met het bestellen van Eurofighter Typhoon gevechtsvliegtuigen. Daarom stapt het koninkrijk mogelijk over op de Franse Dassault Rafale straaljagers.

Dit is wat we weten
Het Verenigd Koninkrijk wil Eurofighter Typhoon-gevechtsvliegtuigen van de vierde generatie verkopen aan Saoedi-Arabië. Maar vanwege de oorlog in Jemen en de moord op journalist Jamal Khashoggi blokkeert Duitsland de deal.

In dit verband overwegen de autoriteiten van de grootste staat op het Arabische schiereiland de aankoop van Franse Rafale gevechtsvliegtuigen. Op dit moment heeft de Koninklijke Saoedische Luchtmacht meer dan honderd Eurofighter Typhoon en F-15SA Eagle vliegtuigen.

Het koninkrijk is terughoudend om Amerikaanse gevechtsvliegtuigen te bestellen vanwege de niet al te beste betrekkingen met de VS. De regering vreest dat Amerika in de toekomst de levering van vliegtuigen of onderdelen voor hen zal blokkeren.

Daarom valt de keuze op de Franse Rafale. Volgens La Tribune overweegt Saoedi-Arabië om 100-200 gevechtsvliegtuigen te kopen.

[Harald]

https://www.defensenews.com/global/the-americas/2023/08/23/brazil-to-double-air-fleet-as-part-of-106-billion-investment/

Brazil to double air fleet as part of $10.6 billion investment

Brazil plans to invest 52.8 billion reals (U.S. $10.6 billion) for research, development and equipment acquisition efforts for its military, including nearly doubling the size of its Gripen fighter fleet and financing projects by local aircraft manufacturer Embraer for aerial refueling planes, the government announced earlier this month.

[Harald]

https://gagadget.com/nl/299367-indonesie-is-van-plan-om-24-gemoderniseerde-f-15ex-eagle-ii-gevechtsvliegtuigen-te-kopen-voor-een-bedrag-van-80-106-miljo/

Indonesië is van plan om 24 gemoderniseerde F-15EX Eagle II gevechtsvliegtuigen te kopen voor een bedrag van $ 80-106 miljoen

[Harald]

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/08/new-engine-for-the-next-generation-fighter.html

New Engine for the Next Generation Fighter

GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney are in the prototyping phase for the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) engine which will power the next generation air domination fighter (NGAD 6th generation figher). They both participated in the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) meant for the F-35 and are instead bringing that engine technology over to the new project. The advanced engine should allow for 20% more speed and 30% more range.

The GE XA100 adaptive engine on the test stand. The 45,000 lbf (200 kN) thrust class engine is expected to be significantly more powerful and efficient than existing low-bypass turbofans.

The AETP engines—Pratt's XA101 and GE's XA100 fit in the F-35A but would need a redesign to fit the carrier-capable F-35C and short takeoff/vertical landing F-35B.

The military chose the F135 Engine Core Upgrade offered by Pratt & Whitney instead of the AETP. The ECU is a limited scope upgrade. It looks very similar to the existing motor in the F-35 but adds the latest design tools into the same supply base. The upgrade wouldn't require any of the F-35's interfaces to change and is limited to just the core of the engine. An upgraded F135 would be production cost neutral, despite having a budget of $200-250 million a year for the next several years. The initial cost of a brand-new adaptive engine would be about two and half times that of current the F135 and would add about $4 billion in production costs across the life of the program. Other estimates were the adaptive engine could cost more than $6 billion and force the military to buy roughly 70 fewer F35 fighters. The ECU upgrades will start to be added to operational jets sometime between 2030 and 2032 (if current timelines are met).

The ECU engines supports far higher cooling demands for new computers and upgraded sensors and electronics for block 4 F35s. Previously, they military wanted 15 kilowatts of cooling but with block 4 and block 5 the total cooling demands could end up being double or more. ECU is a lot of thermal management and cooling improvements and should allow for 80 kilowatts of cooling.

The AETP engines are 25% more fuel efficiency, 10% additional thrust, and significantly better thermal management by by using advanced materials and composites, ceramic matrix materials, thermal management improvements, and additive manufacturing. The new materials and technology for bleeding edge ("expensive") increased capabilities will go into the next generation fighter and its new engine.

[Sparkplug]

Men wil 32 F-35A's aanschaffen in Roemenië voor een bedrag van 6,5 miljard dollar, waarbij de eerste toestellen in 2032 beschikbaar moet zijn.

