F-35 fighter eyes more sales abroad than in the U.S.

TOKYO (AP) — Detractors say the F-35 stealth fighter, the costliest military plane ever, is destined to go down as one of the biggest follies in aviation history.

But it may have found a savior: deep-pocketed U.S. allies hungry to add its super high-tech capabilities to their arsenal.

The program marked a major success last month when Japan chose it over the Boeing F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon as a replacement for 42 aircraft in its aging air force.

It was the F-35‘s first victory in an open-bidding competition, though countries from Britain to Israel previously made commitments and others are expected to follow.

Manufacturer Lockheed Martin also is looking to bring F-35s to South Korea in a deal that could be Seoul’s biggest single defense outlay ever — 60 top-of-the-line fighters worth more than $7 billion. A decision could come as soon as October.

In the U.S., however, the stealth jet has been called a boondoggle. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, has slammed the F-35 as a “scandal and a tragedy,” a “train wreck” and “incredibly expensive.” With U.S. defense budget cuts looming and many critics of the program still unconvinced, foreign support is a make-or-break issue for the program, which has been described as too big to fail. It could become the cornerstone of global air strategy for the next few decades, or a trillion-dollar bust.

“The U.S. fighter jet industry has all of its eggs in this one basket,” said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. So many countries have bought into the program, he said, there is now no realistic choice but to forge ahead with it.

“It would be almost impossible for the U.S. to cancel the F-35, since the repercussions would be global,” he said.

The F-35 is the world’s only “fifth-generation” fighter jet, combining state-of-the art stealth technology with highly advanced avionics and maneuverability. The first F-35 flew in 2006, and 42 have been produced so far. China and Russia are working on rival — and some experts say superior — aircraft.

About 130,000 people in 47 states and Puerto Rico have jobs related to the project. The only states without F-35 work are Hawaii, North Dakota and Wyoming.

“Simply put, there is no alternative to the F-35 program. It must succeed,” Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said in September.

The Pentagon envisions buying 2,443 F-35s for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, but some members of Congress and Department of Defense officials are balking at the price tag, which has jumped from $233 billion to $385 billion. Some estimates suggest it could top out at $1 trillion over 50 years, making it the most expensive program in military history.

In frustration over cost overruns, Congress added a requirement that Lockheed Martin cover extra costs on future F-35 purchases to the defense bill it passed last month.

“The delays and cost increases that F-35 has suffered have put it under substantial political pressure in Washington, so a win like the Japan program is a major boost,” said James Hardy, Asia Pacific specialist with IHS Jane’s in London.

Success rides heavily on foreign investment because the more F-35s are produced, the cheaper each jet is to build and maintain.

Lockheed Martin, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems, has been careful to bring in international partners. The fighter is being developed with support from Britain, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Canada.

Among the leading international partners, the U.K. is planning to buy 138 F-35s, Italy 131 and Canada 65. Australia has ordered 14 and has plans to buy as many as 100 for $17 billion.

The Israeli government selected the F-35A as its air force’s next generation aircraft in 2010 — making it the first country to receive the F-35 through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales process.

Singapore also has said it will buy the F-35, although it hasn’t set numbers yet, and there may be longer-term interest from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and India, said Hardy, of IHS Jane’s.

The wide range of buyers is in contrast to Lockheed Martin’s last stealth fighter, the now discontinued F-22 “Raptor.” It was hailed as a wonder of technology but failed in large part because Congress deemed it too sensitive to sell even to Washington’s closest allies.

Narushige Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies who has advised the Japanese government on defense issues, said he thinks the F-35 is Japan’s best option.

“If this was about a Cold War-type competition, then the F-22 would have been better. But if this is a long-term peacetime competition, you need numbers and presence, and close coordination among allies,” Michishita said.

But defense analyst Carlo Kopp, of the private Air Power Australia, think tank said he thinks it was a mistake for his country and others to buy in. He said the F-35 program should have been canceled years ago and that the policy of pushing forward with it at any cost only threatens to create a budgetary sinkhole that would weaken the defenses of the U.S. and its allies.

