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Khamenei Fires Air Force Chief over Israeli F-35 Deep Penetration of Iran’s Sky


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F-35 Adir over Tehran


Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fired Iranian air force commander Brigadier General Farzad Ismaili, who had been in office since 2010, because the latter had hid from him the fact that Israeli F-35 planes had penetrated Iran’s sky, the Kuwaiti daily Al Jarida reported on Saturday.

The newspaper emphasized that it was the original media source that exposed the Israeli raids, which had taken place last March. Al Jarida cited senior Iranian military who said that only following its March report did the intelligence services of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian intelligence ministry begin to investigate the case, under direct orders from Khamenei.

According to the newspaper’s investigation, the IAF F-35 “Adir” planes penetrated Iran’s airspace, circled high above Tehran, Karajrak, Isfahan, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas – and photographed Iran’s air defense system.

One of the sources reported that Iran’s air defense system, including its Russian radar, did not detect the entry and exit of the fighter planes, and that Ismaili hid this information from the supreme leader to cover his corps’ failure. However, three weeks ago, Iranian intelligence discovered that the Israeli fighter jets had carried out this sortie as a test of the possibility of an undetected military attack on Iranian outposts and bases, during which they photographed those sensitive bases, evading the Russian S-300 missile system’s radar.

According to Al Jarida, Iranian intelligence received top secret information that the Israeli fighter planes even managed to photograph Iran’s underground bases. Khamenei, who received this information, now suspects a cooperation between Russia and Israel, and that the Russians gave Israel the secret code of the Russian radar in Iran – according to the Kuwaiti newspaper.

Khamenei fired the commander of Iran’s air defense system on May 29, replacing him with his deputy, General Alireza Sabahi-Fard.
Khamenei Fires Air Force Chief over Israeli F-35 Deep Penetration of Iran’s Sky
 
halloweene said:
FAKE news. Two reasons : a) the photo is above Beyroyth. More important, the described raid si by very far out of F-35 range...
Click to expand...
I agree with you. But we must remember that USAF air tankers are available in the region to refuel these aircraft. Also if the news is correct than it puts to rest all criticism of F-35.
 
halloweene said:
FAKE news. Two reasons : a) the photo is above Beyroyth. More important, the described raid si by very far out of F-35 range...
Click to expand...

vstol Jockey said:
I agree with you. But we must remember that USAF air tankers are available in the region to refuel these aircraft. Also if the news is correct than it puts to rest all criticism of F-35.
Click to expand...

Irrespective of technical reasons, I don't believe the Israelis will be foolish enough to do it in the first place.
 
Congres asks Mattis to prevent the planned delivery of F-35 Lightning II jets to the Republic of Turkey.

https://sarbanes.house.gov/sites/sarbanes.house.gov/files/Turkey_F35_Letter_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf

iJune 15, 2018
The Honorable James N. Mattis Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, D.C. 20301-1300

Dear Secretary Mattis: We write to urge you to prevent the planned delivery of F-35 Lightning II jets to the Republic of Turkey.

Contrary to its NATO obligations and the expectations that should govern a responsible ally, Turkey is actively operating to undermine U.S. interests around the world. Turkey's repeated military actions against American interests, relentless degradation of human rights and democracy under President Erdogan, and clear intention to build a strategic partnership with Russia have completely eroded the U.S.-Turkey relationship.

Our concern about the sale of F-35 jets to Turkey comes against the backdrop of Trirkey's planned prirchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system. As a NATO ally, Turkey integrates its military systems with those of other NATO members. The United States and NATO have warned Turkey that the integration of the Russian S- 400 missile system with the F-35 aircra'ft would threaten exposure of our most closely guarded military secrets to a major power hostile to NATO and U.S. interests. Despite these warnings, Turkey signed tlie agreement with Russia and recently pushed up the delivery date from 2020 to 2019. The growing ties between Turkey and Russia and their shared penchant for authoritarian rule, hostility to the sovereignty of other nations, and domestic human rights abuses are fundamentally at odds with U.S. interests. It is inconceivable that we would place the F-35 technology in the hands of the deepening Russian-Turkish military relationship.