46 F-16's  + 32 F-35's dat is geen kleine luchtmacht voor een land zoals Roemenië.

De ex-Noorse F-16's hebben elk nog 2.500 vlieguren over en kunnen hiermee nog circa 10 jaar vliegen. Zij moeten de MiG-21 LanceR vervangen die nu twee squadrons vormen. Dit geeft hen in totaal drie F-16 squadrons (17 ex-Portugees en 32 ex-Noors).

https://issuu.com/theaviationmagazine/docs/076_-_2022-01_02/s/14435820

[Sparkplug]

Lockheed Could Adapt F-22 Stealth Fuel Tanks for Other Aircraft Like F-35

 Aug. 4, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

DAYTON, Ohio—The low-drag, stealthy fuel tanks and pylons Lockheed Martin is developing for the F-22 are potentially applicable to other aircraft like the F-35, the head of Lockheed's Integrated Fighter Group told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Lockheed executive O.J. Sanchez and the Air Force's director of fighters and advanced aircraft also said the Air Force's hefty investments in F-22 capabilities over the next seven years will migrate to the Next Generation Air Dominance program and other platforms and won't go to waste when the F-22 retires.

.../...


Air Combat Command's Gen. Mark Kelly posted this conceptual image on Instagram of an F-22 firing the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile in 2022, offering the first official glimpse of the new weapon. USAF illustration

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/lockheed-could-f-22-stealth-fuel-tanks-f-35/

[Benji87]

AIR WARFARE, CONGRESS

In reversal, Air Force wants prototype NGAD engines from both Pratt and GE: Official



General Electric's proposal for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program, the XA100. (General Electric)

DAYTON, Ohio — The Air Force has decided to fund both Pratt & Whitney and GE Aerospace at least through the prototype phase to make an engine for the service's forthcoming Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, reversing earlier plans to ax one of the competitors earlier.

"We still have that opportunity to do a downselect if we start seeing... a huge separation between the two. But right now with the way we're funded, we think we can carry both through prototype, and both are leaning in fully. And so then we'll let the prototype and test do the evaluation," Air Force propulsion chief John Sneden said Tuesday.

Last year at the Life Cycle Industry Days conference here, Sneden said that budget constraints by the end of 2024 would force officials to eliminate either Pratt & Whitney or GE Aerospace from the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program, the formal name of the effort to build the NGAD fighter's engine. But now, Sneden said he's confident the Air Force's can support both vendors through the prototyping phase, which he said is critical to maintain the health of the propulsion industrial base.

"The problem with it is that there's not many companies in the world that can do this," he said. "My focus is really on just maintaining what we currently have. And that means competition wherever possible, and continuing to fund both vendors for as long as we possibly can."

Under NGAP, the service last year issued contracts to Pratt and GE — as well as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman — to ensure that propulsion offerings can fit into any airframe ultimately selected. The service plans to make an award for NGAD in 2024, and following Northop's announcement that it won't bid as a prime, Lockheed and Boeing are assumed to be competing to make the fighter itself.

When the contract was issued, "it was just to make sure that there was an interface methodology between the airframe company and the propulsion company," Sneden said.

And Congress appears poised to fully provide the service's $595 million fiscal 2024 funding request for NGAP, according to drafts of appropriators' legislation. As the prototyping phase approaches in the 2024-2025 timeframe, both companies will have to share their designs — and as of right now, Sneden expects both will be worthy of fielding as prototypes.

"I think what we need to do is, let's see where both vendors are at. And if they're both tracking basically equally, or close enough to each other — which they are right now, they're both doing great — then we would go into prototype and test," he said.

After that, "we can make a downselect from there," he added, though Sneden did not state specifically when that decision might be made. "We will let the results speak for themselves as we get to prototype and test."

AETP Funding
Air Force officials are looking to use a range of new tools to shape the design of the NGAD's engine — technology that will draw upon the Air Force's Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP), where Pratt and GE each built prototype adaptive engines tailored to the F-35.

In March, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced the service would seek to end funding for that engine program and instead fund an upgrade to the Pratt-made F135. Congressional appropriators seem largely in agreement: Senate appropriators provide no funding for AETP, and while House appropriators provide $150 million for the program, the chair of the House defense appropriations subcommittee previously told Breaking Defense that the committee is adamant that the incumbent F135 engine should not be swapped out.

That money, according to the House committee's legislation, is "to ensure coordinated design efforts with NGAP," emphasizing that "this increase is not intended to incentivize the Air Force, or any other Service, to create an alternative engine program for the F-35." Senate appropriators would similarly separately provide $280 million for advanced engine development efforts specifically tailored to features like advanced manufacturing techniques, stating that lawmakers are "concerned that a skilled workforce across the domestic military aircraft engine industrial base will degrade if sufficient work and the requisite funding are not available."

House authorizers, however, would seek $588 million for AETP, funding that Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee chairman Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., previously said in an interview with Breaking Defense could keep a new F-35 engine in play. Wittman's counterparts in the Senate Armed Services Committee, however, would seek no further funding for AETP.

"Everything that we're seeing right now is that NGAP will be funded, but the question is really whether or not AETP will be. And so currently, our activities are really focused on maturing the adaptive engine technology with the remaining budget that we have left for AETP," Sneden said.

Sneden said officials are working to "take all of those activities, and we'll port over the technology towards NGAP," listing off key innovations like adaptive turbofans and materials with improved thermal management properties. 