“It will never become a viable combat aircraft due to cumulative poor choices made early in the design, and later Band-Aid fixes,” Kopp said.

Further cost increases could prompt foreign buyers to cut their orders, which would put even more pressure on Lockheed Martin. Other problems also continue to trouble its international partners:

Concerns about whether Lockheed will be able to deliver on time prompted Australia to caution that it won’t decide until later this year whether to buy any more than the 14 ordered so far.

Structural glitches have emerged that compromise the F-35‘s ability to land on aircraft carriers. That’s a big issue for Britain, where the plane is slated to replace its carrier-friendly Harrier jets by 2020. British media have also reported that the F-35 can’t fire British air-to-air missiles.

Canada and Norway may have difficulty operating the F-35 on icy runways. The plane’s single-engine design — unlike the twin-engine F-22 or F-15 — could also be an issue. If the engine goes out, planes and pilots in the Arctic could be lost.

-record-eagle.com

F-35B completes first sea trials on USS Wasp

The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) turned toward homeport Oct. 21 after three weeks hosting the initial sea trials of the F-35B Lightning II, Joint Strike Fighter.

The first F-35B landed on Wasp’s flight deck Oct. 3, beginning an 18-day test period for the aircraft. During testing, two F-35B Marine Corps test jets (BF-2 and BF-4) accomplished vertical landings and short take-offs under various conditions.

While under way, the world’s first supersonic short take-off, vertical landing fighter logged more than 28 hours of flight time and completed 72 short take-offs and 72 vertical landings.

Wasp crew members worked around the clock with pilots, engineers, mechanics and a wide array of aeronautical professionals, both military and civilian, to meet the mission of the F-35B sea trials.

“Wasp Air Department personnel and the JSF team started working together from day one,” said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Curcio, Wasp’s assistant air officer and JSF program officer. “Starting initially with the leadership interacting to set the vision for the ship trials, we worked a top-down approach to gradually bring in more people from each respective team.”

“This ensured that, from planning to execution, every detail

was tended to and no stone was left unturned. Ultimately, this group was well ahead of the power curve at every juncture,” he said.

The Wasp and the JSF team have been preparing for these sea trials for more than a year. The ship, which typically accommodates the AV-8B Harrier, had to receive modifications and installation of test monitoring equipment in preparation for the F-35B’s arrival.

“We used Harrier operations as a baseline from which to deviate. Working with the JSF team, we identified the operational differences between the AV-8B and the F-35B and we trained to those differences,” said Curcio.

The trials are the first of three scheduled sea-based developmental test events for the STOVL variant periods. One goal was to collect environmental data on the deck using instrumentation to measure the F-35B’s sound, power and thermal impact during flight operations.

Ansis Kalnajs, better known as “AK,” a topside design and integration technical warrant for Naval Sea Systems Command, and his team of 31 engineers collected data to capture the effects of the F-35 on flight deck and superstructure components.

“We have been collecting data on how the main engine effects deck edge equipment, as well as thermal load stresses to the structure and the acoustic effects,” said Kalnajs. “We got a sufficient amount of data and real good assessments for the road ahead.”

Also being tested is a newer nonskid deck surface, Thermion, which is supported by a mechanical bond of ceramic and aluminum that makes the surface more resistant to extreme heat and better endures the wear and tear of flight operations. The Thermion covers landing spot nine on the flight deck, a small area used for vertical landings.

“The Thermion shows no signs of heat stress, which is good for the F-35, and eventually good for all surface ships,” said Kalnajs.

During the testing period the WASP and JSF team demonstrated the F-35B‘s at-sea capabilities for the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Ray Mabus; Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Amos; senior military officers; JSF international partners and members of the national media.

The testing for the F-35 and its sea-based operations will continue over the next several years.

“It is imperative that we build off that basic knowledge for the next sea trials,” said Curcio.

