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Boeing: Here's Why the F-35 Australia Is Buying Is Flawed and Needs Our Help
Business Insider Australia ^ | April 29, 2014

Posted on 04/30/2014 11:57:36 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki

Lockheed’s strategy of basing its F-35 marketing strategy on its “stealth” capabilities is beginning to backfire as their effectiveness is being increasingly challenged by competitors and outside analysts. (RAAF photo)

Boeing has been loudly criticising Lockheed Martin’s F-35 in hopes that the Navy and other clients will buy more of its EA-18G Growlers for support and F/A-18 Super Hornets as contingency.

Developed in a Joint Strike Fighter contract that Lockheed won over Boeing in 2001, the F-35 is wildly over budget and has run into various design problems. Chief among them, according to Boeing, is the weakness of its stealth technology.

Last week, Australia committed to buying 58 of the jets at a cost of $24 billion over their lifetime.

In a presentation earlier this month called “The Perishability of Stealth,” Boeing argued that the F-35′s stealth and radar jamming systems won’t work against some new radar technology. Boeing claims that stealth fighters need support from electromagnetic spectrum warfare aircraft, such as Boeing’s EA-18G Growler, which can disrupt enemy sensors, interrupt command and control systems, and jam weapons’ homing across all bands within the electromagnetic threat spectrum.

“Today is kind of a paradigm shift, not unlike the shift in the early part of the 20th century when they were unsure of the need to control the skies,” Mike Gibbons, the vice president for Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler programs, told Business Insider. “Today, the need to control the EM spectrum is much the same.”

“Stealth technology was never by itself sufficient to protect any of our own forces,” Gibbons said.

Lockheed, for its part, insists that the F-35 is fully capable of blocking signals itself. Lockheed also questions the wisdom of flying the two aircraft in tandem, since the Growler is not a stealth aircraft and its presence could alert enemies.

Boeing counters that the F-35 needs support from an aircraft that can block signals across the electromagnetic threat spectrum and which can also block signals while moving away from targets, as the Growler can.

Here’s an image from Boeing’s presentation of the Growler’s effectiveness across the electromagnetic spectrum:

Growler EM Spectrum

Here’s another slide showing the full spectrum jamming capability of the Growler, illustrated by different colours representing different wavelengths, versus the F-35′s X-band only jammer. The circles represent overlapping layers of an enemy’s EM spectrum:

Growler EM Warfare

Now even Boeing will admit that the F-35 has its value. Designed to replace a range of fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft, the Joint Strike Fighter can take on various missions that the Growler could not handle on its own.

Still, Boeing wants the Growler, which is heavily armed in its own right, to provide additional support.

“The Growler today protects stealth aircraft from EM warfare,” Gibbons told Business Insider. “It protects Super Hornets, it will protect the F-35 when it is operational, it even protects B-2 bombers.”

The Navy recently placed 22 Growlers on its unfunded priorities list, signaling a belief that the F-35 may need the additional support. Gibbons estimates that the Navy will eventually push for between 50 to 100 more Growlers once the first 22 are funded.

Boeing is also pushing for the Navy to buy more Super Hornets. The Super Hornet is a multirole fighter that can be equipped with a range of surface-to-air and surface-to-ground missiles and a variety of bombs.

-ends-


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; australia; boeing; ea18ggrowler; f35; fa18superhornet; lockheed; superhornet
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1 posted on 04/30/2014 11:57:36 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

whhhaaaa?????


2 posted on 04/30/2014 12:00:06 PM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

BOTH “Airplanes” are First Class Pieces of SH!T!


3 posted on 04/30/2014 12:02:31 PM PDT by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Why does it look like they are attacking the CA coast?

Maybe that would be a great idea.


4 posted on 04/30/2014 12:02:56 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (You can count my felonies by looking at my FR replies.)
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To: US Navy Vet

The F-18?


5 posted on 04/30/2014 12:04:59 PM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Boeing: “Here’s why placing a patch on our 30 year old air frame is better than buying a brand new one.....”

Pulleeze!!!


6 posted on 04/30/2014 12:06:11 PM PDT by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Real world: even “stealth aircraft” operate with jammer support, the the Growler. A prudent mission-planner would take advantage of every tool to ensure the success of the mission & the survivability of the aircraft & crew. That means if you have jammers, you use them.


7 posted on 04/30/2014 12:08:02 PM PDT by Tallguy
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Single engine design might not be so good for Navy requirements.


8 posted on 04/30/2014 12:15:52 PM PDT by Seruzawa (Gully Foyle is my name, and Terra is my nation)
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To: G Larry

“patch”

Maybe I’m misunderstanding you but I wouldn’t consider the ALQ-99 a “patch”.


9 posted on 04/30/2014 12:19:05 PM PDT by ryan71 (The Partisans)
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To: latina4dubya

Gotta admit, mission planners must love the “equipped with a range of surface-to-air and surface-to-ground missiles” capability. Hell of a plane.


10 posted on 04/30/2014 12:21:31 PM PDT by battlecry
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Look at the rainbow colors. Does that mean the plane has Gaydar, too?


11 posted on 04/30/2014 12:21:49 PM PDT by PLMerite
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To: sukhoi-30mki

What they really need are some EF-111s. Ours are all in the Boneyard...think we could sell them?


12 posted on 04/30/2014 12:24:52 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (I sooooo miss America!)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

I think Boeing is still p.o’d after their stealth turkey was totally rejected by the Air Force.What a turkey it was.


13 posted on 04/30/2014 12:25:36 PM PDT by puppypusher ( The World is going to the dogs.)
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To: G Larry

When the 30-year old design costs a tenth of the F-35, a prudent person would listen.


14 posted on 04/30/2014 12:29:14 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Ah come on.. $500 million for a lifetime of thrills spills and air pockets

Gimme the F22 any day, flaws and all.


15 posted on 04/30/2014 12:37:18 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: Seruzawa

Gimme a Phantom 4B any day ;-)


16 posted on 04/30/2014 12:38:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: Mr Rogers

The Australians were the last to retire the F-111’s. There was a lot of debate about that since the plane had the kind of range that they needed. Their F-18 replacements don’t have nearly those kind of legs.


17 posted on 04/30/2014 12:59:10 PM PDT by Tallguy
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To: Mr Rogers

... oh and the EF-111 went into retirement before the EA-6 Prowler, so they’re probably not even a possibility. I recall that toward the end Navy Prowlers were considered a “strategic asset” and they were flying jamming missions for the USAF in the Balkans.


18 posted on 04/30/2014 1:01:30 PM PDT by Tallguy
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Performance and Reliability count for something.


19 posted on 04/30/2014 1:08:39 PM PDT by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
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To: ryan71
You did not have to respond to anyone who would call the ALQ-99 a patch. A patch so effective that even the Australians, trusted allies, were not given the same specifications/capabilities as the USN.

Calling it a patch is akin to calling the space shuttle a paper plane.

20 posted on 04/30/2014 1:36:11 PM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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