We also have no confidence that Turkey will use F-35s responsibly in the region. Under the guise of targeting the Kurdistan Workers' Paity (PKK), Turkey has bombarded civilian areas and U.S.-suppozted Kurdish YPG forces. Turkish attacks have also killed Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iraq. Turkey's assault on Afrin in Northern Syria has killed hundreds of civilians and displaced more than one hundred thousand others. In the face of international condeinnation, Turkey is expanding its campaign in Northern Syria and has set its sights on Manbij, wliere U.S. troops maintain a presence in the continuing fight against ISIS. Turkey's duplicity and military adventurism in Syria have given advantage to ISIS, Iran, and Russia, as well as to extremist rebel forces, all at the expense of tlie United States. Erdogan's outrageous threat to attack American soldiers in Syria is reason enough to block the delivery of any military sales to tlie Repriblic of Turkey, let alone the most advanced generation of military attack aircraft.

Turkey has also shown that it cannot be counted ripon to demonstrate restraint even when on American soil. On May 16, 2017, President Erdogan set loose his security forces against peaceful protesters assembled in Wasliington, D.C. This brutal attack was condemned unanimously by the House of Representatives in a vote of 397-0, and led Congress to prohibit a plaru'ied sale of firearms to Erdogan's security forces. Tliis vote recognized that Erdogan's despotic attack on American citizens was an attack on orir cherished constitutional libeities. The brazenness of this assault and Turkey's re'tusal to cooperate with the subsequent investigation demonstrates the level of contempt President Erdogan has for tlie United States and for our democratic values and exposes Turkey as a practitioner and exporter of extreme, violent aritlioritarianism.

In addition to its threats against tlie United States, Turkey has made a common practice of aggressively targeting U.S. allies, while aiding and abetting our adversaries. Erdogan has relentlessly harangued Israel, calling it a "terrorist state" and, in retaliation for the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, recalling the Turkish ambassadors from tlie United States and Israel. Turkey continues to provoke Greece and violate its territory; tlie ramming of a Greek vessel by a Turkish sliip is one of tlie latest salvos in this long-running dispute. Furthermore, more than foity years after illegally occupying Cyprus, Turkey's violations of Cypriot sovereignty have grown more brazen, including recently ordering military vessels to prevent Cypriot-licensed Italian sliips from exploring Cyprus' exclusive economic zone for natural gas. Turkey has indicated that it will intensify tlie standoff by sending its own drilling ships to corinter those recently dispatched by ExxonMobil. The European Union took the step of formally denouncing Turkey for tl"iese illegal acts. All the while, Turkey has embarked on a strategic realigi'unent witli our adversaries, Russia and Iran, actively siding with both nations to bring about an outcome in Syria that excludes the United States and rindermines our national security interest of denying Iran strategic depth across tlie Middle East.

Within Turkey itself, the lurch towards authoritarian rule is intensifying by the day, with American citizens now becoming a target. Under the state of emergency law enacted following tlie July, 2016 failed coup, Turkey has detained Americans, including U.S. consulate employees; refused to recognize the U.S. citizensliip of dual citizens; and denied U.S. diplomats access to the detained. Recently, 220 Members of Congress wrote to Erdogan demanding the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson, an American lield by Trirkey 011 baseless cliarges since October, 2016. Turkey lias rebriffed appeals by tl'ie Administration and Congress for these Americans' release and appears to be holding tliem as leverage to secure tlie extradition of Fethullali Gulen. Allies worthy of our most advanced military tecl'u"iology would not hold Americans liostage over an unrelated disprite. Turkey has also held German, Greek, and other nationals hostage for trade in ongoing disputes with tliose coruitries.

Since the coup, Turkey as arbitrarily arrested 160,000 of its own citizens and fired approximately tlie same number of civil servants. These arrests amount to collective punishinent, as Erdogan targets not just critics of his despotic regime but their families as well; more tlian 600 cliildren are currently imprisoned in Turkey. Arbitrary detention and sliam trials are hallmarks of authoritarianism. Tliese mass firings and arrests of journalists, acaden'iics, civil servants, judges, and others are designed to intimidate any opposition to Erdogan and cliill the freedoms that are tlie pillars of any free society.

It is hard to imagine a more compelling case for reevaluating the delivery of U.S. military tecl'inology to a foreign state. We must hold Turkey accountable for conduct that threatens U.S. national security, undermines the interests of orir paitners and allies, and represents a broadside attack against fundamental democratic values. For these reasons, we urge you to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the planned delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

Sincerely,
 
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halloweene said:
FAKE news. Two reasons : a) the photo is above Beyroyth. More important, the described raid si by very far out of F-35 range...
Click to expand...
I believe Tehran has hills on its side as visible in the pic and Beirut doesn't have one in immediate vicinity. But for a safer side let me check. There was another pic of F35 outside Beirut over meditaranian coast as well. Beirut skyline is clear compared to Tehran if I guess right.
 