The next sea trial, DT-2, is scheduled for 2013 after Wasp receives additional modifications for F-35B operations.

 

-dcmilitary.com

USS Wasp braces for F-35 JSF

USS Wasp is preparing to be the first ship to test the F-35B at sea. A group of Aviation Boatswain’s Mates from the ship’s Air Department will soon work in the jet at NAS Patuxent River to familiarized themselves with the aircraft.

Recently, four members of Wasp’s Air Department traveled to one of the Navy’s premier test facilities at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., to help give them a good idea of what WASP can expect when testing begins. The group consisted of Cmdr. Stephen McKone, Wasp’s Air Boss; Lt. Michael Curcio, Wasp’s Aircraft Handling Officer and F-35B Ship Integration Project Officer; Ens. Maguel Brooks, Wasp’s Air Bos’n; and Senior Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handler) Richard McCray.

The F-35B fighter will replace the Department of Navy’s current Vertical and /or Short Take Off/Landing (VSTOL) aircraft, the AV-8B Harrier.

“The F-35B is a really unique aircraft,” said Lt. Curcio. “This aircraft alone has the potential to completely revitalize the utility of large-deck amphibious platforms by adding significant strike capability to their resumes.”

During Wasp’s four-month maintenance availability conducted earlier this year, major modifications were completed to various elements of the ship including the flight deck and combat systems equipment. Also, the aft NATO Sea sparrow missile launcher mount was removed and replaced with a “dummy” launcher.

“The ship has had a few physical changes made to it,” said Curcio. “Some of these are necessary to accommodate the physical differences between the Harrier and the F-35B fighter, while others will help the engineers to collect data on both the ship’s effect on the aircraft and the aircraft’s effect on the ship.”

“For example, the flight deck tramline was shifted slightly to port to accommodate the F-35B’s larger wingspan, while the operational aft NATO Sea Sparrow launcher was replaced with an a test launcher laced with sensors to measure heat, vibrations, overpressure, and sound levels.”

According to Curcio, only five F-35B test aircraft have been delivered to flight test operations at Pax River from the factory. These prototypes are the product of millions of man hours of work and represent the full ingenuity and industrial strength of the United States.

As Wasp and her crew prepare to help test one of the world’s most technologically advanced jet fighters, Curico realizes that this will be a tremendous team effort.

“With any new piece of equipment being tested, there will some road blocks,” said Curico. “Since the crew will be working together on this, Wasp will be writing the book on how to operate the Joint Strike Fighter at sea.”

Source: dvidshub.net

Lockheed Delivers F-15 Sniper Pods

Recently, Lockheed Martin announced that it delivered F-15 Sniper pods to the South Korean air force for immediate deployment in full flight operations.

Marc Nazon, program manager for Fixed Wing Fire Control at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said, ”Sniper pods provide the (South Korean air force) with updated targeting and non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for the F-15K fleet.”

Nazon also said, “We look forward to continued support and training to ensure that (South Korean air force) pilots and maintainers have a full command of the Sniper pod’s capabilities.”

The Sniper pod identifies targets at long ranges and offers the capability to relay high-resolution streaming video using a downlink to ground forces for non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and rapid target coordination.

Lockheed Martin in 2009 demonstrated the benefits of Sniper pod’s capability for the South Korean air force by successfully flying the device on F-15K and the KF-16 aircraft with a common Sniper pod software load.

This capability allows operators to readily deploy the pod on various aircraft types, significantly reducing targeting pod life-cycle costs.

Sniper pods are flying on U.S. Air Force and multinational F-16, F-15, B-1, F-18, Harrier, A-10 and B-52 aircraft.

-officialwire.com

RAF chief: Harrier retirement was unavoidable

Debate has escalated over the UK government’s controversial decision to retire its last BAE Systems Harrier GR9 ground-attack aircraft late last year, with the Royal Air Force’s current involvement in action over Libya having focused attention on the issue.

