Internationale fighter ontwikkelingen

[Ace1]

Na verhouding komen de Noren er vwb numerieke vervanging er redelijk goed van af: oorspronkelijke aantal F16: 72.

De Noren hebben een aardig olie potje, die ze slimmer beheren dan wij onze gas baten.

Vergeet hun gas potje en hydro stroom potje niet.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Hz 'maar'?
De Noren hebben niet zo'n enorm grote economie en het is bijna een 1 op 1 vervanging van hun F-16's.

Na verhouding komen de Noren er vwb numerieke vervanging er redelijk goed van af: oorspronkelijke aantal F16: 72.

De Noren hebben een aardig olie potje, die ze slimmer beheren dan wij onze gas baten.

[JdL]

En zelfs dat zijn er maar 52  (als ze het aantal daadwerkelijk halen)

Hz 'maar'?
De Noren hebben niet zo'n enorm grote economie en het is bijna een 1 op 1 vervanging van hun F-16's.

[Sparkplug]

En zelfs dat zijn er maar 54  (als ze het aantal daadwerkelijk halen)

Maak van 54 maar 52 stuks. Dat is het Noorse orderaantal.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Als het moet, moet het. Maar zoals je zelf ook al aangeeft, tijden zijn veranderd. Van de Spitfire zijn er ruim 20.000 gebouwd, en dat was slechts 1 van de vele types. Denk je dat de F35A dat gaat halen?

Retorische vraag..

Wat ik wel als mogelijkheid zie is een low end  - high end mix en zelfs dan zal het cumulatieve aantal voor de KLu niet boven de 65 a 70 uitkomen.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

In België en NL zijn het ook al zulke lage aantallen, de kleine landen stellen straks niets meer voor.
Alleen Noorwegen krijgt fatsoenlijke aantallen.

En zelfs dat zijn er maar 52  (als ze het aantal daadwerkelijk halen)

[dudge]

Ik zou niet voor inhuur zijn maar voor aanschaf, nu is het mij duidelijk dat tijden zijn veranderd maar ik hoor niemand piepen over 4 type helikopters en enkele decennia geleden (oké we hadden nog aantallen) was het stil rondom 2 type gevechtsvliegtuigen. (zelfs 3 gedurende een overlap periode)

Als het moet, moet het. Maar zoals je zelf ook al aangeeft, tijden zijn veranderd. Van de Spitfire zijn er ruim 20.000 gebouwd, en dat was slechts 1 van de vele types. Denk je dat de F35A dat gaat halen?

[JdL]

In België en NL zijn het ook al zulke lage aantallen, de kleine landen stellen straks niets meer voor.
Alleen Noorwegen krijgt fatsoenlijke aantallen.

[Sparkplug]

Denmark's Fighter Selection Date Faces Yet Another Delay As Replacement Program Struggles to Lift Off

Forecast International | April 4, 2016

Denmark's headline military procurement project – the replacement of the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) fleet of F-16s – faces a potential delay in the selection timeline laid out by the country's minority government. The Danish Ministry of Defense is currently examining a short-list of future fighter alternatives that include the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

One looming hurdle to meeting the 2016 selection target date involves financing the project. With a cross-party funding agreement required in order to move forward with the program, the underlying issue becomes defining the exact number of fighters to procure.

The Danish MoD's Project Office has already laid out several options, including procurements of 24, 30, and 36 fighters – each proposal representing a drop from the original 2005 requirement calling for 48 new fighters. That figure was ultimately amended downward in March 2010 in the face of dwindling financial resources and shifting operational goals and requirements.

Two leftist political parties – the Social Liberal Party (SLP) and Socialist People's Party (SPP) – favor purchasing the fewest number of fighters deemed necessary to conduct Denmark's airspace defense and international security mission requirements. The problem is that the figure they have targeted is just 18 fighters, six fewer than the minimum proposal request.

The SLP-SPP preference diverges from those of the other main political parties, including the minority governing Liberals, the Social Democrats, and the Conservatives, each of whom prefers the 30-36 unit purchase option.

The unit total preferences threaten to be an unbridgeable divide for a fighter program carrying a price tag estimated at between $2.8 billion and $4.5 billion, depending on the number of aircraft purchased. Swallowing such a significant price tag is made all the more politically difficult by the straitened finances of the MoD, whose budget declined by more than 7 percent year-on-year in 2015 and is unlikely to expand much under the next five-year defense spending agreement (the current plan expires in 2017). Adding to the price of the purchase are the long-term operating and maintenance costs over the life of the aircraft – estimated to be between $10-$13 billion across a 30-40-year period.

