The F-35 Thread

[Phantom88]

http://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=lobby.jsp&eventid=694934&sessionid=1&key=5A43D513D9A63EDCEED0C4F6E8DAB02E&eventuserid=90580763

 

Webinar recording available

Edited November 20, 2013 by Phantom88

[vanveken]

Great

 

[Invader ZIM]

South Korea possibly becoming another F-35 customer.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/business/international/south-korea-expected-to-buy-lockheed-fighter-jets.html?_r=0

 

South Korea Is Expected to Buy Lockheed Fighter Jets

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: November 22, 2013

 

 

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Friday announced revised requirements for a new generation of fighter jets it plans to buy, effectively leaving Lockheed Martin’s F-35A stealth jet as the only viable bidder for the country’s largest arms acquisition program ever.

 

South Korea will buy 40 “high-capability stealth fighter jets” from 2018 to 2024 to increase its air force’s ability to penetrate the air defense of North Korea and strike its nuclear and missile operations, the Defense Ministry said in a statement after a meeting of its Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

The ministry did not single out the F-35A by name, but ministry officials, who asked not to be identified because of government policy, said that they did not dispute reports in the domestic news media that the aircraft was the only candidate to meet the new requirements. A formal negotiation will follow with the aim of signing a contract within the next year, they said.

 

The Defense Ministry said it had decided to upgrade the stealth requirements for its new fighter jets, “considering the neighboring countries,” referring to China and Japan, both of which were trying to arm their air forces with stealth fighters.

 

Besides Lockheed with its F-35A, bids have been made by Boeing for its F-15 Silent Eagle and the European consortium Eurofighter for its Typhoon in the third phase of South Korea’s so-called FX program to upgrade its fighter jet fleet. South Korea bought a total of 60 F-15Ks, a previous model, from Boeing in the second phase of acquisition, in 2002 and 2008.

 

For the current phase, the South Korean military had hoped to buy 60 new fighters within the budget cap of 8.3 trillion won, or $7.8 billion, set by Parliament. South Korea opened its bidding last year, inviting the three companies to bid. In July, the military declared that its budget limit was not negotiable, disqualifying Lockheed and Eurofighter for exceeding the price ceiling and leaving Boeing as the sole bidder.

 

Then in September, South Korea surprised Boeing by saying that the F-15 Silent Eagle did not have enough stealth capabilities and that it would reopen the tender offer.

 

With its announcement on Friday, South Korea made it clear that it would go for quality over quantity. It said it would buy 40 jets, instead of the original 60, within the budget cap. But it left open the possibility of buying an additional 20, beginning in 2023.

 

The domestic media have reported that South Korea might try to negotiate with Boeing and Eurofighter — the consortium led by European Aeronautic Defense and Space — for those 20. The Defense Ministry said Friday it would need 50 to 80 new jets between 2017 and 2028 because it is retiring F-5s, F-4s and other aging planes from its fleet.

 

South Korea’s announcement on Friday could add to the F-35A’s growing dominance in the global market for stealth fighter jets. The Lockheed plane, the only model available for export from America’s so-called fifth-generation of such aircraft, has been ordered by Australia, Britain, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway. Increased production of the F-35 could allow the American government and Lockheed to lower the cost of building and operating each aircraft, South Korean officials said.

 

The military alliance with the Americans has been the centerpiece of South Korea’s defense against North Korea. It has bought most of its major weapons systems from America, emphasizing “interoperability” with the United States, which stations 28,500 troops in the country.

 

On Friday, South Korea also reconfirmed its commitment to a program to build its own advanced fighter jet. It has insisted that the foreign companies transfer high technology for that program as part of their bidding for the multibillion-dollar FX program.

[Invader ZIM]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-sees-significant-interest-f-235511868.html

 

Pentagon sees "significant interest" in F-35 from Gulf

Reuters

14 hours ago

 

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

 

Related Stories

 

 

South Korea to buy 40 Lockheed F-35s, further 20 jets still open Reuters

 

 

WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Strong demand from Gulf countries for Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet has prompted Washington to grapple with the thorny question about releasing the jet to the region sooner than expected, a senior U.S. defense official said.

 

Washington has already approved sales of the new stealth fighter to a range of allies, including Turkey, South Korea,Japan and Israel, but sales to the Gulf require a deeper review given U.S. policy guidelines that call for Israel to maintain a qualitative military edge in the Middle East.

 

Talk about selling the plane to the United Arab Emirates and other U.S. allies in the Gulf came into the open during the Dubai air show last month, with potential buyers weighing whether to buy existing planes or wait for the U.S. government to release the new radar-evading F-35.

 

Government officials and industry experts have said they do not expect Washington to allow the sale of the F-35 to Gulf countries until around 2020, just short of five years after Israel receives its first F-35 fighters in 2016.

 

The senior U.S. official said the depth of interest in the new fighter - the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program -from Gulf countries came as a surprise to some in the U.S.government.

 

"We in the Defense Department now recognize that there is significant interest there," said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. "We knew eventually we were going to have to face that question, but it's come upon us a little sooner than we thought and we're going to have to deal with it."

 

Decisions about releasing sensitive technologies for sale to foreign countries are made by the State Department in consultation with the Pentagon and other government agencies.

 

"Eventually we're going to have to make a decision. We have a very structured process in place for doing that. And it takes a little bit of time," said the official. "But we are going to have to make decisions on a tighter timeline than we thought."

 

U.S. government officials and weapons makers have put a bigger focus on foreign arms sales in recent years as a way to offset declines in projected U.S. military spending, and buttress the Obama administration's drive to build partnerships and help U.S. allies beef up their own military capacities.

 

The United States is particularly concerned about reassuring Gulf nations that Washington remains committed to Middle Easts ecurity despite differences over Iran and Syria.

