Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning and F-22 'Raptor' : News & Discussion
- Thread starter Nick
- Start date
While a lot of missions are conducted
with the JOTT partners, the Dutch F-35s
periodically fly with the 148th Fighter
Squadron ‘Kickin’ a$$’, the RNLAF’s
F-16 training unit in Tucson, Arizona,
to evaluate and validate new tactics.
‘The first time we got to test all these
advanced capabilities to their fullest
potential was about a year ago, with and
against our F-16s in Tucson,’ says Knight.
‘The initial scenario was that our two
F-35s would escort a four-ship of F-16s
across a notional border and protect
them against another eight-ship of
F-16s simulating a modern adversary. A
relatively inexperienced flight leader was
in charge of the F-16s on our side and Lt
Col Joost ‘Niki’ Luijsterburg, the Tucson
detachment commander, was responsible
for the adversaries. Up to this point we
had only practised these scenarios in the
simulators and while we had a decent
game-plan, we were all anxious to see
how the F-35 would perform in real life.
We figured that the F-35’s stealth would
keep us out of harm’s way for most of the
fight, but that we also need to protect the
friendly F-16s, maximize the lethality of
their missiles and get them to the target.
To make this happen, we planned to
initially use electronic attack against the
adversary F-16s, see if we could avoid
having them detect friendly fighters and
datalink the location of the hostile aircraft
to our F-16s. This way we could use the
F-16s on our side to shoot down the initial
wave of enemy fighters and keep our own
missiles available once the ‘Blue Air’ F-16s
had to focus on their target attack. The
plan worked flawlessly.
‘In the debrief ‘Niki’ told us it was one
of the most memorable sorties he had
ever flown. Having previously worked in
the F-35 program office he was elated to
find out how effective the F-35 was, but
at the same time he was frustrated by not
getting a single shot off the rail against us,
while getting killed multiple times. After
that sortie it really hit us that the F-35 was
going to make a big difference in how we
operate fighters and other assets in the
Royal Netherlands Air Force.’
http://www.f-16.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26975
with the JOTT partners, the Dutch F-35s
periodically fly with the 148th Fighter
Squadron ‘Kickin’ a$$’, the RNLAF’s
F-16 training unit in Tucson, Arizona,
to evaluate and validate new tactics.
‘The first time we got to test all these
advanced capabilities to their fullest
potential was about a year ago, with and
against our F-16s in Tucson,’ says Knight.
‘The initial scenario was that our two
F-35s would escort a four-ship of F-16s
across a notional border and protect
them against another eight-ship of
F-16s simulating a modern adversary. A
relatively inexperienced flight leader was
in charge of the F-16s on our side and Lt
Col Joost ‘Niki’ Luijsterburg, the Tucson
detachment commander, was responsible
for the adversaries. Up to this point we
had only practised these scenarios in the
simulators and while we had a decent
game-plan, we were all anxious to see
how the F-35 would perform in real life.
We figured that the F-35’s stealth would
keep us out of harm’s way for most of the
fight, but that we also need to protect the
friendly F-16s, maximize the lethality of
their missiles and get them to the target.
To make this happen, we planned to
initially use electronic attack against the
adversary F-16s, see if we could avoid
having them detect friendly fighters and
datalink the location of the hostile aircraft
to our F-16s. This way we could use the
F-16s on our side to shoot down the initial
wave of enemy fighters and keep our own
missiles available once the ‘Blue Air’ F-16s
had to focus on their target attack. The
plan worked flawlessly.
‘In the debrief ‘Niki’ told us it was one
of the most memorable sorties he had
ever flown. Having previously worked in
the F-35 program office he was elated to
find out how effective the F-35 was, but
at the same time he was frustrated by not
getting a single shot off the rail against us,
while getting killed multiple times. After
that sortie it really hit us that the F-35 was
going to make a big difference in how we
operate fighters and other assets in the
Royal Netherlands Air Force.’
http://www.f-16.net/forum/download/file.php?id=26975
Last edited:
Exclusive: Pentagon stops accepting F-35 jets from Lockheed over...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense has stopped accepting most deliveries of F-35 jets from Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) because of a dispute over who will cover costs for fixing a production error found last year on more than 200 of the stealthy jets, three people familiar with the matter said.
Last year the Pentagon stopped accepting F-35s for 30 days after discovering corrosion where the carbon fiber exterior panels of the planes were fastened to the airframe. Once a fix had been devised, the deliveries resumed, and Lockheed hit its target aircraft delivery numbers for 2017.
Deliveries were paused again over a dispute as to who will pay for what will likely be a complex logistical fix that could require technicians to travel widely to mend aircraft based around the world, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
When the Pentagon stops taking delivery of F-35s, foreign customers can also be affected. So far at least two foreign governments have stopped accepting F-35s as a result of this issue, two of the sources said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Lockheed spokeswoman said on Wednesday: “Production on the F-35 program continues and we are confident we will meet our delivery target of 91 aircraft for 2018. While all work in our factories remains active, the F-35 Joint Program Office has temporarily suspended accepting aircraft until we reach an agreement on a contractual issue and we expect this to be resolved soon.”
It was not clear when the suspension of deliveries began.
Shares of Lockheed erased a 2.7 percent gain on the day after the news, and were trading flat at 3.32 p.m. (1932 GMT).
The delivery pause is the latest of several production issues that have arisen in the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, and comes at a time when the administration of President Donald Trump has criticized the cost of the fighter.
In 2016, a fix for insulation problems in the fuel tanks and lines of the jets caused a slowdown in deliveries.
Two jets were received by the Pentagon despite the suspension because of specific needs in the field, one of the people said.
During routine maintenance at Hill Air Force Base in Utah last year, the Air Force detected “corrosion exceeding technical limits” where the carbon fiber exterior panel is fastened to the aluminum airframe. A lack of protective coating at the fastening point that would have prevented corrosion was identified as the primary problem, the Pentagon said at the time.
Reporting by Mike Stone; Editing by Chris Sanders and Rosalba O'Brien
We are in the F-22 thread
OOps ; My bad I thought that a Pak FA tripped in Syria
The Left wing is touching the tarmac
Even most people gotta admit, the fact that 0 people have died/serious crashes have happened over a 15 year testing period is pretty impressive.