Free Republic

The US Navy is exploring the feasibility of extending the Boeing F/A-18's 6,000h service life to as much as 10,000h to deliver continued combat duty in the light of potential delays to the Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter. "We will keep them structurally safe and sound through the next decade," says Rear Adm Mark Skinner, programme executive officer for the navy's tactical aircraft programmes, who adds that parallel improvements will also be made to the aircraft's systems and components. Speaking at the Navy League conference in Washington DC, Skinner said the over-arching goal for the USN will be to...

Denmark has decided to wait, until 2014, to decide what to replace its elderly F-16 fleet with. Meanwhile, 18 of the F-16s will be retired. But the other 30 will be refurbished so that they can continue to operate for the rest of the decade. Denmark had wanted to replace the F-16s with F-35s. But the F-35 keeps getting delayed (now more than two years behind schedule), and is becoming more expensive (nearly a hundred percent over budget). The Danish F-35 buy is no longer a sure thing. The delays have lots of users concerned. The U.S. Navy has been...

The STOVL version of the Joint Strike Fighter is not too hot and is not too loud, Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway told DoD Buzz during an editorial board session. The most troubling operational challenge that appeared to face the F-35B, next to weight, was reports that it would not be suitable for a carrier or other ship because its exhaust would melt the flight deck. Not so, Conway told reporters from Military​.com. The plane, at 1,500 degrees, is just 18 degrees hotter than a Harrier, he said Thursday. He also debunked persistent reports that the JSF will blow the...

The US Department of Defense today confirmed the cost estimate for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement has leaped between 57% and 89% since contract award eight years ago. The new estimate raises the average cost of the latest Lockheed Martin stealth fighter from $59 million to between $93 million and $112 million, the DOD says. If adjusted for inflation over the programme's 30-year production plan, the average cost per aircraft grows to $114 million to $135 million. The average cost is based on the DOD's plan to buy 2,443 operational F-35s through 2035. The data confirms prior statements indicating the...

A supersonic Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter rode more than 41,000 pounds of thrust to a vertical landing today for the first time, confirming its required ability to land in confined areas both ashore and afloat. “Today’s vertical landing onto a 95-foot square pad showed that we have the thrust and the control to maneuver accurately both in free air and in the descent through ground effect,” said F-35 Lead STOVL Pilot Graham Tomlinson. Tomlinson performed an 80-knot (93 miles per hour) short takeoff from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., at 1:09 p.m. EDT. About 13 minutes...

Well, no one can say the Lockheed JSF team hasn’t had a good week. First came the hover and short takeoff and short landing. Today, they capped it with the plane’s first true vertical landing. The Marines were officially happy. “Having the F-35B perform its first vertical landing underscores the reality of the Marine Corps achieving its goal of an all STOVL force,” said Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for aviation. “Being able to operate and land virtually anywhere, the STOVL JSF is a unique fixed wing aircraft that can deploy, co-locate, train and fight with Marine ground forces...

The multinational Lockheed Martin F-35 achieved its first vertical landing today, a major step forward for the struggling stealthy single-engine fighter test program. The vertical landing took place about 1:23 p.m. EDT at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The aircraft rode more than 41,000 lb. of thrust to achieve the vertical landing; this milestone is key in proving the aircraft will be suitable for the U.S. Marine Corps, and British and Italian forces. The landing occurred after an 80-kt. short takeoff at 1:09 p.m. About 13 minutes into flight, Grant Tomlinson, F-35 lead short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing test (Stovl) pilot for Lockheed,...

The Joint Strike Fighter saga has apparently come to an end after several years of negotiations with the US government After a week where it was announced there would be yet another price increase for potential buyers, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is no longer being considered by the Danish Defence Command as a replacement for its aging F-16s war planes, reports public broadcaster DR. Since negotiations for purchasing the planes began in 1999 between Denmark and US Department of Defense – which has been heavily involved in the development of the Lockheed Martin jet – the cost of a...

The Pentagon will name Vice Admiral David Venlet, commander of the Naval Air Systems Command, to run its F-35 fighter plane program, an influential defense analyst with knowledge of the plan, said on Tuesday. Venlet will get the job after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he would restructure the program because of its poor record, Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson said. Thompson, who works for many of the largest defense companies and has close ties with defense officials, said he heard about the appointment from his sources within the U.S. government. “Venlet certainly has all the experience and expertise...

Denmark Bails From JSF - Report Posted by Bill Sweetman at 3/15/2010 10:08 AM CDT Denmark's defense ministry is ready to recommend designating the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as its next fighter, in place of the delayed and more expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to a report on Danish radio. According to the report, the Danish decision has been in the works for some months and currently awaits an auditor's review before being forwarded to the full government and to parliament. The Gripen NG has also been ruled out - not a big surprise to Saab, which has scaled...

