Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning and F-22 'Raptor' : News & Discussion
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Concorde supercruised at Mach 2. You don't seriously think they had the afterburners on constantly for every flight.
Concorde - Wikipedia
Concorde - Wikipedia
State Department Approves F-35B for Singapore
State Department Approves F-35B for Singapore
by Chen Chuanren
- January 10, 2020, 4:20 AM
A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B is seen at Tsuiki Airbase in Japan, where the STOVL variant has been selected to serve alongside the F-35 conventional take-off/landing version. Singapore has now also selected the F-35B. (Photo: Chen Chuanren)
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that the State Department has approved the sale of 12 Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft to Singapore. The $2.75 billion package—announced on January 9—includes four firm orders and eight options. This will potentially make the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) the sixth F-35B operator, after the U.S. Marine Corps, United Kingdom, Italy, and the planned purchases by Japan and South Korea.
“On April 5, 2019, Mindef submitted a request to purchase F-35Bs from the U.S., to acquire four planes with an option of an additional eight,” said Singapore's Ministry of Defense. “The Congressional Notification [CN] of Singapore’s request of purchase adheres to the formal requirement within the U.S. for possible sale of military equipment to foreign countries. It is routine, and Congress has 30 days to respond to the CN.” Mindef stressed that the CN is not a formal contract of purchase, and formal terms will be negotiated for the letter of offer and acceptance after it is passed.
Also included in the sale are 13 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, unspecified electronic warfare systems, C4I/CNI systems, autonomic logistics global sustainment (ALGS), autonomic logistics information system (ALIS), and F-35 training system, as well as U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support. The U.S. will also provide tanker support for the ferry of the jets to an unidentified training base, although it could likely be MCAS Beaufort, where all F-35B training currently takes place.
In January 2019, Singapore officially announced that it had selected the F-35 to replace its three squadrons of F-16C/D/D+ fighters and provided more details in March, although no mention was made of which variant would be acquired. Taking a more cautious approach in procuring the F-35, it will first be acquiring four jets for evaluation with an option for eight more. The RSAF has never canceled on any program it has embarked on and will likely place more orders once it has made itself comfortable with the platform and its maintenance.
State Department Approves F-35B for Singapore
by Chen Chuanren
- January 10, 2020, 4:20 AM
A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B is seen at Tsuiki Airbase in Japan, where the STOVL variant has been selected to serve alongside the F-35 conventional take-off/landing version. Singapore has now also selected the F-35B. (Photo: Chen Chuanren)
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that the State Department has approved the sale of 12 Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft to Singapore. The $2.75 billion package—announced on January 9—includes four firm orders and eight options. This will potentially make the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) the sixth F-35B operator, after the U.S. Marine Corps, United Kingdom, Italy, and the planned purchases by Japan and South Korea.
“On April 5, 2019, Mindef submitted a request to purchase F-35Bs from the U.S., to acquire four planes with an option of an additional eight,” said Singapore's Ministry of Defense. “The Congressional Notification [CN] of Singapore’s request of purchase adheres to the formal requirement within the U.S. for possible sale of military equipment to foreign countries. It is routine, and Congress has 30 days to respond to the CN.” Mindef stressed that the CN is not a formal contract of purchase, and formal terms will be negotiated for the letter of offer and acceptance after it is passed.
Also included in the sale are 13 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, unspecified electronic warfare systems, C4I/CNI systems, autonomic logistics global sustainment (ALGS), autonomic logistics information system (ALIS), and F-35 training system, as well as U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support. The U.S. will also provide tanker support for the ferry of the jets to an unidentified training base, although it could likely be MCAS Beaufort, where all F-35B training currently takes place.
In January 2019, Singapore officially announced that it had selected the F-35 to replace its three squadrons of F-16C/D/D+ fighters and provided more details in March, although no mention was made of which variant would be acquired. Taking a more cautious approach in procuring the F-35, it will first be acquiring four jets for evaluation with an option for eight more. The RSAF has never canceled on any program it has embarked on and will likely place more orders once it has made itself comfortable with the platform and its maintenance.
