Agreed. Especially in the case of India. It can be operated from all IAC's - present and future. And we could even have an arrangement like RAF-RN where F-35s are cycled between the two services.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning and F-22 'Raptor' : News & Discussion
- Thread starter Nick
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Israel keeps quiet over F-35I's combat debut
Game changing news.
sidenote, I've noted that indians use game changer a lot more than westerners do.
Game changing news.
sidenote, I've noted that indians use game changer a lot more than westerners do.
Luftwaffe chief dismissed over F-35 support
The Chief of the Luftwaffe is to leave his position in large part due to his support for a German procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Jane’s has learned.
Lieutenant General Karl Müllner will leave his position by the end of May, with the news of his retirement breaking just two days after Germany’s defence secretary, Ursula von der Leyen, was sworn in for another term.
Jane’s understands that Gen Müllner’s outspoken public support for the JSF as a successor to the German Tornado fleet was pivotal in the decision for his early retirement. “The Luftwaffe considers the F-35’s capability as the benchmark for the selection process for the Tornado replacement, and I think I have expressed myself clearly enough as to what the favourite of the air force is,” Gen Müllner told Jane’s and other media in November 2017.
The Chief of the Luftwaffe’s active support of the JSF clashes with current Ministry of Defence planning, which prefers a successor solution involving the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Chief of the Luftwaffe is to leave his position in large part due to his support for a German procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Jane’s has learned.
Lieutenant General Karl Müllner will leave his position by the end of May, with the news of his retirement breaking just two days after Germany’s defence secretary, Ursula von der Leyen, was sworn in for another term.
Jane’s understands that Gen Müllner’s outspoken public support for the JSF as a successor to the German Tornado fleet was pivotal in the decision for his early retirement. “The Luftwaffe considers the F-35’s capability as the benchmark for the selection process for the Tornado replacement, and I think I have expressed myself clearly enough as to what the favourite of the air force is,” Gen Müllner told Jane’s and other media in November 2017.
The Chief of the Luftwaffe’s active support of the JSF clashes with current Ministry of Defence planning, which prefers a successor solution involving the Eurofighter Typhoon.
This general just forget that the purchase of a high end weapon is a politic affair.
The purchase of F35 by Luftwaffe would be a disaster sign for European aeronautic ambitions.
F-35 update: the good, the bad and the unknown
F-35 update: the good, the bad and the unknown | The Strategist
F-35 update: the good, the bad and the unknown | The Strategist
F-35: Is America's Most Expensive Weapon of War the Ultimate Failure?
F-35: Is America's Most Expensive Weapon of War the Ultimate Failure?
"The F-35 has now entered an unprecedented seventeenth year of continuing redesign, test deficiencies, fixes, schedule slippages, and cost overruns. And it’s still not at the finish line. Numerous missteps along the way—from the fact that the two competing contractors, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, submitted “flyoff” planes that were crude and undeveloped “technology demonstrators” rather than following the better practice of submitting fully functional prototypes, to concurrent acquisition malpractice that has prevented design flaws from being discovered until after production models were built—have led to where we are now. According to the latest annual report from the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E), 263 “high priority” performance and safety deficiencies remain unresolved and unaddressed, and the developmental tests—essentially, the laboratory tests—are far from complete. If they complete the tests, more deficiencies will surely be found that must be addressed before the plane can safely carry our Airmen and women into combat."
etc....
F-35: Is America's Most Expensive Weapon of War the Ultimate Failure?
"The F-35 has now entered an unprecedented seventeenth year of continuing redesign, test deficiencies, fixes, schedule slippages, and cost overruns. And it’s still not at the finish line. Numerous missteps along the way—from the fact that the two competing contractors, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, submitted “flyoff” planes that were crude and undeveloped “technology demonstrators” rather than following the better practice of submitting fully functional prototypes, to concurrent acquisition malpractice that has prevented design flaws from being discovered until after production models were built—have led to where we are now. According to the latest annual report from the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E), 263 “high priority” performance and safety deficiencies remain unresolved and unaddressed, and the developmental tests—essentially, the laboratory tests—are far from complete. If they complete the tests, more deficiencies will surely be found that must be addressed before the plane can safely carry our Airmen and women into combat."
etc....
Japan is officially going for the F-35B variant and modifying their helicopter destroyer for operations.
Japanese government plans to introduce F-35B fighter jets and a 'multi-purpose aircraft carrier'
Japanese government plans to introduce F-35B fighter jets and a 'multi-purpose aircraft carrier'
Finally, we have some movement. Pretty good decision.
