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At a time when international partners are skittish about rising costs for the Joint Strike Fighter program and allies have complained about access to program information, the Pentagon has decided that not a single Joint Strike fighter will head to the Farnborough Air Show and no one from the JPO will attend the show. We confirmed the JSF and Joint Program Office rumors late this afternoon with a Pentagon spokeswoman. Separately, we hear that the head of Pentagon acquisition, Ash Carter, may attend the show though we have been unable to confirm this. Carter’s presence would at least give the...

As the USA's sole Level One partner on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the UK has a pivotal role in the Pentagon's largest ever procurement effort as a customer and as an industrial participant. Thanks to its status as one of Lockheed Martin's production partners on the Lightning II, BAE Systems is dramatically expanding its manufacturing capabilities in the north-west of England to prepare for a major ramp-up in work to occur by the middle of this decade. With its responsibilities including the production of the aft fuselage and horizontal and vertical tails for every F-35 built, BAE has a...

The US armed services will acquire more than 75% of all F-35s built, under current plans, with their requirements covering a "programme of record" for a combined 2,443 aircraft across the design's three variants. The exact numbers to be bought will doubtless change over the next few years, but Lockheed Martin cites long-used totals of 1,763 conventional take-off and landing F-35A Lightning IIs for the US Air Force, and 680 aircraft for the US Navy and Marine Corps. These will be split between the F-35C carrier variant and short take-off and vertical landing F-35B, respectively. Lockheed's eight international partners for...

Flight testing of the F-35 joint strike fighter finally seems to be gaining momentum as Lockheed Martin and the Defense Department try to show that development of the next-generation combat jet is finally on track. Lockheed flew the ninth of the initial 13 flight-testing jets recently, counting the original prototype, which has already been retired. By week's end, the test program had completed 146 flights this year compared with the 128 planned, a pace that, if, sustained, would enable the full-year goal of 394 flights to be met or exceeded. Another measure of progress is the number of specific tests...

Boeing anticipates that changes announced recently to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme will inadvertently help its overseas campaigns for fighters. If the JSF programme slips it will affect the overseas partners in the programme "and that gives us tremendous opportunity to go in there, particularly with the Super Hornet", says Boeing Integrated Defense Systems vice-president international business development Mark Kronenberg. He says five years ago F-35 programme partners Canada and Denmark would "have been rock solid", but now there is an opportunity for Boeing to talk to them and focus on aspects such as the price and...

Israel is making plans to both integrate the stealthy F-35 in smaller than desired numbers or, in extremis, to do without stealth altogether. Electronic specialists say they are cobbling together more powerful electronic warfare systems based on wide-frequency active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to protect their non-stealthy aircraft. Defense officials contend that Israel is exploring the integrated use of manned and unmanned aircraft to attack defended air space. Aerospace designers hint that they are looking at stealthy UAV designs as well as at faster, higher-altitude and larger aircraft. There also are suggestions that programs in cyber-operations and network and...

Nine of the original 14 F-35 flight test aircraft have flown after the debut on 6 July of the fourth conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant known as AF-3. The 42-min sortie began at 18:20, local time, outside Lockheed Martin's final assembly plant in Fort Worth, Texas, with company test pilot Bill Gigliotti at the controls. Area storms stopped the flight short, Lockheed says. After first flight of the fourth short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant BF-4 in April, AF-3's entry into the flight test programme means two aircraft are now dedicated to mission systems testing. Mission systems onboard...

China is taking credit for a truncated buy of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that hasn’t even happened, yet. The website of China’s state-run People’ Daily reported that the Obama administration was reconsidering its purchase of F-35 fighters because of China’s rapidly growing military prowess. The People’s Daily cites recent comments by Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, that the administration should cut the F-35 buy because short-ranged tactical fighters would be of limited utility in a war against China. The website says Krepinevich carries powerful sway in the Pentagon and his recommendations would likely...

The US Government has awarded Lockheed Martin a $522 million (€414 million) contract to produce 42 low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot V F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. The contract provides for 22 conventional take off and landing (CTOL) F-35As for the US Air Force, 13 short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35Bs for the US Marine Corps and seven carrier variant (CV) F-35Cs for the US Navy. Work will be co-ordinated at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant in Texas with BAE Systems’ facility at Warton in the UK providing 20% of the workshare. Work is expected to be completed...

The ninth Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter entered flight testing on Tuesday, becoming the second test jet to fly with the next-generation avionics package that will populate all operational F-35sThe F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, known as AF-3, flew for 42 minutes during its first flight. F-35 Test Pilot Bill Gigliotti took off at 6:20 p.m. and initiated a series of flying-qualities tests in a flight focused on propulsion and vehicle systems operation. Some mission systems data were collected before the flight was curtailed by storms in the area. "AF-3 is very much like the first...