I have to imagine all the people who claim the F-35 is a paper lemon are either completely delusional or are sad trolls.
Even the biggest critics have to acknowledge the progress the last 3 years lol.
Even the biggest critics have to acknowledge the progress the last 3 years lol.
LOL
When US Navy and Marine F-35 pilots most need performance, the aircraft becomes erraticBy: David B. Larter June 12, 2019
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s and Marine Corps’ F-35s become unpredictable to handle when executing the kind of extreme maneuvers a pilot would use in a dogfight or while avoiding a missile, according to documents exclusively obtained by Defense News.
Specifically, the Marine short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant and the Navy’s carrier-launched version become difficult to control when the aircraft is operating above a 20-degree angle of attack, which is the angle created by the oncoming air and the leading edge of the wing.
Pilots reported the aircraft experiencing unpredictable changes in pitch, as well as erratic yaw and rolling motions. The documents identify the issue as a category 1 deficiency and define it as something that limits the aircraft’s performance in such a way that it can’t accomplish its “primary or alternate mission(s).” In this scale, category 1 represents the most serious type of deficiency.
A Lockheed Martin executive told Defense News in a statement that he expects the issue to be resolved or downgraded soon as a result of software fixes.
“We’ve implemented an update to the flight control system that is planned for integration in the third quarter of this year — and we expect this item to be resolved or downgraded,” said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the company’s F-35 program.
The Pentagon’s F-35 program office did not respond to written questions from Defense News by press time, despite repeated follow-ups over a period of months.
In a deficiency report from the fleet, aviators said the issue "will cause modal confusion, prevent precise lift vector control, and prevent repeatable air-to-air combat techniques, resulting in mid-air collisions during training, controlled flight into terrain, and aircraft loss during combat engagements with adversary aircraft and missiles," according to the documents.
“Fleet pilots agreed it is very difficult to max perform the aircraft” in those circumstances, the document notes. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as well as the United Kingdom have noted the deficiency as a leading priority.
The fleet will, in the near term, mitigate the issue by enforcing minimum separation rules between aircraft in flight, the documents said.
‘That ain’t working’
A retired Navy fighter pilot who reviewed the documents for Defense News said the ability to maneuver the aircraft above a 20-degree angle of attack is important if the aircraft needs to quickly maneuver to avoid a missile or during aerial combat with another aircraft.
“You’re telling me that the latest, greatest, $100 million aircraft can’t perform?” the aviator said.
The issue, if left unresolved, would dovetail in the worst way when combined with another issue reported by Defense News: At extremely high altitudes, the Navy and Marine Corps versions of the F-35 can only fly at supersonic speeds for short bursts of time without risking structural damage and loss of its stealth capability, a problem that may make it impossible for the Navy’s F-35C to conduct supersonic intercepts.
“It has random oscillations, pitch and yaw issues above [its] 20-[degree angle of attack]," the aviator said. "[So] if I had to perform the aircraft — if I had to maneuver to defeat a missile, maneuver to fight another aircraft, the plane could have issues moving. And if I turn around aggressively and get away from these guys and use the afterburner, [the horizontal tail and tail boom] start to melt or have issues.”
The issue with control above 20-degrees AOA gets to one of the main debates about the aircraft: What if it needed to get into a dogfight? The F-35 is supposed to detect and kill its prey at range with missiles — either its own or from another platform in the network. But history has taught naval aviation that ignoring the possibility of close combat with another aircraft can prove deadly.
“This was not designed as a [traditional] fighter,” said Jerry Hendrix, a retired naval flight officer and analyst with Telemus Group. “This was meant to fight at distance with missiles. If you got in close, if you had to go to guns, that ain’t working.”
In a statement addressing a broad range of issues reported exclusively by Defense News, Ulmer, the Lockheed executive, defended the performance of the jet.
“The F-35s today are meeting or exceeding performance specifications and delivering unprecedented capability and safety compared to legacy fighter aircraft. These issues are important to address, and each is well understood, resolved or on a path to resolution," Ulmer said. “We’ve worked collaboratively with our customers and we are fully confident in the F-35’s performance and the solutions in place to address each of the items identified.”
