Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall plans to begin production at a new facility in 2025 to build “at least 400” F-35A center fuselages, the company stated in a press release, a move that F-35 builder Lockheed Martin previously said will deepen technology sharing with the European industrial base.
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breakingdefense.com

Germany's Rheinmetall selects site to start making 'at least' 400 F-35A fuselages - Breaking Defense

The new facility, an expert said, appears to be “replacing” Turkey’s former role in building center fuselages for the Joint Strike Fighter.
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com
 
AIM-9X internal, 2X capability APG-81, new EOTs with 4K video

News from Joseph Guastella (Deputy Chief of Staff, 2022 retired) and Eric Gunzinger (F-35 Program Manager for Flight Simulation Test and Eval, 2020 retired)
 

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Liking the fact that they have now at last going to allow the AIM-9X Block 2 variant to be housed internally within the weapon bays of the F-35. About time too I would say.
 
That’s excellent news. They're slowly but surely fixing the deficiencies of the platform. A good air-to-air loadout would now be 5x -120s and one 9x. Allows near maximum BVR capability but also keeps an extra something in case of emergency.
 
TAOG said:
AIM-9X internal, 2X capability APG-81, new EOTs with 4K video
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I believe there is also a major EW upgrade associated with Blk4, though there’s no way to qualify or quantify such improvements. I want to say there is also a new surface search radar mode to enhance sensor performance over water.
 
Thing is...9X is rail fired.

Has anyone, or is anyone, actually funding internal integration of AIM-9X and drop firing? Or is it just a possibility...that needs someone to actually sign on the dotted line? (With the very real possibility that no-one actually will...).

Same with Advanced EOTS mentioned in the next slide....has anyone actually contracted it? They have for the Plug and Play DAS replacement...but I've never heard anything about anyone actually buying Advanced EOTS.

And the AN/APG-85....its still not clear what it is...is it an upgraded 81 or a wholly new set? It implies that the 85 replaces the 81 in new production, which means it has to be an upgrade...are earlier 81's upgradeable to 85 standard?
 
Josh_TN said:
I believe there is also a major EW upgrade associated with Blk4, though there’s no way to qualify or quantify such improvements.
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The major EW upgrade comes with the Lot 17 aircraft. They have additional EW antenna's around the airframe.
 
timmymagic said:
The major EW upgrade comes with the Lot 17 aircraft. They have additional EW antenna's around the airframe.
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There’s also a software related portion to the the upgrade; the TR3 processor is a prerequisite from what I read.
 
So what are the chances of SPEAR 3 being cancelled aonestudio? It is not good news that is for sure. The RAF Lightning 2 force need this missile more than any other.
 
timmymagic said:
Zero chance. It's just delayed, nothing more.
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I would never say Zero chance, British procurement history would teach us that nothing is impossible when it comes to cancellation.
You would hope not, but crazy policy decisions can, and do, happen.
 
Let's just wait and see what happens to SPEAR 3 in the future. I certainly do not want it to be cancelled, but you never know with a possible change in the government at Westminster you never know what will happen.
 
FighterJock said:
but you never know with a possible change in the government at Westminster you never know what will happen.
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Historically Labour governments are better for defence than Conservative...nothing could be worse than the present shower...
 
timmymagic said:
Same with Advanced EOTS mentioned in the next slide....has anyone actually contracted it? They have for the Plug and Play DAS replacement...but I've never heard anything about anyone actually buying Advanced EOTS.
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Generally speaking, individual elements of the air vehicle would not see a lot of contract activity since these are LM decisions (they receive funding for block 4 and allocate it accordingly) to a point. Advanced EOTS has been flying and it is entirely possible that either it, or several of its elements were chosen as part of the Block 4 program. The JPO and others have always claimed that there are more capabilities in block 4 than what have been disclosed with the added capabilities and weapons being one of the reason the program has stretched out to nearly 2030. A good example of this is the APG-85 radar. We didn't see much in the way of contract disclosures for its development and only found out about it from a disclosure by the Air Force that a certain number of UPL requested F-35A's in FY-23 budget would be with the new radar.
 
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TAOG said:
AIM-9X internal, 2X capability APG-81, new EOTs with 4K video

News from Joseph Guastella (Deputy Chief of Staff, 2022 retired) and Eric Gunzinger (F-35 Program Manager for Flight Simulation Test and Eval, 2020 retired)
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So if I read this correctly the F-35 still has no stand-off anti-ship capability?

(Until JSOW C1, JSM, SDB-II and Spear 3 are integrated, all of which are part of Block 4. Which I believe means 2024 for the first new builds and 2025+ for the first retrofits of existing aircraft. Correct?)
 
H_K said:
So if I read this correctly the F-35 still has no stand-off anti-ship capability?

(Until JSOW C1, JSM, SDB-II and Spear 3 are integrated, all of which are part of Block 4. Which I believe means 2024 for the first new builds and 2025+ for the first retrofits of existing aircraft. Correct?)
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F-35 has no powered weapons available at present except for the 3 integrated AAM's (AIM-9X, Asraam and Amraam). Everything air to surface is freefall at present....and will probably remain that way for a few more years yet...

Theoretically JSM should be the first powered air to surface weapon to arrive...(it was supposed to be this year, but I suspect it won't arrive until until 2027...with the other Blk IV weapons).

Quite incredible really....
 
timmymagic said:
Theoretically JSM should be the first powered air to surface weapon to arrive...(it was supposed to be this year, but I suspect it won't arrive until until 2027...with the other Blk IV weapons).
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Block 4 weapons are not arriving all at the same time, certain weapons will come earlier and others later as they finish integration testing and Block 4 iterations are rolled out. Block 4 is not a singular upgrade delivering at once, and the same is true for the F-35s new weapons.

JSM will likely be one of the first to enter service. According to Kongsberg just five days ago IOC for the JSM is 2024, with FOC expected "shortly after that". The date provided just a few months ago for the JSM IOC in USAF service is 2025 but the USAF is only buying its first JSMs in the FY24 budget, which hasn't even passed yet.
 
H_K said:
So if I read this correctly the F-35 still has no stand-off anti-ship capability?

(Until JSOW C1, JSM, SDB-II and Spear 3 are integrated, all of which are part of Block 4. Which I believe means 2024 for the first new builds and 2025+ for the first retrofits of existing aircraft. Correct?)
Click to expand...

Far as I know yes. I think it basically only can carry various guide bombs right now. I think AARGM-ER is also part of Blk4.
 
JSM, LRASM, JSOW-C1, SDB-2 and AARGM-ER / SiAW are all coming in Block 4 starting with SDB-II capability which will be fielded on F-35B by end of the quarter, and A and C variants by end of the year. The Air Force and Navy prioritized the B-1, and F/A-18 fleets for LRASM integration and had JASSM/LRASM on F-35 initially deferred that got put back into the budgets in FY-22 by Congress and has been part of base plans ever since. Neither the LRASM, nor JSM were mature enough (still in development at the time) to be included in the SDD phase itself and the program avoided including in its baseline integration plans weapons that themselves had uncertain IOC timelines on account of development.
 
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Late 2024 is a good target for JSM go-live on F-35A. While the USAF doesn't get its first missiles till early 2026, the program is aiming for late FY 24 or early FY 25 for fielding it the last time I read something on it.
 
I for one already have the F-35 book pre-ordered so that extract has got me getting excited about it. Thanks for the link TomcatVIP. :cool:
 

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