Furthermore, many opposition parties are adamantly opposed to using sources outside the national budget, such as international loans, in order to finance the procurement, meaning whatever funding is required must come from a Danish national budget carefully managed over the past three fiscal years to avoid exceeding the European Union's deficit threshold of 3 percent of GDP.

Public spending cuts and a listless economy have shrunk the political appetite for a large fighter purchase, particularly among the left-leaning parties like the SPP, who see large, expensive military projects as draining limited government resources better allocated toward health care, child care, education, and public transportation. At a time when funding pressures are placing all government ministries in a financial straightjacket, these parties contend that resources are better allocated internally and that the armed forces' missions abroad should be curtailed. Rather than participating in every EU- or NATO-led peacekeeping mission, they argue, the military should focus more on homeland defense, which would lessen the need for a larger number of new fighters.

The argument over financing looms larger when juxtaposed with concerns that the military budget may get overwhelmed by the fighter purchase, particularly at a time when the defense force hopes to upgrade its armored vehicle and artillery capabilities.

Because of the sensitive issue of ensuring that Denmark's defense force has sufficient funds in future procurement budgets, the likelihood is that the final agreed-upon number of fighters to be procured will total 24 combat aircraft. Any additional RDAF capability requirements would then be met via drone acquisitions. This seems all the more logical considering the suspected favored platform, the Lockheed Martin F-35, will carry with it an estimated unit cost of at least $85-$95 million per aircraft by the time Denmark would be ready to ink a contract.

Besides funding, political stability has been an issue for Denmark as it seeks to nudge the fighter replacement program forward. A series of ministerial shuffling that has seen the MoD headed by three different ministers in just over two years has done little to help the decision-making process.

Adding to this is the precarious position of the minority government of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, which barely survived in February when the Conservatives threatened to withhold support and force a snap election unless Environment and Food Minister Eva Kjer Hansen was dismissed. Rasmussen refused to remove his Cabinet member, who had come under fire over agricultural reforms, but the threat to the government passed when Hansen voluntarily stepped down.

Defense Minister Peter Christensen has stated to the Parliamentary Defense Committee that a fighter selection will not be revealed until all funding issues are resolved and an all-party financial plan is in place. But besides cost and performance, another concern for Christensen and the government is the selected vendor's long-term support and industrial cooperation plans for Denmark. Danish officials hope these will result in spin-off jobs and capital investments in Danish industry, as well as maintenance and servicing guarantees for the duration of the new fighters' service lives.

Denmark is a Tier-3 partner in the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and has invested an estimated $291 million in the project to date. Many still believe that the fighter remains the favorite to replace the Danish F-16s. Yet, a decision by Christensen late last year to decline providing the Parliamentary Defense Committee with specifics regarding technical issues concerning the F-35 raised in the Director, Operational Test, and Evaluation Office report for the U.S. Secretary of Defense was not well received.

While Denmark's preference is likely a U.S.-derived solution, an F-35 selection would certainly raise questions that the defense minister and government would not be able to evade. But until the financials are worked out, it is a worry they can continue pushing into the future – just not too far into the future, as the RDAF plans to begin phasing the F-16 fleet out of service between 2020 and 2024.

So, chalk up yet another issue confronting the Danish Defense Ministry as it seeks to finally nail down a selection – a selection originally planned for April 2009 that has been delayed five times, with the very real possibility that a sixth delay awaits.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/172740/denmark%E2%80%99s-fighter-selection-faces-yet-another-delay.html

[Zeewier]

Wat is de reden dat zoveel vertraagde orders nu plots doorgang vinden, toch de zeer lage koers van de euro? Bij zowel Saab, Finmeccanica/Eurofighter als Dassault staan deze maand (qua 30 dagen) de champagneglazen gevuld.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

De felicitaties gaan naar...... roffel roffel..

Reuters - Italy's Finmeccanica signs Eurofighter contract with Kuwait

http://www.euronews.com/business-newswires/3176168-italys-finmeccanica-signs-eurofighter-contract-with-kuwait/#.VwPAb7R8DSg.twitter

[StrataNL]

Wat betreft de wind van voren; de Eurofighter Typhoon en de JAS Gripen hebben al dode piloten te betreuren, de F-35 heeft nog een clean sheet.

Gripen heeft geen dode piloten te betreuren? Ene Eurofighter piloot overleed ná het ejecten. De andere door een crash bij de landing.