I think 40 is a decent number for this purpose. One Izumo class should easily be able to operate 10 F-35Bs alongside 7 ASW and 2 SAR helicopters.
More exciting than that, WSJ is reporting Japanese interest in either purchasing or building a new aircraft carrier.
Japan Seeks to Answer China With an Aircraft Carrier
Brits must be happy.
F-22 news: DoD watchdog: Air Force failed to effectively manage F-22 modernization
F-35 news: Air Force Risks Losing Third of F-35s If Upkeep Costs Aren't Cut
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. Air Force ineffectively managed the stealthy F-22 Raptor’s modernization program, putting America’s air superiority at risk, the DoD Inspector General found in a new report.
The F-22 program office failed to generate an appropriate contracting strategy, which led to delays and a final product that may not deliver “modernized capabilities necessary to sustain air superiority against rapidly evolving U.S. adversaries,” according to the report published Monday.
Reviewing the program office’s implementation of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), a software development method that divides large projects into smaller portions to develop software in shorter time periods for one final product, DoDIG found the method resulted in the identification of multiple deficiencies late in development. The deficiencies required additional software upgrades, resulting in modernization schedule delays.
DoDIG found that because the program office did not update its contracting strategy for SAFe implementation, officials were unable to identify the best strategy to incentivize contractors.
But the program office was not the only entity at fault. The offices of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics and the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Acquisition, both failed to issue policy for implementing agile software development methods on weapon systems acquisitions, according to the agency.
The F-22 modernization program was divided into 10 separate but interrelated programs, ranging from improvements to radar and communication technology, electronic protection and resiliency to a new helmet mounted display and cuing system. Early delays “in one program can have a cascading effect on follow-on modernization programs,” according to the report.
So what can the program office and AT&L do to fix these problems?
The report advises AT&L to review and revise acquisition guidance for the implementation of agile software development methods for programs that include hardware and software. The report also recommends the office compile these lessons and share them with other DoD programs.
For the Air Force, the report recommends the program office craft a clear contracting strategy to best incentivize contractors prior to awarding orders for the next step in the modernization program. With a clear strategy, the office should be able to decrease delays and ensure the system delivered meets the requirements needed to sustain U.S. air superiority, according to the DoDIG.
F-35 news: Air Force Risks Losing Third of F-35s If Upkeep Costs Aren't Cut
The U.S. Air Force may have to cut its purchases of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 by a third if it can’t find ways to reduce operations and support costs by as much as 38 percent over a decade, according to an internal analysis.
The shortfall would force the service to subtract 590 of the fighter jets from the 1,763 it plans to order, the Air Force office charged with evaluating the F-35’s impact on operations and budgets, in an assessment obtained by Bloomberg News.
While the Defense Department has said it has gained control over costs for developing and producing a fleet of 2,456 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps -- now projected at $406 billion -- the internal analysis underscores the current and looming challenges of maintaining and operating the warplanes.
It may cost as much as $1.1 trillion to keep the F-35s flying and maintained through 2070, according to the current estimate from the Pentagon’s independent cost unit.
A chart in the Air Force analysis, which was completed in December, said the service has “very limited visibility into how” increasing funds going to Lockheed for “contractor support” are spent.
First Disclosure
The analysis represents the first public disclosure of the potential impact if support costs aren’t reduced. Using figures developed in 2012, the Air Force faces an annual bill of about $3.8 billion a year that must be cut back over the coming decade.
The Air Force analysis doesn’t represent anything close to a final decision, according to spokeswoman Ann Stefanik. The potential reduction in aircraft was a “staff assessment on aircraft affordability. It’s premature for the Air Force to consider buying fewer aircraft at this time,” Stefanik said.
The Air Force is working with the Pentagon’s F-35 program office to reach the 38 percent reduction in operation and support costs through 2028 from the $38 billion calculated in 2012, she added.
The long-term support concerns are on top of current F-35 challenges including parts shortages, unavailable aircraft and technical issues that must be resolved as the program ends its 17-year development phase. In September, the F-35 is to begin as much as a year of rigorous combat testing that’s required by law. Successful testing would trigger full-rate production, the most profitable phase for Lockheed, as soon as late 2019.
The F-35 program is accelerating: Congress bankrolled 90 jets, or 20 more than requested, in the spending bill for the current fiscal year.
Lockheed’s Costs
Half of the operations and support expenditures are tied to Lockheed’s costs and include “program management, depot maintenance, part repair, software maintenance, engineering,” Stefanik said. Those costs “are growing with the increase in flight hours. The Air Force is working to gather visibility into cost data to better understand the rationale for the growth,” she said.