RISING SUN said:
I believe Tehran has hills on its side as visible in the pic and Beirut doesn't have one in immediate vicinity. But for a safer side let me check. There was another pic of F35 outside Beirut over meditaranian coast as well. Beirut skyline is clear compared to Tehran if I guess right.
Click to expand...
Don't spent your time ! it's called a Photoshop.

Since 15 years, Photoshop is the most used tool for LM and the LM products...
 
Last edited:
Fully 74% of Export F-35s Delivered Until 2023 AreObsolete

(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; posted July 18, 2018)

By Giovanni de Briganti

Three-quarters of all the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters delivered to foreign customers until 2023 are obsolete and will require major retrofits before they can deliver their promised performance.

An analysis of F-35 contracts awarded to date shows that fully 343 – or 74% -- of the 460 export F-35s that Lockheed is to deliver until end 2024 will be in the current, obsolete Low-Rate Initial Production configuration.

These 343 aircraft are limited both in terms of operational capabilities and of the weapons they can use. They are, and will remain, obsolete because their software is incomplete and because their sensors – designed over 20 years ago – have been overtaken by several generations electronics progress. https://defenceforumindia.com/forum/styles/brivium/cobalt/smilies/crazy.gif

...

Fully-capable F-35 only after 2023

Aircraft of the first Full-Rate Production batch (Lot 15) will be the first to benefit from the new package of sensors, electronics and software bringing them to full capability, and which will notably include:

-- a new TR-3 (Technology Refresh 3) computer supplied by Harris Corporation that is key to allowing integration of the new capabilities planned for the Block 4 standard. This will include computing infrastructure for new panoramic cockpit displays, advanced memory systems and navigation technology, according to Brad Truesdell, Harris Corp.’s senior director of aviation systems.

-- Raytheon’s new Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System, which Lockheed announced June 13would replace Northrop Grumman’s current AN/AAQ-37.

-- a new Advanced Electro-Optical Targeting System(EOTS) to replace the current system, also made by Lockheed. The company says the current EOTS meets all the contractual specifications, but that the new system – which offers a significant increase in terms of target recognition and detection capability – “would be a further upgrade option purchased at the discretion of the DOD and international F-35 partners and customers,” Lockheed told FlightGlobal at the time.

-- a new Panoramic Cockpit Display System (PCDS) made by Elbit Systems of America. In June 2017, Elbit announceda contract from Lockheed Martin to develop a panoramic cockpit display unit to replace the current one, made by L3 Aviation Products.

These new sensors are crucial for the F-35 to achieve the capabilities it was designed to deliver, but which are still not available today, after 17 years of development. Lockheed says, for example, that the new DAS will have five times the reliability and twice the performance of the current system, despite being 45% cheaper to buy and 50% cheaper to operate.

However, Lot 15 deliveries will only begin in early 2023 and, meanwhile, deliveries will continue with the current electronics and sensors.

The US services will also receive obsolete aircraft, but their problem is less severe because they all operate other kinds of combat aircraft, and because they already have indicated they may use the early aircraft for flight-training or as spare parts banks if the cost of upgrading them to Block 4 standard is too expensive.

This is not an option for export customers, however, as for several – notably Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands -- the F-35 will be the only combat aircraft, while for all others it is the primary strike aircraft.



F-35%20deliveries%20to%202024.JPG


They will require substantial -- and expensive -- upgrades to bring them up to the latest Block 4 standard, after the new sensors and electronics become available in 2023.

The cost of developing and implementing the Block 4 configuration is as yet unknown, and figures have been quoted of between $3.9 billion and as much as $16.4 billion.

...

Only Block 4 allows most capable weapons – after 2023 (remember how LM respects its old promises...)

But only Block 4 will allow the F-35 to use the most capable air-to-air missile in the Western inventory – MBDA’s Meteor – as well as two new long-range missiles being developed specifically for the F-35: the Joint Strike Missile(made by Kongsberg, Norway) and the SOM-J air-launched cruise missile (Roketsan, Turkey) as well as the Small Diameter Bomb II and other cutting-edge weapons to come.

If 74% of all export F-35s will be obsolete when delivered, some export customers will receive an even higher proportion: Australia will receive 63 of its 72 aircraft (87%) in LRIP configuration, while the proportion of LRIP aircraft will attain 100% for South Korea, 81% for Japan and 77% for Norway. (see Table 1 above).


