Posted on 04/08/2016 7:54:27 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
USAF photo
Israel has done amazing things with their imported U.S. fighter aircraft, innovating and tailoring their capabilities to meet their unique needs. They want to continue this legacy with the F-35. Part of this initiative now includes the ability to externally modify their new stealth jets with the addition of conformal fuel tanks.
Conformal fuel tanks give a fighter jet more fuel load with minimal performance penalties and do not occupy precious weapon stations and induce large amounts of drag like traditional drop tanks do. When combined with drops tanks, a conformal fuel tank-equipped fighter’s range can be massively increased. Currently, the Israeli Air Force flies the majority of their F-15 fleet as well as their F-16I fleet with conformal fuel tanks as well as drop tanks.
A combat aircraft’s range is a huge deal for any nation, but for Israel, whose primary enemy remains Iran, it is a grave concern. Targets in that country can reach 1,700 miles from Israeli borders.
The IAF has also struck sites near the Horn of Africa and as far away as Tunisia in the past. They see their global reach as a pillar of deterrence against would-be aggressors, so their ability to reach out and strike over great distances reliably needs to be credible.
Israel’s relatively small but slowly growing fleet of tankers helps extend the range of their fighter aircraft, but still a jet is limited by its own combat radius once it leaves the tanker’s boom or basket. Additionally, each tanker is limited to how much fuel it can pass over a certain distance.
With all this in mind, Israel has stated that in addition to having access to certain areas of the F-35's software and mission computer hardware, communications systems, weapons carriage capability, electronic countermeasures and surveillance suite, they also want to mount conformal fuel tanks to its skin.
It is not clear exactly what such an apparatus would look like, or how it would impact the F-35's low radar signature and already somewhat paltry kinematics. There is also the question of airframe fatigue induced by mounting thousands of pounds of gas where it was never intended to be placed. Still, the IAF’s lust for extended range will likely trump these concerns.
Traditionally conformal tanks can be added and removed with relative ease, so having the option to mount them at the cost of increased radar cross-section is an enticing arrow for Israel to have on its quiver. For standoff attacks, where an F-35 would launch a guided weapon many dozens of miles from its intended target, increased detectability may be of little concern.
Israel already has confirmed it will integrate the SPICE 1000 glide bomb with its F-35s, which will allow for such stand-off attack profiles. Larger and longer-ranged wing-mounted missiles are also another option at the sacrifice of much greater radar signature degradation.
The highly accurate SPICE 1000 glide bomb with electro-optical targeting. Photo credit: RAFAEL
Israel’s push for operational and developmental independence with its F-35I fleet also includes the wish to indigenously service and sustain the aircraft throughout its lifetime. The country wants to execute much of the aircraft’s heavy maintenance themselves, a controversial proposition that is still in negotiation due to the highly classified nature of the aircraft’s internal systems. Basically, being able to crack the jet open gives away much of its magic and also introduces high technological transfer risk.
The IAF also wants the ability to operate their aircraft independent of the highly troubled Automated Logistics Information System, ALIS for short, during wartime conditions, when communications can be disrupted, ports closed and normal logistical arteries rendered inaccessible. One IAF program manager told the following to Defensenews.com:
“The ingenious, automated ALIS system that Lockheed Martin has built will be very efficient and cost-effective, but the only downfall is that it was built for countries that don’t have missiles falling on them.”
The ability to operate the F-35 confidently without ALIS, which executes everything from parts ordering to mission planning, also would give Israel a hedge against cyber attacks which could cripple the system, potentially even on a global level. Israel knows full well the threat of such attacks, and grounding their premier weapon system worth many billions of dollars because of such an event should be highly concerning. Hopefully a similar protocol, if they are allowed to develop one, can be copied by other nations operating the F-35, including the US.
It will be interesting to see Israel’s F-35 evolve uniquely in the coming years. As of now 33 F-35's are on order for the IAF, and Israel is approved to receive up to 75 of the stealth fighters, although that number could grow depending on who is sitting in the Oval Office come next January. The F-35I’s initial operating capability is slated for 2017, although this now seems like an optimistic date.
So...is the F-35 a good plane, or is it a dud?
I have spoken with many pilots who have been involved in the bed down of initial wings and like all pilots, the like a fun toy and new stuff.
They want to modify it even before they get it, that should answer your question. It is a way overpriced turkey.
dud
And it is a violation of the LOA to modify the software. Didn’t stop the Israli’s with previous buys.
“Conformal tanks” is Hebrew for “We are going to bomb Iran”
That was my immediate thought as well.
Israel doesn’t worry about the rules when they click on the EULA.
They worry about Israel...which is as it should be.
My take is there are too many compromises between the Air Force version, Navy version, and the VTOL version.
It’s like taking a Corvette and giving it a Pickup Truck option. It will never do either right.
It hasn’t stopped Israel previously, and in the past Israel has shared performance data with the United States, including modifications.
I think it's likely a great plane, even a phenomenal airplane that will be around for a long time.
It's not the "big motor in a little body" hot rod pony car that the F-16 is, at least, not as far as we know.
It's more like a mid-size hot rod. Think big block GTO, Regal/Cutlass or Charger instead of a Camaro or Mustang.
It's a stealthy air frame tightly wrapped around a very BIG and powerful motor, but also with lots of interior room for the biggest, baddest computer brain and sensors available now and well into the future, plus the interior room for lots of special delivery gifts for the enemy,too!
The F-16 is a P-51 meets F-86 fully evolved in the 20th century.
The F-35 seems more like the 21st century love child of the P-47 and the F-105, with a little Harrier DNA thrown in just to make it interesting.
Personally, I think the F-35 will make its pilots, its maintainers and mission planners everywhere very happy.
The USA would not give the Israelis the choice of buying the F22. And Israel was not allowed to build the Lavi, which the Chinese stole the plans for and produced calling it something else.
So the F35 is a lemon that can’t stay with the Russian and maybe not even the French planes.
Of course they will modify. They have their own IFF system and they will install this before they fly.
As to the F 35 viability, If they wanted the Boeing plane, they could have selected it.
Not exactly.
Their mods required cracking source code and that cracking had nothing to do with assisting the US. Their enhancements were done to by-pass FMS security deletions.
That modification is approved in the LOA and does not involve cracking the source code.
An END policy is necessary. They did not petition for that.
The LOA is a contract.
Source code is under no conditions to be modified or changed in any way without permission.
If they want a change to code it can happen, but we own that code, the manufacture owns that code, they are stealing when they change the code.
That is wrong.
That was my first thought.
The manufacturer may own the code but where’s the legal basis for saying that Israel can’t use their own code?
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