Asked about Secretary Frank Kendall's comments that continued funding for AETP could be a waste of taxpayer dollars, Sneden explained that "if the decision has been made to not put AETP technology into the F-35, if we continue to lean into that activity, then that's a waste. So why would we continue to spend money on AETP specifically as it relates to the F-35.

"What I'm offering is that some of the things that we're currently doing on [AETP]... have portability into the NGAP program," he continued. "So if we get money, I think the focus will actually be, where can we spend the money on advanced engine development activities that will help us continue to mature adaptive engine tech towards the NGAP baseline, as opposed to putting adaptive engine tech in the F-35."

https://breakingdefense.com/2023/08/in-reversal-air-force-wants-prototype-ngad-engines-from-both-pratt-and-ge-official/?amp=1

[Parera]

Duitsland investeert miljoenen in fabriek voor F-35's aan Nederlandse grens

Voor het eerst sinds de oorlog in Oekraïne pompt Duitsland geld in een fabriek voor militair materieel in eigen land. In Weeze, vlakbij Venray over de Duitse grens, hoopt wapenfabrikant Rheinmetall komende jaren de vliegtuigromp voor de Amerikaanse F-35-straaljagers te maken.

https://www.ad.nl/buitenland/duitsland-investeert-miljoenen-in-fabriek-voor-f-35s-aan-nederlandse-grens~a760811d/

[Parera]

Northrop Grumman Bails On Next Generation Fighter Competition
Northrop Grumman has decided to focus on other opportunities, among them is the Navy's own 6th generation fighter program.



https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/northrop-grumman-bails-on-next-generation-fighter-competition

[Harald]

US Navy Taps Lockheed Martin For LRASM Integration On F-35

The U.S. Navy is looking to tap Lockheed Martin Corporation's Missiles Fire Control (MFC) unit for Integrating the Long Range Anti-ship Missile (LRASM) on the F-35.



The Naval Air Systems Command released a pre-solicitation notice on July 7th, seeking sources for integrating the U.S. Navy's Long Range Anti-ship Missile (LRASM) on the F-35 platform. The notice states that NAVAIR plans to negotiate and award a sole source delivery order for a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) to Lockheed Martin Corporation's Missiles Fire Control (MFC).

According to the notice Lockheed Martin "will support the F-35 Tactical Missile Operational Flight Program (MOFP) development. LMMFC shall develop and deliver a build of tactical MOFP that is compatible with F-35 and backward compatible with legacy aircraft platforms, including F/A-18, B-1, and P-8."

News of possible JASSM-ER and LRASM integration on the F-35 goes back to 2018 and has been known for years now, but little was known about when this would begin. During the 2021 Surface Navy Association symposium, Lockheed Martin unveiled artist impressions of an F-35 equipped with two LRASMs. Naval News contacted Lockheed Martin to ask about the unveiling and the progress of the integration if one was happening.

Lockheed Martin officials stated that they had completed initial fit checks for both JASSM-ER and LRASM at the time of the unveiling, and expected planned integration efforts to continue into the year. Congress also allocated funds for the integration effort later that year in the FY22 budget.

LRASM is currently integrated on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which cleared Early Operational Capability (EOC) with the missile in December 2019, and on the U.S. Air Force's B-1B Lancer, which cleared EOC with the missile in 2017. Aside from these platforms, the missile is being integrated on the P-8A Poseidon, the progress of which Naval News reported on earlier this year, and on the U.S. Air Force's B-52 Stratofortress.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/07/us-navy-lockheed-martin-lrasm-f35/

[Sparkplug]

MQ-28 Ghost bats zijn voor NLD Een must met ons lage aantal F-35's.

Als ze moeten worden bewapend, dan moet er wel iets aan het airframe van de MQ-28 gebeuren. Met de huidige grootte is het meer voor ISR.

Snap de beslissing goed van Aus, had alleen die F-18's ingeruild voor F-15GE's. F-18's zijn leuk maar enorm traag en hebben wel hun beperkingen. Helemaal als je ze niet gebruikt als carrier aircraft.

Als vervanger van de F-111C was een F-15E variant inderdaad geschikter. Helaas kozen zij voor de F/A-18F, omdat 12 van de 24 stuks zouden worden omgebouwd naar de EA-18G Growler. Uiteindelijk werd de EA-18G nieuw af fabriek geleverd.

[Huzaar1]

MQ-28 Ghost bats zijn voor NLD Een must met ons lage aantal F-35's.

Snap de beslissing goed van Aus, had alleen die F-18's ingeruild voor F-15GE's. F-18's zijn leuk maar enorm traag en hebben wel hun beperkingen. Helemaal als je ze niet gebruikt als carrier aircraft.

[Harald]

https://gagadget.com/en/weapons/281133-australia-may-not-buy-28-f-35a-aircraft-because-of-the-modernisation-of-the-fa-18-super-hornet-the-development-of/

Australia may not buy 28 F-35A aircraft because of the modernisation of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the development of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone and the emergence of sixth-generation fighters