An article published April 18th in the UK newspaper The Sun showed mothballed Harriers in storage at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland under the headline “Harrier dump jets”. The article says that the UK’s contribution to the NATO-led campaign to protect Libyan civilians from attack by forces loyal to leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s regime could be delivered more cheaply by using Harriers from a Royal Navy CVS-class aircraft carrier.

Speaking before the article’s publication, chief of the air staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton has defended the Ministry of Defence’s decision to retire the Harrier in favor of safeguarding the bulk of the Tornado GR4 fleet, describing it as “in cold logic, unavoidable”.

With reference to the Libyan operation, Dalton said: “The Tornados have delivered Storm Shadows to penetrate hardened buildings and the dual-mode Brimstone, neither of which could have been delivered by the Harrier.”

“I am not knocking the Harrier, just those who have, often willfully, overstated its relative utility in this scenario,” he told the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Aerospace 2011 conference in London on 13 April.

Source: Flightglobal

Marines clarify Libya incident

 

Two American airmen were safely rescued in Libya last week after their F-16s crashed near Benghazi (read article here), but the United States Marine Corps dropped two 500-pound bombs during the recovery and faced questions about whether Marines had fired on villagers.

The United States military said that an equipment malfunction rather than enemy fire brought down the F-16 plane. A Marine Corps officer in the Mediterranean strongly denied that any shots were fired at civilians during the rescue.

The weapons officer was found on the ground by “the people of Libya,” said Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, the tactical commander of the United States-led effort in the country.

At a Pentagon briefing, Admiral Locklear did not describe them as rebels but made clear that they were not forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

United States military officers said the F-16 fighter plane took off from Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy late Monday on an airstrike mission to Libya. At some point over Benghazi, the jet experienced what military officials called an “equipment malfunction,” and at about 11:30 p.m. local time on Monday (about 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on Monday), both the pilot and the weapons officer ejected. Although details remained unclear on Tuesday, the Marine Corps said a rescue team that took off from the Kearsarge quickly located the pilot.

A Marine Corps officer said that the grounded pilot, who was in contact with rescue crews in the air, asked for bombs to be dropped as a precaution before the crews landed to pick him up.

In response, two Harrier attack jets that were part of the rescue team dropped two 500-pound bombs before a Marine Osprey helicopter landed to pick up the pilot, at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday local time.

“No shots were fired,” said Capt. Richard Ulsh, a Marine spokesman aboard the Kearsarge. “The Osprey is not armed, and the Marines barely got off the aircraft. I was in the landing center the whole time, where we were monitoring what was going on, and firing was never reported.”

 

Original article from The New York Times

RAF to disband two Tornado squadrons

The last government announced in December 2009 that the RAF would need to reduce the number of Tornado or Harrier squadrons, but left the detail of the reductions to the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).

In the event the SDSR had to consider how best to make these reductions against the background of the fiscal situation. And as a result of this the RAF has announced today that 13 Squadron, based at RAF Marham, and 14 Squadron, based at RAF Lossiemouth, are to be disbanded.

These squadrons have been selected by the Air Force Board Standing Committee, taking into account operational commitments and the relative seniority of the squadrons at each base. The squadrons will be formally stood down on 1 June.

The RAF will retain five front line Tornado squadrons with a total fleet of 136 GR4 aircraft.

The RAF anticipates that the majority will be found other permanent roles, although not necessarily in their current location. Those personnel working in areas which the RAF has identified as containing surplus staff will of course be able to apply for, and be considered for, redundancy, alongside exploring other options within the Service.

GR4 Tornado

- mod.uk

RAF could see Tornado fleet cut in half

 

The Royal Armed Forces are braced for another round of drastic cuts as the Ministry of Defense has to make up a £1.6 billion shortfall for the next financial year.

The RAF is bracing itself to its fleet of 134 Tornado GR4 fighter-bombers being slashed in half to just 60 jets to save up to £300 million a year. Key defence officials are meeting on Tuesday to thrash out the details of how to make immediate savings to the 2011/2012 budget.

