Free Republic

Navy planning for two new aircraft carriers March 14, 2005 SECRET discussions have been held with ship builders about equipping two large new Australian warships with fighter aircraft. The Royal Australian Navy plans to buy two $800 million, 25,000 tonne amphibious ships by 2010. A push is under way to give the vessels the capacity to carry eight or more so-called short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) fighters. The aircraft would cost about $6 million more than the $70 million price tag for the conventional joint strike fighters (JSF) being purchased for the RAAF. The Government wants to buy up...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon (news - web sites)'s top weapons buyer on Thursday cleared Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (NYSE:LMT - news) continued development of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the biggest warplane project ever and one valued at more than $245 billion, the Defense Department said. Michael Wynne, the Pentagon's acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, approved the project's "path forward" and a slimmed-down variant, according to a synopsis of his decisions. The go-ahead clears the way to shoot for first developmental flight testing of the conventional model in the third quarter of 2006, said Kathy Crawford, a spokeswoman for...

LOW DOWN The U.S. Air Force's top leaders say the service will buy several wings of the short takeoff/vertical landing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, following the news from Lockheed Martin's engineers that the aircraft is shedding more than a ton of weight and gaining thrust. The service's vision includes changes to the basic short takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) configuration that could be so extensive as to represent a fourth Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) version--in addition to the design for the U.S. Marine Corps F-35B, the USAF F-35A and the U.S. Navy F-35C. But program managers have adamantly rejected the notion, so...

Article Published: Thursday, September 02, 2004 - 10:49:59 AM EST BAE delivers system for F-35 jet fighter early and under budget NASHUA BAE Systems executives are celebrating what they describe as an early delivery of a lightweight, electronic warfare suite to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., for development of the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike fighter, a multirole, supersonic, stealth aircraft. The electronic warfare suite, provided by BAE Systems' Information & Electronic Warfare Systems, will serve as the nerve center for F-35 pilots, enhancing their situational awareness and self-protection through next generation threat identification, monitoring, analysis and countermeasures. Special guests at last...

In a joint exercise in February, U.S. Air Force pilots flying the top U.S. fighter, the F-15C, got chewed up by Indian military pilots flying new, and not so new, Russian fighter planes. The Air Force won't disclose exactly how the mock engagements turned out, but Gen. Hal Hornburg, head of Air Combat Command, said afterward, "We may not be as far ahead of the rest of the world as we once thought we were." Part of the reason for the strong Indian performance could have been superior training, Air Force officials acknowledged. But the main reason, they said, was...

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - The United States must modernize its fighter jets to maintain air supremacy, a top Air Force general said on Wednesday citing the success of advanced Russian-made jets against American planes in a recent exercise as signaling an erosion of its overwhelming advantage. Gen. Hal Hornburg, head of U.S. Air Combat Command, said a U.S. air-to-air exercise with the Indian Air Force in February, in which India used Russian jets to defeat aging American F-15Cs, revealed "that we may not be as far ahead of the rest of the world as we once thought we were."...

html>        NORTHROP GRUMMAN NEWS RELEASE Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman Begins Assembly of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Delivers Key Avionics System Ahead of Schedule Northrop Grumman Begins Assembly of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - Northrop Grumman Corporation has reached a major milestone on the F-35 program by starting production of the aircraft's center fuselage. The company is producing more than 25% of the weapon system for F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman employees at the company's Antelope Valley Manufacturing Center start the production process by installing the F-35 engine's left forward air inlet duct into an assembly fixture. PALMDALE,...

Norway may snub Lockheed, buy Gripen fighters OSLO, April 28 (Reuters) - Norway is looking at the Anglo-Swedish Gripen combat jet to replace its U.S.-built F-16s because of disappointment over a lack of sub-contracts in developing a new U.S. fighter, a senior parliamentarian said on Wednesday. Faced with a choice between continued loyalty to the United States as a NATO ally or switching to European partners, Norway has taken a stake in development of the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) but is also looking at the Eurofighter jet.

Machine Tool Co. Bankruptcy Sends Ripple Through JSF Program By James Ott July 27, 2003 MONKEY Wrench After winning the $18.9-billion contract to build the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in the summer of 2002 placed a $12.3-million order with Ingersoll Milling Machine Co. for custom-made machine tools to produce parts for the stealthy tactical aircraft. As of April of this year, Lockheed Martin had paid Ingersoll more than half the contract price but it still had no machines delivered. Then came the jarring news. Ingersoll had shut down. A giant in the machine tool field,...

The UK Royal Navy may have to accept a sharp reduction in the size of its two new aircraft carriers after BAE Systems warned it could not build the designs to budget. The company, which is Britain's biggest defence contractor, has told the Ministry of Defence that it would cost up to £4bn to construct the pair, compared with the £2.8bn costing in January. BAE won the lead role on the programme to build the warships - the biggest ever to be built in Europe - after a bitter battle with Thales of France. The navy has been told there...

Legislation may 'unravel' JSFBy Tony Capaccio Bloomberg News LOCKHEED MARTIN Eight nations besides the United States have committed $4.5 billion to the $19 billion effort to develop the joint strike fighter. A House bill that mandates using more American machinery and parts in U.S. weapons programs would force an overhaul of Lockheed Martin's joint strike fighter program and eliminate participation by European companies, a Pentagon official said.Eight other nations have committed $4.5 billion to the $19 billion effort to develop a plane that has 80 percent common parts and design for all the services using it. Rolls-Royce Group, for example,...

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Palmdale was recognized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for reducing the use of hazardous materials in its F-35 joint strike fighter program. The company was awarded the agency's Region 9 Environmental Achievement Award on Tuesday during an Earth Day awards ceremony in San Francisco. The F-35 utilizes a design for environment process, initiated by Lockheed to identify, eliminate and minimize the use of hazardous materials over the life of the aircraft system, from production through operation and maintenance. "All who are familiar with the F-35 program understand that it represents a...

From 1996 to 2001, Boeing and Lockheed Martin produced rival designs and prototypes for the Joint Strike Fighter, a stealthy, affordable combat plane intended for the 21st century needs of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marines. In "Battle of the X-Planes," NOVA goes behind the scenes to show the world's newest fighter taking shape, as Boeing and Lockheed Martin compete to win the largest contract in military history. NOVA's film crew was part of a small group allowed into both camps, in the first-ever inside look at a Department of Defense weapons competition. The team filmed inside installations where...

Next year, people who were not born when the European Fighter Aircraft project started will join the voters’ role. In the same year will be conceived Britons destined, in their sixth-form modern history studies in 2020, to study the project as a lamentable example of indecision, grandiosity and waste. Nobody under the age of 30 has lived in a time when British and continental governments were not dithering about the project. Conceived in 1972, born in 1985-86, the sickly child, now 17, has almost expired at least twice, and on Wednesday this week the Prime Minister was forced to deny...

The Netherlands has joined US-led plans to develop the Joint Strike Fighter to replace the current fleet of F-16 fighter jets. The contracts were signed on Wednesday, a day after the newly-elected Lower House of Parliament voted in favour of the project. It was the new LPF party of the late Pim Fortuyn that ultimately decided the vote after the outgoing government failed to reach a decision last month. The fact that the project was steered through parliament without a new debate has raised a few eyebrows in the Netherlands. The die is cast. The Netherlands has signed up with...