Internationale fighter ontwikkelingen

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

Harald

#561
Citaat van: StrataNL op 12/05/2016 | 00:14 uur
Kan zo snel het investeringsbudget van de Denen niet vinden voor de F35?
Wat ik volgens mij eens gelezen had, moeten de Denen nog geld vrijmaken en /of geld lenen om budget te maken voor aanschaf van de F-16 vervanger. Over aantallen waren ze ook niet helemaal eens, naar mijn weten, binnen de regeringspartijen. Er is ook al eens gesproken over 18 stuks.

Tja... Wij zouden er ook eens 85 kopen.

Extra toevoeging, "oud" artikel van 22 jan 2016

Replacing Denmark's Aging F-16s Could Place Strain on Defense Budget

The significant investment planned by Denmark to replace the Danish Air Force's (DAF) ageing F-16s is raising concerns both domestically and within NATO that the capital-heavy program may place a major drain on the military's future core budgets.

Based on current estimates, the fighter replacement program is likely to cost Denmark between US $3 billion and US $4.5 billion, depending on the number of aircraft eventually purchased.

Moreover, the Danish government will need to budget for additional associated expenditures of between $10 billion to $13 billion to cover operational and maintenance costs over the aircraft's intended 30-40 year lifespan.

Denmark sought bids on 24, 30 and 36 aircraft. These numbers are substantially lower than Denmark's initial ambition to acquire up to 48 aircraft at the outset of the acquisition program in 2005. The DAF's front-line fighter fleet currently has 30 operational F-16s.

"More money is needed to finance the fighter replacement program. What is quite clear is that the project can not be funded from within the existing core defense budget as it stands today," said Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the Conservative Party and chairman of the Danish parliament's Committee on Defense.


..../.....

Voor het gehele artikel zie onderstaande LINK
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/01/22/replacing-denmarks-aging-f-16s-could-place-strain-defense-budget/79169716/

StrataNL

Kan zo snel het investeringsbudget van de Denen niet vinden voor de F35?
-Strata-
Je Maintiendrai! Blog: Krijgsmacht Next-Generation

Jooop

Gaat weer de kant van de gebroken geweertjes op, dejavu

Lex

Wel toevallig dat vandaag er overleg is tussen de KLu en hun Noorse companions.  :angel:

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

#557
Citaat van: Sparkplug op 11/05/2016 | 20:06 uur
30 stuks was blijkbaar net buiten het budget  :(

NL37 + DK 27 +  NO52 + BE20-30 = 136/146 voor de kleine gebruikers, een getal wat alleen al voor de KLu recht zou doen.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: JdL op 11/05/2016 | 20:11 uur
De kleine Europese landen stellen straks niets meer voor op fighter gebied.

Het geeft ook een indruk wat je van onze zuiderburen kan/mag verwachten.

JdL

Citaat van: Sparkplug op 11/05/2016 | 20:06 uur
30 stuks was blijkbaar net buiten het budget  :(
De kleine Europese landen stellen straks niets meer voor op fighter gebied.
'The goal is world peace, and to do so you must have strength' Ronald Reagan

Sparkplug

Citaat van: jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter) op 11/05/2016 | 20:02 uur
Denmark picks F-35s instead of Super Hornet or Typhoon

Reuters / may 11, 2016

COPENHAGEN • The Danish government has picked U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. to supply 27 of its F-35 Lightning fighter jets, TV2 News said on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.

30 stuks was blijkbaar net buiten het budget  :(
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Denmark picks F-35s instead of Super Hornet or Typhoon

Reuters / may 11, 2016

COPENHAGEN • The Danish government has picked U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. to supply 27 of its F-35 Lightning fighter jets, TV2 News said on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.

Denmark's decision has been closely watched, as several other nations also have to decide whether to replace their aged warplanes with Lockheed Martin's brand new F-35 or choose cheaper, older-generation planes such as Super Hornets.

