JSF no dog fighter

[FlyNavy]

I see an analogy between WW1 fighters attacking from out of the sun/cloud as an equivalent to stealth today, with the classic highspeed (closing) attack from astern (unseen) tactic being similar to BVR. The WW1 defenders then developed tactics to defeat these classic attacks. So it goes...

Always I want to know why all the weapons in space make odd sounds. In space no one can hear you scream. ;D

[flycookie]

Binny speaketh..............

AAP wire copy in SMH at news.smh.com.au/national/raaf-chief-praises-joint-strike-fighter-20081202-6ph5.html



RAAF chief praises joint strike fighter



December 2, 2008 - 2:51PM

The new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will be the best multi-role combat aircraft in the world, fitted with the best equipment and flown by the best people, RAAF chief Air Marshal Mark Binskin says.

In a no-holds-barred endorsement of the controversial aircraft, Air Marshal Binskin said Australia would need about 100 to maintain a credible level of air combat capability.

He said new Russian-built fighters entering service across the region were decent aircraft and could be part of a decent air combat system, depending on what extra equipment they were plugged into.

But at the end of the day, JSF would be much better, he said.

"We are looking at what will be the best multi-role aircraft in the world," he told an Australian Strategic Policy Institute function.

"It will have the best radar, the best defensive system of any of those aircraft in the world.

"It will be supported by the best airborne early warning and control aircraft and the best tanker in the world and flown, maintained and supported by the best people in the world."

"I've got to tell you - the system ain't going to get any better than that."

The JSF is set to replace ageing F/A-18 Hornets and F-111 bombers, entering service with the RAAF around the middle of next decade.

However, the government has yet to commit to buying the aircraft. That is likely to occur around June next year.

The JSF remains in development with only two aircraft having flown. The project has been strongly criticised over possible cost blowouts, delays and technical shortcomings.

Air Marshal Binskin said all modelling of future air combat needs indicated Australia should acquire around 100 of the new aircraft.

"No matter how you model it, the modelling keeps coming back to 100," he said.

Air Marshal Binskin said the RAAF was now in a position where 73 per cent of its aircraft were in the final 10 years of their life.

Only the four new C-17 transport aircraft are at the start of their service life.

Set to enter service in the next decade are 24 Boeing Super Hornets, six Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft, five Airbus tankers and an unspecified number of new maritime surveillance aircraft.

He said the RAAF had already started the process of retiring the F-111 strike bombers.

© 2008 AAP

[FlyNavy]

Go Binny. Latest edition of "Australian Aviation" magn (Dec) has an interview.

[oldnavy]

No 14 A4G OFT certainly prepared him well!

[FlyNavy]

"Has anybody else ever wondered why Buck Rogers, Luke Skywalker, Apollo and Starbuck don't have guided weapons when they are supposed to be more advanced than us?" from NavOfOld:

www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2008/12/first-high-power-system-test-f.html

I wonder if these things go WHOOSH or something? "An Airborne Laser parked in a hangar at Edwards AFB fired a high-energy laser for the first time last week, blasting a range simulator diagnostic system for a fraction of a second."

[FlyNavy]

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO INTO THE WATER: (along comes an ARMED baby seal)

steeljawscribe.com/2008/12/01/f-35-slated-for-common-electronic-attack-platform

"Next Generation airborne electronic attack plans revealed?

After years of debate about the future of tactical, airborne electronic attack for the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps, it appears the F-35 will become the next-generation, digital warfare aircraft for both services.

The platform most in demand in combat today is some kind of electronic attack (EA) aircraft, say military operational experts. So the pressure for more aircraft and advanced capabilities is already an operational reality. But the basic question of who does what for whom and to whom remains unanswered.

“Who will provide electronic fires to ground troops in contact?” mused Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, program executive officer for the F-35 Lightning II. “That’s a core mission area for the Air Force, Navy and Marines. Delivering electronic fires will be at the heart of what F-35 does. [But] the decision about how this [and other EA aircraft will be used in the electronic fires arena has not been made.” (From 30 Nov 08 Aviation Week)

So let’s see if we have this straight — we’ve gone from crew requirements of 4 in the station wagon (aka EA-6B Prowler) to 2 in the Spark ‘vark and Super Bug (EF-111 and EA-18G Growler) to now 1? Automated systems are wonderful and all, but comes a point where even a wünderplane like the F/A/E/-35 (hmm, FAE — that could be an unfortunate designation …) has limits. And no, it’s not another (former) NFO bemoaning loss of job opportunities.