In other words, pray there’s no shooting war in the next 6-7 years.

Assuming they do decide to retrofit Block 4 improvements, export customers will have to pay for it themselves, on top of acquisition and post-delivery upgrade costs.



http://www.defense-aerospace.com/ar...-f_35s-delivered-until-2024-are-obsolete.html
 
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Thanks To NATO Infighting, the Future of the F-35 Is Shrinking

defense-large.jpg


The most sophisticated fighter jet in the world, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, will play a smaller role in the future of European security than originally conceived. On Monday, the Senate amended its version of the 2019 defense authorization act to block the sale of the fifth-generation fighter jet to Turkey. The reason: theNATO ally’s purchase of the Russian S-400, a radar and missile battery with a lethal range of 250 km. In routine operation, the sensor- and transmitter-packed jet exchanges electronic data with friendly anti-air systems and sensors, and if Turkey were to do this, data collected by the Russian-built weapon might find its way back to Moscow. The House has yet to weigh in on the matter.

Turkey inked the S-400 deal last year, over strenuous objections from the U.S. and other NATO-member governments concerned about an ally using Russian air defense systems. “A NATO-interoperable missile defense system remains the best option to defend Turkey from the full range of threats in the region,” Pentagon spokesperson Johnny Michael told CNBC last fall.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called Monday’s decision“lamentable.” It’s also very inconvenient for Turkey’s political elite, coming just daysbefore Turkish elections.

The U.S. military has gotten up close and personal with the S-400 over Syria, where the Russian military has deployed to aid the Assad regime. Its deadly presence reshaped how the U.S.-led coalition flies air ops, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigan told reporters in September. “‘We are consistently monitoring them to see if something changes their intent because we have to manage that and respond quickly…We look at it every day. It’s an everyday discussion to make sure our force can manage that risk.”

Strained Atlantic relations aren’t just affecting today’s jet sales and development today, but potentially decisions far off as well.

France and Germany have agreed to work together on a sixth-generation fighter, the so-called Future Combat Air System, orFCAS, to begin to replace the Tornado by 2040. The previous chief of the Luftwaffe, Lt. Gen. Karl Müllner, had been in favor of replacing the Tornado with the F-35. Partly for that reason, he was dismissed in May.

Going with the F-35 would “eliminate the need for a next-gen European fighter and possibly cripple Europe’s capacity to develop such a system for years to come,” said Ulrich Kühn, a German political scientist and senior research associate at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

The move has ramifications far beyond what new jets are sitting on the tarmac in Western Europe in ten years.

“Since Germany takes part in NATO nuclear sharing, a new platform would have to be certified by the U.S. to deliver U.S.B61s,” thermonuclear gravity bombs, Kühn pointed out on Twitter. He was responding to an article that ran Sunday in the GermanFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. “But [the] new fighter should be nuke capable,” says Kühn. “Now, German Airbus officials have started asking the Gretchen Question: what nukes shall theFCAS carry? U.S. or French ones?” Kühn argues that the question of how to develop the FCAS as a nuclear capable jet will be one of the most important decisions that Germany will take in the next few years and could have ramifications for the future of the nuclear umbrella over Europe.

What was supposed to be a unified, highly interoperable American weapons web could become more fractured, less under American control. “The decision about the FCAS as a nuclear platform will have wide-ranging repercussions on Germany, the EU and NATO,” he says.

The U.S. military has been pushing allies to buy the F-35 not just to expand America’s weapons reach but because the jet is a flying intelligence fusion cellas much a bomb-dropper. One of its core selling features is its ability to transmit rich targeting intelligence to nearby drones or faraway jets or even Aegis warships rigged for missile defense miles away.

That interoperability is key to the Pentagon’s vision of future wars. As alliances with Western partners fray, those plans may need revision.
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Thanks To NATO Infighting, the Future of the F-35 Is Shrinking
 
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US Senate Bans Sale of F-35s to Turkey: Dealing with an Unreliable Partner

On June 19, the Senate passed a draft defense bill for FY 2019 that would halt the transfer of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft to Turkey, until the secretary of state certifies that Turkey will not accept deliveries of Russian S-400 Triumf air-defense systems. It paves the way for Ankara’s expulsion from the program if it does not bow to this pressure. The support for the measure (85-10) is too strong to be overridden.