 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel traveled to Bahrain this week and is expected to deliver that message during a meeting with regional defense officials on Saturday.

 

Lockheed is building three F-35 models for the U.S. military and eight countries that helped fund its development: Britain,Canada, Australia, Italy, Norway, Turkey, Denmark and the Netherlands.

 

Israel and Japan have also ordered the jet, and South Korea signaled last month that it also expected to order the F-35.

 

"The interest in the airplane is coming about simply because it's getting more mature and people are finally realizing that it's really going to happen," said the official.

 

The $392 billion F-35 program has seen repeated delays and a 70 percent increase in costs over initial estimates, but U.S.officials say the program is making good progress now.

 

Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan told a defense conference on Wednesday that the program had a "tragic past,"but the cost of the plane was coming down, flight testing was continuing, and most technical issues had been addressed.

[Rangi]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/lockheed-touts-f-35-progress-predicts-competitive-pricing-394185/

 

Gee hope its true its not going to be quite as expensive as predicted.

[Vekkinho]

Did UK get it's batch or those 3 are still in Florida?

[Rangi]

As far as I know they are all still in US at joint training centre where all the pilots will be trained. It might be years until the configuration/software is finished and the planes get to their respective countries....

 

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/108953/training-for-joint-uk-f-35-programs-heat-up.aspx

[NineLine]

xaXQX08lpn4

[SkateZilla]

Those poor cargo containers had no chance.

[Gerg]

How does the Pak Fa stack up against the F-35?

[GGTharos]

How would anyone know? Are PAK-FA's flying with combat avionics yet?

[outlawal2]

How would anyone know? Are PAK-FA's flying with combat avionics yet?

 

For that matter, the F-35's aren't flying with combat avionics either... Last I heard they fired the contractor responsible for the helmet mounted HUD system and since all of that is integrated on the F-35 that is a major issue..

[hitman]

For that matter, the F-35's aren't flying with combat avionics either... Last I heard they fired the contractor responsible for the helmet mounted HUD system and since all of that is integrated on the F-35 that is a major issue..

If it has A) successfully employed A2A weapons, B) employed A2G weapons, and both are smart weapons, then its a good chance the F-35 has combat avionics installed, whether or not the units all have HUDs. Everything you see in the HUD can also be displayed on any of the MFDs.

[outlawal2]

Hmmmm... I believe that they have employed those weapons, but still wonder how the integrated nature of the helmet system will affect the overall program... As I understood it, the helmet system was working well enough to test the weapons but the overal performance was sub-par as far as what they wanted. I think the integrated helmet system was required (Correct me if I am wrong with this statement) for proper targeting so firing the contractor that provides the helmeting system effectively kills your plane until a suitable working replacement is provided... Firing test weapons does not get a production plane built, but I concede your point as well...

 

Will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out...

And remember I am only relaying the facts as I have read them so who knows?

[GGTharos]

The problem with the EODAS had to do with frame-rate that was too low, possible visual issues for the user, etc. None of this affects targeting and releasing weapons in a non-maneuvering situation IMHO, which is the majority of engagements.

[obotNapalm]

For that matter, the F-35's aren't flying with combat avionics either... Last I heard they fired the contractor responsible for the helmet mounted HUD system and since all of that is integrated on the F-35 that is a major issue..

 

As I understand it, neither helmet contractor was fired. VSI who won the contract initially were having a lot of problems. BAE who lost the initial bid stepped in and said they could proceed in parallel (they do the Eurofighter helmet amongst others so know what they are doing) to create an alternate. Further down the line, VSI have (maybe?) got their act together, and Lockheed have agreed to stop funding the BAE alternate. Probably some politics in the decision as well...

[Haukka81]

If this test in video is true then we need something way better than F-35 or F-22

 

 

"

The exercise PACAFs Pacific Vision on sept 25/08 revealed the United States air superiority is just a fantasy. The exercise was consisted of face the Red Team one hundred Su-27SM, four Su-30 and two Su-35 against Blue Team one hundred F-35, one hundred eighty seven F-22 and four hundred F/A-18E/F. The exercise showed the blue team higher in number of aircraft is double inferior when hundreds of Blue Forces aircraft were lost in the first 20 minutes downed by the Red Forces., on the other hand only 12 aircraft was downed in the Red Team."

[GGTharos]

You might want to check sources that are attributed to Copp/Goon. Just saying. :)

 

Further, you should understand anything that is said of an exercise in context.

 

http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2009/January%202009/0109vision.aspx

[maturin]

Yeah, but...

...source? That's clearly a quote, so where does it come from? I know I would be very interested to read it.

 

Woe betide he who gets their info from youtube videos.

[outlawal2]

..... AND once again where did I put my popcorn?

[Agiel7]

Also, a user name like: "PowerRossiya"? Sounds like someone who frequents those Slavic Supremacist websites (or whatever the Russian equivalent of "Stormfront" is) who likes to think somehow the USAF lost B-2s and F-117s by the droves in Allied Force.

[HiJack]

The youtube user "PowerRossiya" is the ultimate troll ;) Just have a look at the information section of the videos.

[beaupower32]

...

Edited May 29, 2015 by beaupower32

[maturin]

Also, a user name like: "PowerRossiya"? Sounds like someone who frequents those Slavic Supremacist websites (or whatever the Russian equivalent of "Stormfront" is) who likes to think somehow the USAF lost B-2s and F-117s by the droves in Allied Force.

The Russian equivalent of Stormfront would be as mainstream as CBS.

[TZeer]

Regarding the helmet:

Some of you are pulling info that are dated all the way back to 2009.

 

A lot of the original issue are gone.

 

And the latest article I found on the helmet is this one:

 

http://www.f-16.net/news_article4798.html

 

A lot of good info on http://www.f-16.net/