[Zeewier]

Het is dan ook een leuk doel voor de media om aan te vallen: 389 mjd US dollar en een "beetje" over de gehele periode tot 2070.

Ok, nu ga ik zelf off-topic. Die hele Spaanse én Saudische Eurofighter crash is toch helemaal niet opgehelderd? Het waren trainigsvluchten. Alles wordt stil gehouden vanwege imago & verkoop. De politiek die toch het beste voor moet hebben met haar vliegende dienaren is muisstil. De overschrijfmedia zijn zelf de oorzaak achter de ongelijke balans in beeldvorming rond de verschillende toestellen.

Zo, en nu ga ik even mijn Trump-verslaving (not) bevredigen in de overschrijfmedia. Want ik ben zo benieuwd wie hij vandaag beledigd heeft.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Probeer juist zoveel mogelijk 2 logistieke lijnen te vermijden. Dus huren. Onderhoud op locatie.

Wat betreft de wind van voren; de Eurofighter Typhoon en de JAS Gripen hebben al dode piloten te betreuren, de F-35 heeft nog een clean sheet. Echter als de NY Times of The Washington Post uitpakken over GAO-rapporten steekt er een fellere wind op in de overschrijfmedia dan wanneer er een Spaanse Eurofighter Typhoon neerstort.

Het is dan ook een leuk doel voor de media om aan te vallen: 389 mjd US dollar en een "beetje" over de gehele periode tot 2070.

Ik zou niet voor inhuur zijn maar voor aanschaf, nu is het mij duidelijk dat tijden zijn veranderd maar ik hoor niemand piepen over 4 type helikopters en enkele decennia geleden (oké we hadden nog aantallen) was het stil rondom 2 type gevechtsvliegtuigen. (zelfs 3 gedurende een overlap periode)

[Sparkplug]

Alaska base selected to house F-35 squadrons

By James Drew, Washington DC | 05 April 2016

The US Air Force will station two operational F-35A squadrons on America's northwestern flank in Alaska, nearby where F-22s typically intercept long-range Russian TU-95 "Bear" bombers.

Eielson AFB, an approximately 1h flight north of the Lockheed Martin F-22As stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in middle Alaska, will eventually house two Lightning II squadrons comprised of 24 F-35s each, plus six backup inventory aircraft.

The announcement by the air force on 4 April completes a long-running basing decision process, which considered whether to base F-35s assigned to the Pacific theatre at Eielson AFB. USAF assessed the site based on "operational considerations, installation attributes, environmental factors and cost".

Basing preparations will begin at the turn of the fiscal year in October and aircraft should begin arriving in late 2019 through 2020, which is about one year later than forecast when Eielson AFB was announced as the preferred Pacific F-35 site in August 2014.

Those Lightning IIs will join an F-16 aggressor squadron already operating from the base, and will have the distinction of being the "first operational overseas F-35As" – owing to the fact that Alaska is not counted as part of the USA mainland because it is geographically separated by Canada.

The delay in aircraft deliveries to Alaska is in response to a "shortage of experienced, active-duty fighter aircraft maintainers" and allows for the slightly accelerated stand up of F-35 operations at the Burlington Air Guard Station in Vermont, according to an air force statement.

"The decision to base two F-35 squadrons at Eielson AFB combined with the existing F-22 Raptors at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will double our fifth-generation fighter aircraft presence in the Pacific theatre," says USAF chief of staff Gen Mark Welsh, who notes that those aircraft will add to the F-35s flown by the US Navy and Marine Corps as well as allied operators. That's particularly relevant to Japan, South Korea and Australia, which are standing sentinel alongside US forces against a more assertive China and belligerent North Korea.

"It's an exciting time for Pacific airpower," Welsh adds.


The first of many F-22 Raptor intercepts of Russian Air Force Tu-95 Bear bombers off the coast of Alaska, this one near Nunivak Island in 2007
US Air Force

For Eielson AFB and the surrounding Fairbanks area, this basing decision validates long-held views that the air force site is too strategically important to let fall by the wayside. The local area and its members of Congress have been lobbying to keep the base alive after it was named on a 2005 memorandum for base realignment and closure.

Instead of being placed on a "warm" footing with no mission or aircraft, the base has retained its F-16 aggressors, thanks to its proximity to the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex – the largest area of unrestricted airspace that the service has access to.

"Alaska combines a strategically important location with a world-class training environment," says air force secretary Deborah Lee James.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/alaska-base-selected-to-house-f-35-squadrons-423845/