An active-duty naval aviator who reviewed the documents for Defense News said the issues are reflective of an aircraft that packed in a lot of new technology, adding that, historically, all new jets have had problems.
“That document looks like growing pains for an aircraft that we tried to do a whole lot to all at once,” the aviator said. “You’re going to see that if you dig back at what Super Hornets looked like for the first few years. Go back in the archives and look at Tomcat — think about that with the variable sweep-wing geometry, the AWG-9 Radar.
"There was a lot of new technology incorporated into the aircraft, and there are always going to be growing pains.”
Valerie Insinna in Washington contributed to this report.
LOL Again
- Two F-35 partners threatened to quit the program. Here’s why they didn’t.
- FAQ: Your guide to understanding how the military rates F-35 technical shortfalls
- A fix is coming for a problem that left two F-35 pilots in ‘excruciating’ pain
- When the F-35 blows a tire, it can set off a chain reaction of potential failures
- When US Navy and Marine F-35 pilots most need performance, the aircraft becomes erratic
- The Marine Corps’ ‘No. 1 priority’ for the F-35 involves a rough landing in hot environments
- The F-35 has to keep landing in cold weather. Here’s the plan to fix it.
- Inventory management failures are grounding F-35 jets
- Amid ‘green glow’ concerns, another issue has emerged for pilots flying the F-35 at night
- The US Navy is seeking upgrades for the F-35 radar’s sea-search mode
The Hidden Troubles of the F-35 | Defense News
Depends on who you ask and which variant you are talking about. Against the F-22, it's a complete lemon. Against desert donkeys, it's overkill.
Also, the last 3 years not a lot has changed. A lot of the Block 3F work has apparently been transferred to Block 4. For example, the aircraft's flight controls are still highly restricted, which prevents it from doing some basic functions like dodging missiles. This should have been a Block 3F fix, but it's still not been done.
Or that some variants cannot perform better than IAF's underpowered Jaguars at high altitude, which is actually a very serious issue compared to the previous one.
I am not a F-35 critic with vested interests, and I'm hoping the US gets a really good fighter jet in the end, but right now it's barely even a fighter jet. Any serious air force should consider the jet only after 2024-25, when Block 4B is released. And I do believe the majority of export inductions are post that period, current inductions are primarily about training and a few missions that it's actually ready for, like close air support and defensive close air patrol.
Can't better a Jaguar in what way? They'll certainly outmanoeuvre it and don't forget that a Jaguar never flies clean. Most people overlook the SA, EW and stealth attributes completely and focus on stupid stuff like the ability to do Mach 2. A Rafale can't even do Mach 2 clean, neither can a Super Hornet. It's honestly not something that's needed or used for air superiority.
I have my criticisms, I wouldn't have based all 3 variants on the same aircraft, the VSTOL should have been separate to the CATOBAR and CTOL versions, and it should have side launchers for SRAAMs but it's still worth at least 2 of any non-5th gen fighter even though it will likely never have to compete 1:2 based on the number being made.
The F-35's restricted flight envelope does not allow it to perform any better than the Jaguar at high altitude, and Jaguar's performance at high altitude is quite limited.
The F-35B is the best of the three. It's overspeced for the role it's meant for. But it's a different story that its development is still quite some time away from finishing.
Apparently F-35s are coming to Lucknow on Defexpo 2020
High-flyers Rafale, F-35 Lightning in for touchdown at Defence Expo - Times of India
High-flyers Rafale, F-35 Lightning in for touchdown at Defence Expo - Times of India
That's complete garbage, the F-35's service ceiling is higher than that of a clean Jaguar, the climb rate and TWR are also way higher, like twice as high even with a much higher internal fuel fraction. A Tornado GR1 is closer to an Su-30 than a Jaguar is to an F-35.
It's already passed ISD though.
Not many planes can manoeuvre well at their service ceiling, if they could generate enough lift to turn well and maintain speed and altitude then it wouldn't be their service ceiling now would it? Have you been taking aerodynamics lectures in Pakistan or something?
