Free Republic

Amid restructuring and soaring cost projections, the Joint Strike Fighter is ticking off milestones that were expected months ago, but the gathering test pace must be maintained if the program is to stay on its new track and avoid further delays and cost growth. In two key milestones, the first Lockheed Martin F-35 mission-system test aircraft, BF-4, has returned to flight after modification, and the 737-based Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATBird) has begun flying with the latest Block 1 software for the mission system. Development of all software (on and off board) is more than 80% complete, but the mission-system...

Ottawa is moving on a sole-sourced purchase of high-tech U.S. fighter jets to replace its CF-18s despite furious last-minute lobbying by rival manufacturers. Industry and government sources said the cabinet is expected in coming days to approve the launch of negotiations on price and delivery schedules with Lockheed-Martin, the U.S.-based manufacturer of the Joint Strike Fighter F-35. The government is moving early on buying 65 new aircraft in a bid to “lock up the price” long before the jets start entering into service in 2017, sources said. The contract worth up to $9-billion would be awarded without competition, with the...

The defense establishment will hold a series of high-level consultations over the next month with the aim of determining, by the end of July, whether it will buy the fifth-generation stealth Joint Strike Fighter. The first meeting will be held in the coming weeks and be led by IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi as well as OC Israel Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan. The second meeting, scheduled for the end of this month, will be led by Defense Ministry director-general Udi Shani. The final meeting, scheduled for July, will be headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak....

The Israeli air force is preparing a long-term forecast on its fleet requirements, as part of the decision process leading to its planned procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In its forecast, the service will attempt to assess its needs for manned combat aircraft 30 years from now. The work is intended to determine whether it has a need for more than the 22-25 F-35s being eyed for purchase. The air force's work will be based on the available assumptions about the future use of unmanned air vehicles. The pace at which it has introduced such systems...

Israeli defence companies are developing new weapon systems that will be carried by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters operated by the nation's air force. Rafael confirms that it is developing smaller versions of its Python-5 short-range and Derby beyond visual-range air-air missiles, to enable the munitions to be carried in the stealth fighter's weapon bays. Israel Military Industries is also developing a new series of internally carried bombs for the F-35. So far, it has only unveiled the MPR-500, which will offer improved penetration and timed detonation. Sharing the configuration of the Mk 82 500lb (226kg) general purpose...

Taiwan hopes to maintain air operations in the event of a military conflict with China by using vertical and short take-off and landing aircraft. VSTOL fighters would allow Taiwan to maintain fighter operations should Chinese missiles damage the island's military runways, says US-based think-tank the Project 2049 Institute in a report entitled Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia Pacific Region. Former US deputy assistant secretary of state Randall Schriver heads the institute. While at the State Department, Schriver was responsible for issues relating to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The report quotes former Taiwanese air force commander Liu Guili as...

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a fifth generation, supersonic warplane combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, plus fully-fused sensor and network-enabled capabilities. It is being manufactured in three versions with major degrees of commonality (100 per cent when it comes to the avionics). There is the Conventional Take-off and Landing (CTOL) F-35A, the Short Take-Off and Landing (STOVL) F-35B and the F-35C aircraft carrier variant (CV). The F-35A aims to meet or exceed the performance of the F-16 while offering greater range, stealth, enhanced lethality and lower operating/support costs. The F-35C is strengthened for US Navy...

The commander of the Joint Strike Fighter training wing is confident the Pentagon will receive its first F-35 jets this fall, leading to the graduation of the first cadre of pilots and maintainers next year. “We’re going to have jets in the fall,” 33rd Fighter Wing Commander Col. David Hlatky said during a May 27 briefing at the F-35 training school house. “Unless there is some major event that nobody can imagine, we’re going to have jets in the fall.” The unit is “banking on November” right now for receiving its first aircraft and will be ready to fly on...

The United Arab Emirates is pressing Washington about buying the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. So is Israel. That's part of the United States' dilemma as it seeks to bolster the military forces of its Arab allies to counter Iran. The Americans also want their Arab friends, particularly the Persian Gulf states that neighbor Iran, to take more responsibility for their own defense at a time when the U.S. military is tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq. The F-35 program headed by Lockheed Martin of Maryland has fallen badly behind schedule. On March 11, the Pentagon admitted to a 2-year lag...

The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy are having a major disagreement over how much it will cost to operate the new F-35 fighter. It comes down to this. Currently, it costs the navy, on average, $19,000 an hour to operate its AV-8 vertical takeoff aircraft, or an F-18C fighter aircraft. These two aircraft are being replaced, on carriers, with the F-35. It costs 63 percent more to operate the F-35C (480 will be bought to replace navy F-18Cs) and the F-35B (340 will replace marine F-18s and AV-8s). These costs include buying the aircraft, training and maintaining the pilots,...