The remaining costs are managed by the Air Force, including military personnel and fuel, she said. Upkeep costs for the F-35 are also a challenge for allies buying the plane, including the U.K., Australia and Italy.
Stephen Lovegrove, the U.K.’s No. 2 civilian defense official, told reporters Tuesday at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington that although the F-35 “is doing everything we hoped it would do,” his country also is grappling with the size and scope of the future support costs for a “very, very complicated platform.”
Lovegrove, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence, said he’d be discussing the “slightly unknown territory” of long-term costs in meetings with F-35 program officials. The U.K. is buying 138 of the Marine Corps version of the F-35 designed to be flown off aircraft carriers.
‘Bit Frustrated’
“I am constantly being asked by parliamentarians in the U.K. what the total cost is going to be and they are sometimes, understandably, a bit frustrated when I have to tell them, ‘At the moment nobody is entirely sure,’” Lovegrove said.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in an October report that “there is little doubt” the F-35 “brings unique capabilities to the American military, but without revising sustainment plans” the military “is at risk of being unable to leverage the capabilities of the aircraft it has recently purchased.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Undersecretary Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, who told reporters in January that “right now, we can’t afford the sustainment costs we have on the F-35. And we’re committed to changing that.”
The F-35 program can't survive 590 cuts without someone else making up for it.
They will be forced to sell to the GCC if that happens.
They will be forced to sell to the GCC if that happens.
F-35: Still No Finish Line in Sight
A thorough yet not comprehensive list of all the problems with the F-35. Too long to copy-paste.
A thorough yet not comprehensive list of all the problems with the F-35. Too long to copy-paste.
F-35 revealed to be horror movie M. Night Shyamalan has been working on for years — Duffel Blog
April's Fool!
F-35 revealed to be horror movie M. Night Shyamalan has been working on for years
WILLISTOWN, Penn. — In perhaps the most daring plot twist of his career, film director M. Night Shyamalan has revealed that the entire trillion dollar F-35 program is a horror movie he has been working on for the past decade, sources confirmed today.
“I really wanted to explore the depths of the military-industrial complex and the human psyche in an age of uncertainty,” said Shyamalan. “That, and I was pretty damn high when I wrote it.”
While critics have panned many of his recent films, most are now saying that his latest project, while “not quite as good as The Sixth Sense,” might be better than sci-fi thriller Signs.
“Remarkable. A tour de force,” hailed Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times. “The plot was crafted so meticulously that he fooled an entire defense industry into thinking that the plane would actually work.”
Even those in the military community were relieved, with many praising the ending as “the greatest moment in film since the volleyball scene in Top Gun.”
“Only an artist of Night’s caliber could have incorporated so many intriguing plot twists,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford. “Cost overruns, performance issues, parts being made in China, schematics getting hacked. Five stars.”
While Shyamalan has served as a deus ex machina for the F-35 program, he says the film is merely a foreshadowing of bigger things to come.
“Spoiler alert: I made Iraq and Afghanistan, too,” he added. “And I was totally on acid when I wrote the ending.”
April's Fool!
JPO launches F-35 Block 4 effort | Jane's 360
JPO launches F-35 Block 4 effort
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
03 April 2018
The US Joint Program Office (JPO) has begun the process for rolling out Block 4 (full combat) capabilities onto the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
A USD211.3 million contract for “pre-modernization efforts” related to a Block 4.1 software drop was awarded to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) on 2 April, with work to be completed by the end of July 2019.
Now known as Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2), Block 4 will enable the F-35 to employ its full panoply of sensors and munitions. With the wider Block 4 capability to be rolled out in four increments (Block 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4), Block 4.1 is primarily software based, although it does also introduce some new capabilities as well as correcting deficiencies to older ones carried over from the system design and development (SDD) phase of the programme, which is shortly due to conclude.
JPO launches F-35 Block 4 effort
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
03 April 2018
The US Joint Program Office (JPO) has begun the process for rolling out Block 4 (full combat) capabilities onto the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
A USD211.3 million contract for “pre-modernization efforts” related to a Block 4.1 software drop was awarded to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) on 2 April, with work to be completed by the end of July 2019.
Now known as Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2), Block 4 will enable the F-35 to employ its full panoply of sensors and munitions. With the wider Block 4 capability to be rolled out in four increments (Block 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4), Block 4.1 is primarily software based, although it does also introduce some new capabilities as well as correcting deficiencies to older ones carried over from the system design and development (SDD) phase of the programme, which is shortly due to conclude.
4 blocks, with lots of sub blocks, and more than 10 years of developpment in order to expect to have a full combat plane.... what a pity !