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

timmymagic said:
Janes INTEL are reporting that Austria is beginning to look at F-35 as a replacement for Typhoon Tranche 1 in the 2030+ timeline.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1579758706392109056
View: https://twitter.com/JanesINTEL/status/1579758706392109056
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Amazing what a war in Europe will do for procurement. I would have thought Grippen NG would have been the choice.

I have to wonder if it will be worth their while considering the likely penny-packet size of their order, though perhaps they’re thinking of maintenance synergies with Switzerland?
 
Archibald said:
Hmmm Austria experience with the Typhoon has been an unmitigated disaster, how will they handle F-35s ?
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The big question, given the penetration of Austrian politics, business, intelligence services and the military by the Russians, is if the US even entertains the idea of selling them any...
 
Didn't knew that, is the situation so bad ? Germany has fired one important official some days ago, the man was uncomfortably too close from the Russians... seems Austria is much worse ?
 
Archibald said:
Didn't knew that, is the situation so bad ? Germany has fired one important official some days ago, the man was uncomfortably too close from the Russians... seems Austria is much worse ?
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Riddled from top to bottom I'm afraid, do wonder how that will change given the current events. Suspect if they approached the US today they'd be given short shrift.
 
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If you've watched 'The Americans' TV Series, this should come as no surprise. They came in the 1960s in male-female pairs, they spied, they had children who were trained to spy, their children then had children with other spy children etc.
 
TomcatViP said:
Edited my post. Thanks for noticing the mistake!
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Easy mistake to make with it seen from below and headed to observer's left.

In fact, your comment threw me for a loop for a couple seconds. haha
"I thought it was... *checks picture* yeah, port... Wait, Tom is a bright guy; am *I* the one misreading it? *checks picture again* No, plane is seen from bottom; it's the port wing *mental manipulation of 3d object to triple check myself* No, it's definitely the port wing."
 
bobbymike said:
www.airandspaceforces.com

Future of F-35 Production Will Depend on US ‘Budget Priorities,’ Lockheed Martin CEO Says | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Lockheed Martin suggested the long-term sales prospects for the F-35 are uncertain, depending on future Pentagon budget priorities.
www.airandspaceforces.com www.airandspaceforces.com
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Never any funds for modernizing the usaf but printing money for other countries is A Ok. You can't have an Effective air force of 30 year old fighters and a handful of black aircraft programs. The winner take all jsf is really the winner gets something.
 
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https://ksltv.com/509168/hill-f-35-pilot-released-from-hospital-crash-investigation-underway/
some photos in the story:
Alex Cabrero KSL TV
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — Just hours after an F-35 fighter jet crashed at Hill Air Force Base, federal investigators were already on scene trying to find out what went wrong.
The pilot ejected safely but he was taken to the hospital and released him hours later.

The F-35 was a complete loss.
“The aircraft was totally destroyed,” said Col. Craig Andrle commander of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base.
The look on Andrle’s face showed signs of relief when he updated the condition of his pilot. “He was seen at the hospital and released with just minor scrapes and that’s it.”

Andrle did not release the pilot’s name.

Wednesday evening the F-35 crashed into a hillside just before the base’s north runway.
The pilot ejected just before impact and may have directed the plane away from nearby homes and neighborhoods.
“Any of us in that situation are going to attempt to maneuver the aircraft to avoid any buildings on the ground and I’m sure he did that prior to ejecting from the aircraft,” Andrle said.
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The north end of the runway, which is where the F-35 crashed, is above the Weber River Valley - and there are a lot of homes and a shopping district in that area.

Just to the north {and ~50' below) the lights at the runway end is an irrigation canal - the houses are just below that.

The impact zone starts just south of the canal outside the perimeter fence, and extends onto the base - with virtually all debris inside the fence-line.


This link includes a video showing the moment of impact, and gives an idea of the relative locations of the runway & houses.

https://ksltv.com/509119/investigation-cleanup-underway-after-f-35-crashes-at-hill-afb/
 
Mutualized maintenance across air forces:

“There might be times when a U.S. F-35 has to divert to another air force’s base, or plans to, and we are trying to make them interoperable so any F-35 nation can work on any F-35 no matter where it comes from – and not just refuel it but re-arm it as well,” said Gen. James Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, who was at the meeting.
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www.defensenews.com

Users of the F-35 huddle in Italy to tout joint maintenance plans

Italy hopes that pooling maintenance will encourage users to send jets to its fledgeling F-35 maintenance hub at Cameri air base in the country's north.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com

And note the chilling comment at the bottom end:

The U.S. general added, “When you look at Ukraine, neither country has been able to get air superiority and we see what the result is – several hundreds of thousands of casualties in less than a year. If you compare that to the number of casualties we had in twenty years in Afghanistan it just blows it out of the water.”
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Building air superiority is more than just guaranteeing mortgage plan to defense workers. It's a vital aspiration for any states with the right ressources.
 
Malaysia gets F-35s...well kind of. RAAF 75SQN deploys to RMAF Butterworth with F-35s for first time:

www.contactairlandandsea.com

Lightning joins Malaysian homecoming - CONTACT magazine

Share the post "Lightning joins Malaysian homecoming" FacebookLinkedInPinterestTwitterShare…Email Deploying internationally for the first time since transitioning to the F-35A Lightning
www.contactairlandandsea.com
 
From the link above:

According to the 1st Marine Air Wing of the United States Marine Corps in Okinawa, around 1:40 pm on the 1st, an F-35B stealth fighter made a precautionary landing at Kadena Air Base due to suspected electrical problems.

After that, while towing the aircraft, the front wheels broke down and the nose touched the ground, so no one was injured.
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Bloomberg saying delivery of production TR-3 aircraft delayed several months from planned July 2023 date. Also that flight testing for the TR-3 test jets starts within two weeks.


However, I am unable to find literally any other source for this information besides this article and a few articles that are just reposts of the Bloomberg article. Bloomberg seems like a trustworthy source, but I would think this sort of thing would be reported on elsewhere, and I can't even find tweets from other defense reporters about the topic. Other articles on the topic from a few weeks ago also still gave the expected schedule for TR-3 production jet delivery.

Not sure what to make of the article tbh.
 
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