An expert group formed by the Danish Ministry of Defence last month concluded that the F-35 Lightning was a better option than Eurofighter's Typhoon or Boeing Co.'s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Super Hornets are produced at Boeing's operations in north St. Louis County.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/denmark-picks-f--s-instead-of-super-hornet-or/article_d4d93ec5-909c-5675-bb84-53102ce92111.html

Sparkplug

MRCA: Its Typhoon or Rafale

Marhalim Abas, Malaysia - RMAF | May 11, 2016

SHAH ALAM: DESPITE the current travails, it appears that the MRCA programme is inching towards the final stage. And the aircraft shortlisted has been cut to two. Unsurprisingly, the two are the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale.

Industry and ministry officials said although Boeing and Saab are aware of the latest developments they are still plugging away their planes as no contract have been signed yet. That said however if the funding magically appears tomorrow, it will be either the Typhoon or Rafale that will be chosen.

The decision on the MRCA could be made soon, I am told though funding remained the biggest issue on the table. As both UK and France offers funding options under a government-to-government deal the tricky issue could be resolved, I am told.

If we go for the proposed funding options, the payment period for the aircraft may well spread out for at least 10 years based on statements made by the Defence Minister in the past. I am no finance expert but I think it could go up to 20 years. Which also mean that we will only get 18 jets only and not more.

As which one is the more likely candidate for the MRCA programme, my guess is as good as yours. Both aircraft have their own merits so at the end of the day the political considerations will tip the scale.

What about the proposals about buying Hornets from Kuwait then? That is only a proposal made in this website, it was never AFAIK considered by the government.

Furthermore, how will the MRCA programme affect other projects of the Armed Forces? Little or no impact actually as the major programmes – the AV8, A400M and LCS – are already accounted for. It is this army/air force centric funding that leaves the navy scrambling to find funds for its own recapitalisation plans. That resulted in the proposed 15 to 5 plan.

— Malaysian Defence

http://www.malaysiandefence.com/mrca-typhoon-rafale/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

F-35 locked and loaded with improved Block 3i software

By James Drew, Washington DC | 09 may 2016

The F-35 Joint Programme Office (JPO) has stabilised a glitch-prone combination of software and hardware called Block 3i, potentially clearing the way for the US Air Force's first Lightning II combat squadron to declare initial operational capability (IOC) between August and December.

F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin has been preparing the software load in parallel with the Block 2B configuration that the Marine Corps' first operational F-35B group declared war-ready status with last July.

Developmental flight testing of Block 3i started in May 2014. However, problems caused by re-hosting "immature" Block 2B software and capabilities on new computer processors installed in Block 3i aircraft caused flight testing to be restarted in September 2014 and then again in March 2015, reports the Pentagon's top weapons tester.

Developmental flight testing of Block 3i was then terminated last October and an initial version was released to F-35 units "despite unresolved deficiencies" to prevent wider schedule delays.

The programme office has been grappling with "software stability" issues ever since. Aircraft were reportedly having to shut down and reboot on the tarmac or reset a sensor system or radar "once every 4h". That is an unacceptable failure rate for an operational squadron and significantly worse fault rate compared to earlier Block 2B aircraft, which were only having to reboot once every 30h or more.

F-35 programme director Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan told Congress last month that a failure rate of once every 8-10h or greater would be more acceptable, and recent fixes now seem to have achieved that goal.


Four-ship training at Hill AFB
US Air Force

"As of 1 May, the F-35 programme has flown more than 100 flight hours with the 3i software and it has shown approximately twice the level of stability as the previously fielded Block 2B software and three times better stability than the original 3i software," says the JPO on 8 May.

Exactly 114 aircraft from low-rate production batches six, seven and eight will be upgraded to the more stable Block 3i configuration starting this week. Those production lots contained 25 internationally owned aircraft for Italy, Australia, Norway, the UK, Japan and Israel.

The programme office says the latest "stability and mission effectiveness enhancements" from this final Block 3i release have also been incorporated into a new Block 2B update that is being installed in early-model aircraft from production lots two, three, four and five.