The price tag for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has increased by more than 50 percent, crossing a threshold that will force Pentagon officials to justify the need for the program to Congress, Pentagon officials told a Senate panel on Thursday. The price for one F-35 fighter jet in 2001 was estimated to be $50 million. Now the price tag has risen to between $80 million and $95 million per plane, calculated in 2002 constant dollars. In today’s dollars, one aircraft would cost an average of $112 million, according to Michael Sullivan, the director of the acquisition team at...

The Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft is still the "right choice" for the Australian defense force's next-generation air combat capability, despite being plagued by delivery delays and a costlier-than-expected development, Defense Minister John Faulkner said Friday. Australia's center-left Labor government last May said it plans to buy up to 100 of the F-35 jet fighters as part of a broader plan to boost defense capability over the next two decades. Ashton Carter, the top Pentagon official in charge of weapons purchases, told Congress Thursday the average cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will soar more than...

The Joint Strike Fighter next generation warplane for US and allied forces may end up costing more than 100 million dollars per plane, a Pentagon official told Congress Thursday. This would mean the final cost would be double the initial estimate when the contract was awarded in 2001 for the JSF, the costliest weapons program to date for the Pentagon. Christine Fox, director of the Defense Department's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "the current program estimate based on jet two numbers will be somewhere between 80 and 95 million dollars in constant...

The cost overrun on the main engine for the Lockheed Martin Corp , F-35 fighter jet has grown by $600 million over the past year, despite tough cost-cutting measures by engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp , a Navy document shows. The total cost to complete the Pratt F135 engine is now estimated to be $7.28 billion -- $2.5 billion more than the $4.8 billion initially projected for the engine, according to the document, which was first reported by Aviation Week magazine on its website on Wednesday. That is an increase of $600 million from...

This week, I have learned why Kim Beazley was one of Australia’s best defence minsters. His biographer Peter FitzSimons explained on ABC TV that Beazley, as a trained historian, had this view: “I know that the logic of history, to large land masses populated by a small number of people surrounded by cultures alien to them, is very cruel. I don’t accept that Australia will necessarily be like that. But we have choices. And it is the choices we make now that will determine whether Australia will survive in 2050.” What is so remarkable about Kim Beazley's view of Australia...

Major delays in the production of the fifth-generation stealth F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will likely lead to the postponement of Israel’s procurement plans, which initially set the signing of a contract by the end of March. One top IDF officer told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the Defense Ministry was unlikely to sign a letter of agreement (LOA) with the Pentagon before the end of 2010. “Everything now appears to be pushed off by at least a year,” the senior officer said. On Sunday night, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi flew to Washington for talks with...

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are running out of fighters. Heavy wear and tear over nearly a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan has depleted the two services’ combined fighter force. Purchases of new planes have been delayed by controversial planning decisions. As a result, U.S. maritime forces operate at elevated risk. Robotic systems could help mitigate this risk, but the Navy has resisted adopting pilot-less aircraft.The U.S. Navy also has shortage of fighters, primarily F/A-18C/Ds. Together, both services are currently short by around 50 aircraft, but this so-called “fighter gap” could deepen to an estimated 125 aircraft...

Defense Department leaders and Lockheed Martin executives explained to international partners changes that have been made in the Joint Strike Fighter program. Ashton B. Carter, the department's undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, and Robert Stevens, chief operating officer for Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the program, explained what measures Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has taken to right the program. A department study of the program completed in October found the development phase of the revolutionary aircraft had slipped by 30 months. Gates has made changes that will reduce the slippage to 13 months, Carter said during a...

Financial concerns are requiring new innovations in procurement for the Israel Air Force (IAF) as it continues its modernisation drive to replace fighter, transport and trainer aircraft. One of the most important programmes facing delays due to cost is the planned procurement of a first squadron of 25 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs). Years of negotiations with the US Department of Defense and the prime contractor were to result in a letter of agreement (LoA) in coming weeks, setting a base price for each of the advanced fighter aircraft at USD130 million. A senior IAF source...

US Air Force secretary Michael Donley said Tuesday that a major cost overrun in the tri-service, nine-nation Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme was very likely, and this would trigger an extensive, mandatory review of alternatives under the Nunn-McCurdy statute. The Nunn-McCurdy Amendment, or Nunn–McCurdy Provision, is designed to curtail cost growth in American weapons procurement programs. It requires cost growth of more than 15 per cent to be notified to the United States Congress, and calls for the termination of programmes whose total cost grew by more than 25 per cent over the original estimate - unless the...