Despite challenging the previous government over the helicopter shortages in Afghanistan a key decision will be the likely announcement to cut 12 extra Chinooks that were part of a package ordered by Gordon Brown.

Other important equipment programmes are going to be axed in what will be an embarrassing revision of last October’s Strategic Defence and Security Review. The MoD has been forced into making the extra cuts after it miscalculated savings in the next financial year.

It was supposed to save £8 billion by 2014-15 as a 7.5 per cut real terms cut to its budget. Half of this was meant to come through headline equipment cuts such as the Harriers, Nimrod reconnaissance planes, frigates and the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and Illustrious. The rest was to come through axing 17,000 Servicemen and 25,000 MoD staff as well as “efficiency savings”.

“We have 34 major procurement programmes and it’s a question of what’s nice to have and what’s necessary to have but no one can see how to take that decision because they’re all regarded as vital,” said an officer involved in the planning.

“There is not an endless supply of money and people need to realise there is a serious financial situation and there are difficult choices to make,” one MoD official said.

- The Telegraph

Britain Government considers sale of aircraft

Britain is considering selling a fleet of fighter jets it can no longer afford to fly, a government minister said Monday.

In an interview with the Financial Times, defense equipment minister Peter Luff said that some of the items axed in the government’s recent cuts in defense spending, including the Nimrod MRA4 reconnaissance aircraft, would find a home abroad.

“I don’t want them to feel as if they are being bounced. But we are looking at the options quite carefully at the moment,” Luff said.

India is the most likely purchaser of the Harrier, according to the newspaper, while the United States could buy the planes to supplement its fleet used by the Marine Corps.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron set out the conclusions of Britain’s first review of its armed forces since 1988, detailing cuts to the defense budget, manpower, equipment and strategic capability.

Contractual obligations meant the government had to retain two previously ordered aircraft carriers, although Britain will not have combat jets to fly from them for some 10 years.

Luff said there were overseas markets, particularly for the Harrier, but that he did not want to “speculate about the market.”

The Harrier is used by the RAF in the close air support role which means they launch air attacks against hostile targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces. Aircraft are usually employed in direct support of ground troops tackling such targets as enemy troop positions, tanks and artillery. Harriers are also used for Air Interdiction which are low or medium-level attacks using precision-guided, freefall or retarded bombs.

- uk.reuters.com
- baesystems.com

Ready to fly this July

Rejoice aviation enthusiasts! Bid boredom goodbye this month of July because we present to you a list on where to be this month.

• July 7-11 – Arlington Fly-In at Arlington Municipal Airport in Oregon

The show features a full-scale reproduction of a 1933 Stinson Model O, B-25 Grumpy and a lot more. Visit their official website for more details on the event.

• July 17-18 – Duluth Air Show 2010 at Duluth International Airport in Minnesota

The air show will feature USAF’s Thunderbirds and one of the largest static displays in the Midwest. For more information, check out their official website.

• July 17-18 – Vectren Dayton Air Show at Dayton International Airport in Ohio

Starting at 11am, the Dayton Air show will feature unique static aircraft and a rare appearance of the U.S. Blue Angels. See the official website for more details.

• July 26-Aug 1 – EAA airventure at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

This year’s performers will include a Red Bull Helicopter, Harrier, Jet Sailplane, and much more. For further details, visit their official website.

If you’re planning to leave the country, then you might want to check these:

• July 7-8 – Aviation Outlook in Beijing, China
• July 3-18 – 31^st FAI World Gliding Championship in Prievidza, Slovakia
• July 24-Aug 8 – 31^st FAI World Gliding Championship in Szeged, Hungary

You can check out their official website for more details.

• July 24-July 25 – Sunderland International Airshow at Seaburn and Roker Seafront in Europe

No admission fee, the air show will include a B-52 Bomber, the Typhoon Eurofighter, and a whole lot more. Further details can be seen in their official website.

• July 24-July 25 – Alberta International Airshow in Alberta, Canada