Turkey has been one of six major partner nations in the JSF project since 2002. It is responsible for the production of certain components and for providing maintenance services in Europe to other operators of the aircraft. About a dozen Turkish companies are involved in the manufacturing, in accordance with the deal that was reached 16 years ago (2002). Ankara has placed an order to buy more than 100 F-35A Lightning IIs. It has already paid $800 million, so any restrictions that are imposed now will be an illegal breach of obligations by the US.

On June 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee added an amendment to the foreign-aid bill that would put a stop to future deliveries, if Ankara does not cancel the S-400 deal already concluded with Moscow. One of the arguments for blocking the F-35 transfer is the fear that Russia would get access to the JSF, enabling Moscow to detect and exploit its vulnerabilities. It would learn how the S-400 could take out an F-35.

The House version contains even more limits on arms transfers to Turkey. In May, the bill passed the House with a provision mandating a temporary hold on all major defense sales to Turkey, including F-35s, due in part to its impending purchase of the S-400. Almaz-Antey, the company that manufactures the Triumf, is on a State Department list of banned entities. Any deal with that firm could result in sanctions. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) has introduced an amendment to the FY 2019 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 6157) that would bar the planned transfer of the aircraft to Turkey. So, there may be some changes to the wording but that won’t significantly alter the final result — the F-35 transfer will remain blocked after the reconciliation process.

The bill is expected to become law this summer. The administration will have no choice but to exclude Turkey from the F-35 program, to remove any parts of the plane produced in that country, and to ban the Turkish F-35s from leaving the territory of the United States.

Despite the proceedings on Capitol Hill, officials from the government and Lockheed Martin held a ceremony on June 21 in Fort Worth, Texas, to mark the “roll out” of the first F-35A Lightning II jet under its Turkish program. It was an imposing ceremony, but it disguised some sleight of hand. The US government will retain custody of the aircraft while the Turkish pilots and service technicians are undergoing training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. This is a long process that will take several years, but the bill will become law soon. Turkey may be denied access to the cloud-based Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) computer network, depriving it of software updates and other data. The US could insert some malicious code to disable the aircraft even if they are transferred and based in Turkey in 2020 as planned.

US officials don’t shy away from open statements about their intentions to exert pressure and prevent other countries from buying Russian weapons. "I would work with our allies to dissuade them, or encourage them, to avoid military purchases that would be potentially sanctionable," said David Schenker, the nominee for assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, at his Senate confirmation hearing on June 14. "In other words, I would tell Saudi Arabia not to do it," he explained. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are in talks with Moscow to buy the S-400.

According to UAWire, The US State Department's Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction has announced a tender for the monitoring of open-source information about arms deals involving the Russian Federation and the CIS countries. That data will be collected in Russian, English, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Urdu, and several other languages. The information will be used for decision-making and planning sanctions against foreign states.

So far, the policy of twisting arms has failed. Demand for Russian arms is booming in the Middle East and Africa. Just a few days ago, one of Iraq’s armored brigades swapped out its American-made M1 Abrams tanks for new Russian T-90s. Last year, Russia and Iraq signed a huge arms deal.

Unfazed by the US lawmakers’ stance, Ankara remains all set to go ahead with the purchase of the S-400 from Moscow. If the deal is blocked it will find an alternative, such as Russia’s Su-57 jet, or Turkey could produce an aircraft of its own, as part of its indigenous TFX stealth fighter program.

India has recently been warned against buying the Russian S-400. If it does, a ban will be put in place on sharing sensitive American military technology with Delhi, which is refusing to back down under pressure.

A deal is not always what one may think it is. A deal signed with the US is a special case because there are strings attached, which cannot be found in the text and are not mentioned during the negotiations. All of a sudden a partner finds out that there is a caveat that goes without saying. One may sign a deal and be naive enough to take it at face value, only to find out later that it will not be valid if certain unwritten conditions are not met. If you cooperate with another country without US approval, like Turkey does, you don’t get what you are entitled to under the terms of that agreement. Buy American, they say, but if you make a deal with Russia, like India wants to do, the access to the best technology the US has is going to be cut off.

Congress has offered a lesson to those who cooperate with America. They should remember that whatever they may sign with Washington cannot be taken for granted. US lawmakers can change everything to their heart’s content at any time they wish. There is nothing worse than an unreliable partner. And that’s what America is.

US Senate Bans Sale of F-35s to Turkey: Dealing with an Unreliable Partner
 
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