The Dutch parliament has voted to pull out of the F-35 joint strike fighter program and cancel an order for one jet the nation has already placed, according to Defense News, which confirmed the development with the Dutch Embassy in Washington. The Netherlands was one of the first countries to sign on to the F-35 development program and one of the biggest foreign contributors. A Dutch Embassy spokesman said the decision would have to be reviewed when a new government takes office after June 9 elections. The Ministry of Defense has repeatedly reaffirmed its decision to participate in F-35 development...

USAF Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser says he does not agree with the Navy’s projections that the F-35 will cost more to maintain than previously expected. Officials at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) have predicted a higher cost for operating the system over 65 years than has the Joint Strike Fighter’s joint program office (JPO), which is managing procurement of the triservice, nine-nation aircraft. The Navair study recently stated that 65 years of sustainment for the single-engine stealthy fighter could cost about $442 billion (Fiscal 2002 dollars) more than planned. “We don’t agree with the Navy numbers,” Fraser...

The Navy held a conference call with reporters today to shoot down any rumors that it’s going soft on the carrier version (F-35C) of the Joint Strike Fighter in favor of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The Navy intends to buy 124 Super Hornets in a multiyear purchase plan between FY 2010–2013, for a grand total of 515 F/A-18E/F/G aircraft, said Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, head of naval aviation programs. But the fact that the Navy continues to buy large numbers of Super Hornets does not mean it doesn’t plan to buy even more F-35s, a true “game changing” 5th generation...

The Dutch political system has all but officially cancelled their participation in the F-35 JSF program. The Dutch parliament has debated proposals by the SP (Socialist Party), PvdA (Labour) and GL (Green Left). Those proposals went something like this: Proposal 1 (SP): Not permitting the government to contract any new obligations in the JSF project. Proposal 2 (Labour) Cancel the contract for the First LRIP3 testaircraft and get the money back from the US for the long lead items. Not buying/ signing a contract for the Second LRIP4 test aircraft. Cancelling the participation in the MOU-IOT&E. Proposal 3 (Green Left)...

The US Congress has opened debate on the fiscal year 2011 defence budget by sending a clear and unprecedented warning to the Lockheed Martin F-35 programme. For the first time, a major legislative committee approved a bill that would slash F-35 funding if the programme fails to achieve a reduced set of cost and schedule goals this year. HR 5136, a bill to authorise defence spending, threatens to reduce the F-35's development budget by 25% and slash overall FY2011 procurement from 43 to 31 aircraft, if Lockheed fails to achieve certain goals, such as completing 394 test flights in FY2010....

Japan is to decide before the end of the year whether to ease military aircraft restrictions. The government will reveal whether it will allow local manufacturers to be involved in international joint development of military aircraft, and permit the export of Japanese military aircraft. For decades Japan has had an export ban on military equipment, with the policy also blocking its companies from being industrial partners in international defence programmes, such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The major exception to the rule is Japan's export of missile technology to its major ally, the USA. The office of...

As the debate rages about Joint Strike Fighter life-cycle cost, Lockheed Martin officials are raising a previously unheard point to bolster their low-price claims -- a new low-observability (LO) substance called fiber mat. Lockheed officials avoided the need to use stealthy appliqués and coatings by curing the substance into the composite skin of the aircraft, according to Tom Burbage, executive vice president of F-35 program integration for the company. It "makes this airplane extremely rugged. You literally have to damage the airplane to reduce the signature," he said in an interview with AVIATION WEEK. This top-fiber mat surface takes the...

As cost estimates for the Lockheed Martin F-35 continue rising, some US lawmakers are pushing military officials to increase spending on fourth-generation fighters as a back-up. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut says he considers the F-35 a "really extraordinary aircraft", but is concerned about the military's projected tactical aircraft shortfalls. "There will certainly be pressure to sustain the fourth generation and improvement of aircraft because the fifth generation is coming on more slowly and more expensively than we hoped for," Lieberman told a Senate hearing on the tactical aircraft budget on 13 April. The US Navy has projected a 243-aircraft...

Comments made by Taiwan's Air Force chief of staff have confused the issue over whether Taiwan actually wants F-16s. On May 13, Air Chief Ger Hsi-hsiung told members of the legislature that F-16s would meet Taiwan's immediate requirements, but the F-16 lacks the stealth and short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) capabilities that will be needed in the future. When asked by the legislature to identify the fighter better suited to meet Taiwan's long-term needs, Ger identified the F-35B Lightening II. Taiwan first requested 66 new F-16C/D Block 50/52 fighters from the United States in 2006, but Washington has been hesitant to...

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II program has been recognized for its “cutting-edge design and technology” with an award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The AIAA Foundation Board of Trustees presented the AIAA Foundation Award for Excellence to the F-35 program during the 2010 AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala on May 12 in Washington, D.C. AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. “This award reflects the dedication and innovation of those who have made the F-35 Lightning II fighter a reality and signifies a bright future as the program ramps...