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

The images come from Ian Knight's twitter account. Knight is a pilot flying with the Royal Netherlands Air Force. He posted some images and video from the mass SDB drop test mission, which saw a full load of eight SDBs being dropped out of an RNLAF F-35A's weapons bays and impact a set of targets with great accuracy. Knight mentions that 16 SDBs were launched in the test and a video he posted shows eight being dropped from a USAF Operational Test (OT) tailed F-35A, which was obviously involved, as well. The RNLAF, a partner in the F-35 program, has been deeply involved with the F-35's flight testing and development with aircraft and personnel operating out of Edwards AFB for years.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1297224445963141130
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1297224445963141130

Text from TheDrive.com
 
kitnut617 said:
Pay-walled unfortunately ---
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The Pentagon's top weapons buyer said Thursday that the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter should finally go into full production by next March following a series of delays -- the latest for COVID-19 workplace restrictions.

"I am confident that we are going to meet the March date," said Ellen Lord, undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions and Sustainment.


However, Lord said she is going to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, next week with Robert Behler, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, to check on issues with the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) facility for flight operations testing.

She said the trip is necessary to "understand exactly where we are" on the ability to run the JSE and get to full production.


"There have been setbacks within the JSE" on getting to full production for the F-35, the most expensive weapons system ever bought by the Pentagon, at $398 billion thus far.

The March 2021 target date, first reported by Bloomberg, was forced by delays to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines "to make sure we had a safe working environment," Lord said at a Pentagon briefing.

More than 440 F-35s have been delivered around the world as of October 2019; full rate production approval would allow Lockheed to start producing upward of 160 aircraft per year.

Military.com reported last September that issues with the Joint Simulation Environment were delaying Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) for the F-35s.

The IOT&E will go ahead "when the JSE is ready to adequately complete the testing," DoD spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said in a statement at the time. "The JSE is required to adequately perform F-35 IOT&E against modern adversary aircraft and dense ground threats in realistic scenarios."
 
Bhurki said:
More than 440 F-35s have been delivered around the world as of October 2019; full rate production approval would allow Lockheed to start producing upward of 160 aircraft per year.
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The FRP decision has no bearing whatsoever on the annual production rate.
 
marauder2048 said:
Bhurki said:
More than 440 F-35s have been delivered around the world as of October 2019; full rate production approval would allow Lockheed to start producing upward of 160 aircraft per year.
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The FRP decision has no bearing whatsoever on the annual production rate.
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I know that.
It will remove the obligation of annually ordering the jets and let DoD make multi year buys.

I just copied the article that the other guy supposedly thought was paywalled.
 
Thanks for showing what was in the article Bhurki, but to clarify, when I try to open it, it says I need to subscribe
 
Bhurki said:
marauder2048 said:
Bhurki said:
More than 440 F-35s have been delivered around the world as of October 2019; full rate production approval would allow Lockheed to start producing upward of 160 aircraft per year.
Click to expand...

The FRP decision has no bearing whatsoever on the annual production rate.
Click to expand...
I know that.
It will remove the obligation of annually ordering the jets and let DoD make multi year buys.
Click to expand...

Not quite true since Congress granted EOQ authority and the program has been using it
since Lot 13.

What MYP gives you is a single contract with (large) cancellation penalties.
 
Notice the rate of acquisition with Korea expecting to get the remaining of its 40 airframe on order by the end of next year (from 16 today)!
 
marauder2048 said:
EOQ authority and the program has been using it
since Lot 13.
Click to expand...
EOQ allows 'multi-single year' buys where each single year buy or 'Lot' still incurs some overhead of its own and and kind of hiccup until the Congress formalises each Lot.

Multi year buys collapse the schedules for these multi single year buys into one saving on these costs and hence are cheaper ( many other factors like confirmed long leads etc)
 
Bhurki said:
marauder2048 said:
EOQ authority and the program has been using it
since Lot 13.
Click to expand...
EOQ allows 'multi-single year' buys where each single year buy or 'Lot' still incurs some overhead of its own and and kind of hiccup until the Congress formalises each Lot.

Multi year buys collapse the schedules for these multi single year buys into one saving on these costs and hence are cheaper ( many other factors like confirmed long leads etc)
Click to expand...

The main thing MYP gives a program is...EOQ authority. That's the been shown to be the main source of savings.
The only difference between EOQ + base + option year contracts and MYP is that the latter is a single contract.

Congress still has to formalize each annual buy in an MYP since MYPs are typically designed with options
as Congress will plus up/plus minus as is its wont.

Yes, provided Congress appropriates the requisite funds, annual quantity authorization is automatic.

The argument goes that the MYP single contract is a basis for administrative overhead savings and an incentive for
greater cost reduction from suppliers (esp. sub tier) since the annual buys over the k-year period are basically guaranteed.
 
Bhurki said:
F-35 MCR over different LRIP batches.
Certainly adds weight to the argument of going FRP.

View attachment 640124
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f-35-mcr-jpg.640124

Amazing. Let's also not forget all what this little airframe brings to the warfighter. The amount of innovations it packs could have left it in the low range of availability with no shame at all.
 
Also the graphic illustrate perfectly how LM and the services have reached a point where the number introduced yearly has now no impact on mission rate.
 
nice! we finally might see F-35s in something other than its usual grey stealth paint

I like the first 2 the best

but realistically I suppose they should try to do their best and mimic Russian and Chinese (maybe Iranian) colors?
in which case the Ghost scheme seems a bit closer to what the Russians might use for their production Su-57
the J-20 is overall not that different from the F-35's standard scheme
Iran currently uses a two toned sky blue scheme
 
F-35C clip from IMAX Guardian of the Seas. Can't find a full length movie so far.



New Collins ad for gen III F-35 HMD. They don't make any mention of the switch to OLED lighting to eliminate the "green glow" problem.

 
@Grey Havoc : Don't forget that the F-35 among other things, has one less engine that is from a generation beyond and far less structural parts.
Many of the parts routinely accessed or damaged during operations are pannels and skin elements made of impregnated CFRP, that once produced in quantity can be deceptively cheap to manufacture, even with tight stealth tolerance standards.

Last but not least, let's not forget that low operatinal cost was part of initial requirements, even if the road to that has not been that easy. ;)
 
www.heritage.org

Expensive F-15EX Does Not Deliver: Congress Should Nix Its Purchase

Earlier this year, the Air Force signed a deal to develop, test, and eventually buy up to 140 fourth-generation Boeing F-15EX fighters. Defense Department and Air Force arguments to acquire the F-15EX have run the gamut from it being cheaper to acquire and operate than the F-35, to the need to...
www.heritage.org www.heritage.org
 
TomcatViP said:
@Grey Havoc : Don't forget that the F-35 among other things, has one less engine that is from a generation beyond and far less structural parts.
Many of the parts routinely accessed or damaged during operations are pannels and skin elements made of impregnated CFRP, that once produced in quantity can be deceptively cheap to manufacture, even with tight stealth tolerance standards.

Last but not least, let's not forget that low operatinal cost was part of initial requirements, even if the road to that has not been that easy. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure they have actually attained that cost goal, especially given the still ongoing problems with the engine and other systems (and don't get me started on the unholy mess that is the software!). A lot of dubious accounting and such going on here I fear.
 

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