That would affect 93 aircraft purchased in those lots, including three UK-owned short takeoff, vertical landing F-35Bs and two Dutch F-35As.


F-35, F-22, A-10 and F-16 fly in formation
US Air Force

"The entire fleet of fielded F-35 aircraft will eventually be upgraded to these two new software versions by the end of calendar year 2016," says the programme office. "Concluding Block 2B and 3i development and testing now allows the F-35 programme to focus on completing Block 3F – the full warfighting capability software. The improvements to Block 2B and 3i have been transferred to Block 3F, and all developmental test aircraft and labs have been upgraded to Block 3F."

The F-35 system development and demonstration (SDD) effort is meant to wrap up in late 2017, which is 16 years after Lockheed won the Joint Strike Fighter contract over Boeing's X-32-based proposal.

With more than 8 million lines of code controlling every onboard sensor and weapon system, the F-35 is the most complex and software-dependent fighter jet in history.


The F-22 air superiority jet and F-35 multi-role fighter were conceived as a "high-low" combat aircraft combination
US Air Force

The Hill AFB's 34th Fighter Squadron, known as the Rude Rams, reactivated last year to become the USAF's first combat-ready F-35 squadron. The unit recently began training in four-ship combat formations as well as practising detection and jamming of radar sites.

With Block 3i concerns seemingly fading, Lockheed's full efforts will likely turn to maturing Block 3F and the trouble-prone Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) that manages the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the F-35 weapon system. ALIS has long been identified as the greatest technical risk to USAF IOC.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/f-35-locked-and-loaded-with-improved-block-3i-softwa-425098/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)


Sparkplug

USAF puts Talon HATE to the test

Jamie Hunter, London - IHS Jane's International Defence Review | 06 May 2016


422 TES F-15C serial 82-022/OT carrying the Talon HATE pod in February whilst undergoing testing at Nellis AFB. The large pod is carried on the centreline station. Source: Jamie Hunter

The US Air Force (USAF) is currently engaged in a flight test programme for its new Talon HATE pod for the F-15C Eagle. Talon HATE is a new system designed to help integrate and enhance the relationship between its two air dominance platforms - the F-15C Eagle and the F-22 Raptor.

Developed initially by the company's secretive Phantom Works as a rapid-prototyping concept, Talon HATE is a podded system that combines a covert data exchange capability with an inbuilt infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor. It has been seen flying recently with the USAF's elite 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (422 TES) at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in Nevada.

Boeing completed the final design review for Talon HATE in September 2014, although public information remains scant. Many see Talon HATE acting very much along the lines of the USAF's Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) currently deployed on E-11A, EQ-4, and WB-57 aircraft, and essentially acting as a data relay platform for a wide range of information.


The upper surface of the aircraft features a large new scabbed-on fairing. The fairing may be linked to providing all-aspect coverage of the link for the new system. (Jamie Hunter)

"The system assimilates information in real-time from multiple domains, creating an improved common operating picture for tactical awareness," said Alex Lopez, vice president, Advanced Network and Space Systems at Boeing Phantom Works.

One of the major limitations of the F-22 is its inability to communicate covertly with other aircraft types, although the F-22 features an intra-flight datalink (IFDL) that enables the aircraft to exchange data within a formation of F-22 aircraft.

Similarly, the F-22's Increment 3.2A spiral upgrade added Link 16, but only as a receive-only terminal because the non-stealthy Link-16 with its omnidirectional emissions could reveal the aircraft's location.

However, under programme director Sean Rice, the Talon HATE project has integrated the F-22's IFDL with the proven Multifunctional Information Distribution System-JTRS (MIDS-J) system. MIDS-J serves as a host for multiple concurrent communications waveforms that are essential for Talon HATE operations, with Talon HATE essentially receiving and translating the F-22 data and processing it for redistribution on MIDS/Link 16 waveforms to other friendly aircraft.

