The week before Farnbrough.
Posted on 08/26/2016 10:55:22 AM PDT by BenLurkin
ockheed Martin's (LMT) F-35 wowed crowds at the Farnborough Airshow in the U.K. last month... Despite ongoing concerns about its development, the stealth fighter continues to reach key milestones, and production will hit full speed in a few years.
Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman (NOC), which is a major subcontractor on the F-35, has locked down the other key piece of the Pentagon's combat aircraft upgrade cycle, winning the B-21 contract last year to build replacements for Cold War-era Boeing (BA) B-52s.
With the $400 billion F-35 and $80 billion B-21 contracts in hand, Lockheed and Northrop would appear to have established air superiority. But there are hundreds of billions of Pentagon aerospace dollars still up for grabs, and demand overseas for high-tech missiles is on the rise, meaning Lockheed, Northrop, Raytheon (RTN) and Boeing can make more money and boost their shares as the new weapons stay in service for decades.
...
U.S. military's fleet of helicopters is also due for an upgrade. The Army is looking to replace its Black Hawk helicopters as heavy use in Afghanistan and Iraq have worn them out faster than expected. Textron's (TXT) Bell division is competing against a Boeing-Sikorsky team.
The Army is also looking at replacements for its Boeing AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook as well as its Bell OH-58 Kiowa. Providing helicopters to take the places of all four aircraft will be worth an estimated $100 billion. The Pentagon is expected to seek official proposals in 2019, followed by a contract award in 2020.
"We feel very strong about our military helicopter position in the market place and the capabilities we would provide customers," Boeing's Nordlund said.
Lockheed has spent heavily in helicopters, acquiring Sikorsky from United Technologies (UTX) last year for $9 billion and is looking to recoup its investment
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
F-35s will not be combat ready for at least 2 more years maybe more due to overly complex software issues. By that time, this plane which still cannot even score a kill on an F-15 will be over-matched by offerings from Russia and China. In short, it is rapidly becoming obsolescent, while other US war-fighting equipment lags due to funds diverted to making this dog-which-cannot-hunt hunt.
“F-35s will not be combat ready for at least 2 more years”
That is odd. The Air Force already declared them operational ready. And it has no problem with F-15s. Except that one exercise where they set up the ROE such that the F-15 was suppose to win.
The F-22 also had software issues early on. And the F-35 has a bazillion more lines of code than the F-22. No big shock that there will be a few updates.
Combat ready and operational are not the same. The F-35 software did not work in that exercise just like now, and shows no signs of being finished, let alone tested, any time soon. It is not early on for the F-35 software, or overdue, but past due.
Pentagon Tester: F-35 Still Has Serious Problems
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3463017/posts?page=36
The week before Farnbrough.
To me, the F-35 is the F-111 for the 21st Century.
It remains to be seen if it can overcome its growing pains and become worth it.
Personally, I do not ascribe to the kitchen-sink design philosophy.
F-111 was a great plane. Ask the Aussies.
First line in your link:
“... the U.S. Air Force declared the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter ready for combat”
So.. Yeah one random dude versus the air force. Personally I chalk that guy up with the people who said heavier than air flight was impossible. Or that you can’t break the sound barrier.
I am sure it still has some things to fix or update. Ever worked on avionics? Ever worked on any software? On a program with MILLIONS of lines of code? Know what goes into updating and testing that sort of thing? I do. It is what I do for a living.
Because jack of all trades never works... Except for the P-51, Spitfire, F-4, F-16... And heck, lots of other fighter/attack planes.
See Number 6
Agree.
My concern is the usual DOD/defense contractor act of over promising and under delivering. These things are way over cost, way behind schedule, with not as much commonality as promised.
A common platform for a conventional, STOVL and CV carrier has lots of issues.
I hope I am wrong, these things are going to be it for several decades going forward. Time will tell how they do against our foes.
Better tell the USAF that. They just declared the first squadron operational and there’s another right behind it.
Your info is old news.
None of those were designed as jack-of-alltrades. The Lee Begin (of Northrop) philosophy was: design uncompromisingly for air superiority, and you will be surprised what else the lean mean machine can do. Add the bits beforehand and the result is master of none.
“F-111 was a great plane. Ask the Aussies” yeah but have you ever changed a speed brake door overheat loop? No fun at all!
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