Northrop Grumman says that its new APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has met and exceeded its performance objectives, successfully tracking long-range targets as part of the first mission systems test flights of Lockheed Martin's F-35B. In August 2005 the APG-81 radar was flown for the first time aboard Northrop Grumman and BAE System's BAC 1-11 airborne laboratory. Since then the radar system has accumulated over 300 flight hours, maturing all five blocks of software. The Block 0.5 radar software installed in the radar used during the recent F-35 flight with F-35B BF-04 incorporates 60 percent of the radar...

The U.S. Joint Strike Fighter program office is developing options to allow the Netherlands to withdraw from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter initial operational test and evaluation phase. A Dutch delegation recently met with U.S. officials to discuss the issue. The Dutch participation in the IOT&E phase is in limbo as a result of a combination of factors: a parliamentary move prior to recent general elections and the uncertainty over the country’s leadership owing to no clear election outcome. Prior to the election, parliament voted to end its participation in the IOT&E phase, but program supporters say the vote should...

US defence major Lockheed Martin today said it will offer its latest fifth generation F-35 fighters to meet Indian Navy's requirements for carrier-based combat aircraft. "We have received the Request for Information (RFI) from the Navy seeking information about the F-35 aircraft, which are capable of taking off from aircraft carriers. We are going to offer our aircraft to them," Lockheed Martin Vice President Orville Prins said here. He said presentations had been given to the Indian Navy about both the 'B'and 'C' versions of the aircraft in the recent past. The B version the F-35 is a short take-off...

Israel wants the Obama administration and Lockheed-Martin Company to set up a US-run logistics and maintenance center for the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet in the Negev, reports "Defense News", quoting US and Israeli government and industry sources. Lockheed-Martin is the chief contractor for the F-35, which is due to become the next-generation mainstay of the Israel Air Force. Defense News" says that Israeli officials consider construction of a large logistics center to be a critical factor for independent operational capabilities, especially since airports and seaports are liable to be targets of rocket and missile attacks in a war. Ministry...

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a fifth-generation jet fighter that has even more sensors than the F-22 Raptor. The program, led by Lockheed Martin, uses that state-of-the-art avionics with as much commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software as possible, says Eric George, director of mission systems and software for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, in the interview below. George will discuss the F-35 avionics suite in a keynote address to the Military & Aerospace Electronics Forum on 3 June 2010 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. Register for the event online at www.avionics-usa.com/index/registration-information.html Q: What is...

A Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II carrier variant successfully completed testing in which it was dropped from heights of more than 11 feet during a series of simulated aircraft-carrier landings. The tests validated predictions and will help confirm the F-35C's structural integrity for carrier operations. The jet, a ground-test article known as CG-1, underwent drop testing at Vought Aircraft Industries in Grand Prairie, Texas. No load exceedances or structural issues were found at any of the drop conditions, and all drops were conducted at the maximum carrier landing weight. The drop conditions included sink rates, or rates of descent, up...

The Australian subsidiary of BAE Systems will provide support service to the F-35 Lightening II combat aircraft that Australia will procure from the US defence company Lockheed Martin. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems Australia “for future in-country support of the F-35 following the Australian Government’s approval to procure the first 14 of an expected 100 F-35 aircraft,” BAE said in a statement. The company will provide readiness and sustainment support to the fifth-generation stealth fighters as per the agreement.The F-35s are being developed to replace the existing fleet of fighter aircraft of...

This is driven by Norway and Australia's involvement in the F-35 fighter program and the need for a new ammunition round capable of meeting all requirements and ensuring lethality against both soft and hard targets. This will include cooperation on the Norwegian ammunition concept, APEX, and a special training round as well as Thales' frangible ammunition round called APFI. The APEX development and qualification effort is now fully funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and Nammo. "This cooperation will create a new platform for ammunition business between two industry leaders. Nammo's APEX concept is based on more than 20...

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time June 10, achieving a significant milestone. The aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.07 (727 miles per hour) on the first in a long series of planned supersonic flights. "For the first time in military aviation history, supersonic, radar-evading stealth comes with short takeoff/vertical landing capability," said Bob Price, Lockheed Martin's F-35 U.S. Marine Corps program manager. "The supersonic F-35B can deploy from small ships and austere bases near front-line combat zones, greatly enhancing combat air support with higher sortie-generation rates." The...

Lockheed Martin is aggressively countering the belief that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is becoming unaffordable, claiming its cost will be competitive with the latest F-16s and F/A-18s — if planned production rates are achieved. “If we secure the production volume to drive down the learning curve, we expect the acquisition cost to be approximately comparable to a similarly equipped [F/A-18E/F] or F-16 Block 60,” CEO Robert Stevens said during a media event near Washington June 17. The company is projecting a unit recurring flyaway (URF) cost of “about $60 million” (in 2010 dollars) for the conventional takeoff and landing...