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http://www.janes.com/article/60050/usaf-puts-talon-hate-to-the-test
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

Structural problem with Swiss Hornet raises wider fighter fleet concerns

Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly | 04 May 2016


A structural issue found on one of the Swiss Air Force's Hornet fighters has raised further concerns as to the long-term viability of the country's frontline fighter force. Source: IHS/Patrick Allen

The Swiss Air Force has suffered another problem with its ageing fighter fleet with the discovery of a structural issue on one of its Boeing F/A-18 Hornet combat aircraft, the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sport (VBS [previously DDPS]) disclosed on 3 May.

According to a statement released by the VBS, a wing on one Hornet is to be replaced following the discovery during an inspection that an adhesive bond had failed.

"Under ... an inspection, detachment at the joint between the wing and the fuselage was discovered in an aircraft when replacing a small separation of the adhesive bond between the titanium plating and the composite material. Corresponding investigations have shown that a repair is not possible [and] for this reason the blades must be replaced," the VBS statement read. The aircraft will remain in service "with restrictions" until the work can be carried out during scheduled maintenance.

While the VBS added that such fatigue problems "are not uncommon", this discovery is concerning given the structural issues found with Switzerland's only other combat aircraft type: the Northrop F-5 Tiger II. In April 2015 Defence Minister Ueli Maurer disclosed that cracking in 16 of the country's then 32 serviceable Tigers meant the air force had to prematurely retire a third of its F-5E fleet (the twin-seat F-5F was not affected). This reduction in Tiger numbers has resulted in an increased workload for Switzerland's 31 Hornet fighters and, while this may not be directly attributable to the issue now discovered in one of those aircraft, it certainly will not have helped.

Overarching all of these issues is Switzerland's aborted attempt to field a modern fighter replacement. The country had planned to retire all of its 1970s-built F-5s from 2016 and replace them with the Saab Gripen E. However, the expected deal was rejected during a national referendum in May 2014.

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http://www.janes.com/article/59970/structural-problem-with-swiss-hornet-raises-wider-fighter-fleet-concerns
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Sparkplug

India's Rafale Deal Hits Another Snag

Jay Menon | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report | May 3, 2016


Rafale: Dassault

NEW DELHI — India and France's long-gestating deal to buy 36 Dassault Rafale fighters may have run into another hurdle, this time in the form of objections from India's law ministry.

A Law Ministry official says the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) has several loopholes in its liability clause and in other matters such as material breach, bank guarantee and arbitration, and the agreement doesn't serve the interests of India. "We have suggested that unless there is a joint-and-several liability clause, India's interests would remain compromised," the official says.

"The Ministry of Law & Justice has made certain observations and the same will be adequately taken into account while finalizing the Inter-Governmental Agreement [IGA], which is still under negotiations," Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said in the Upper house of Parliament May 3.

The Law Ministry is concerned about a clause in the agreement that says in the event of a breach of supply requirements by the French companies, the Indian side must first pursue a legal recourse against the companies without involving the French government.

India and France have been negotiating the financial structure of the government-to-government Rafale purchase from Dassault Aviation since India Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year announced New Delhi's decision to buy the 36 aircraft.

Parrikar also clarified that the negotiations on the terms and conditions of the contract, including total cost, actual delivery time lines and guarantee period, have not been concluded.

The cost for the 36 jets, based on the original Request For Proposal price (while taking into account foreign exchange rates and other factors), comes to around 650 billion rupees ($9.7 billion). India wants to negotiate the price down to about 590 billion rupees.

India wants to buy the Rafale jets in flyaway condition "as quickly as possible" in view of the Indian air force's critical operational necessity for multirole combat aircraft.

French President Francois Hollande and Modi asserted during Hollande's visit to India in January that the deal would be finalized soon. "Only financial aspects of the Rafale deal is left. The intergovernmental agreement has been finalized. It will be done soon," Modi said at the time.

http://aviationweek.com/defense/india-s-rafale-deal-hits-another-snag
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.