Let’s start with simple system requirements such as where the various antennae will be hung or implanted for receivers and transmitters without busting up its VLO capabilities, especially in the forward quarter. Space, internal space that is, is already at a premium in something that is basically a flying drop tank carrying ordnance. Factor transmit antenna sizes and some interesting warts could appear on the Lightning’s svelte frame. Onboard power generation for power hungry transmitters will be another area of concern as all three previous EA platforms had twin engines with attendant power generation capabilities. To be sure, the nature of EA will likely change as the requirement for wide area stand-off jamming will change and could possibly continue to be shouldered by the legacy platform EA-18G and an EB-52 if that concept is resurrected. Those issues combined with the expected increased workload in the cockpit for a single seater make one almost wonder why penetration EA, which sounds like the mission for an EF-35, couldn’t be handled by smart(er) UCAV’s either autonomously or in some networked environment. Certainly with the timeframe being considered it would make sense to run a parallel development program such that if one or the other reaches a technological or other programmatic impasse, there is another program of record that provides redundancy and avoids leaving gaps in a critical warfare area."

[corsair67]

Binny has drawn a line in the sand - are you watching and paying attention, Rudd and Swan?


Article from: The Australian -
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24743351-31477,00.html



Air force needs to buy 100 F-35 joint strike fighters, says chief.
Patrick Walters, national security editor | December 03, 2008.



THE RAAF will need to acquire 100 F-35 joint strike fighters to ensure a credible future air combat capability for Australia, air force chief Mark Binskin has warned.

As financial pressures bear down on the $22 billion defence budget, Air Marshal Binskin has strongly defended the F-35 as the all-round best choice for the air force's combat arm.

The Rudd Government's defence white paper, due to be published early next year, is expected to detail the acquisition of the F-35 in two tranches, the first to be delivered in 2014, at a total cost of about $16billion.

In a national security statement due to be delivered to parliament tomorrow, Kevin Rudd is expected to reaffirm a commitment to publish the white paper before the middle of next year despite pressures to delay the new defence planning document.

Defence sources expect the Government to order an initial 70 F-35s later next year, with another 25 to be ordered from 2012.

Contingency planning by the RAAF indicates that 100 aircraft will be the minimum necessary to sustain a 24-hour combat air patrol in Australia's maritime zones in the case of a high-level threat.

"No matter how you model it, the modelling keeps coming back to 100," Air Marshal Binskin told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The F-35 will replace the F-111 bombers that will be retired from 2010 and, eventually, the F/A 18 fighters from later next decade.

In the meantime, the RAAF is being re-equipped with 24 F/A 18 Super Hornet fighters from 2010, which will fill any prospective delay in the delivery of the joint strike fighters.

Air Marshal Binskin described the RAAF as the best "small air force in the world" and expressed full confidence in the F-35 as the best choice for Australia. He said they would be easily superior to new Russian Sukhoi fighters already in service with regional air forces, including Indonesia and Malaysia.

"We are looking at what will be the best multi-role aircraft in the world," he said. "It will have the best radar, the best defensive system of any of those aircraft in the world.

"It will be supported by the best airborne early warning and control aircraft and the best tanker in the world and flown, maintained and supported by the best people in the world. I've got to tell you: the system ain't going to get any better than that."

Air Marshal Binskin said the RAAF was in a major transition phase over the next decade that would see nearly every key platform replaced, apart from the four newly acquired C-17 heavy airlift aircraft.

The next decade will see the entry into service of the Super Hornets as well as Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft, tankers and replacements for the AP3C Orion aircraft.

He said the RAAF had been fully stretched on operations ever since the East Timor deployment in 1999, with the maintenance of ageing aircraft a key issue. He said he would like to build up air force numbers from the current 13,500 permanent force to about 14,500.

[oldnavy]

You gotta love those old navy guys!

[flycookie]

"Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was this navy fighter pilot who was not full of himself and even less full of shit.

But it was a long time ago, and it was just the one pilot that one day.

The End."

- from The Big Book of Air Force Stories

[FlyNavy]

"The Big Book of Air Force Stories" YEP that pretty much sums up the USAF quite well.

[FlyNavy]

www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2008/12/f-35-test-fleet-update.html

F-35 test fleet update

For those keeping score at home, here's a quick update on the status of the 19-aircraft F-35 test fleet, as of this morning:

AA-1 -- Non-production test aircraft. Flying.
BF-1 -- 1st STOVL flight sciences asset. Grounded, in modification
BG-1 -- 1st STOVL static test airframe. Rolled-out.
BF-2 -- 2nd STOVL flight sciences asset. Rolled-out. In engine run-up tests.
BF-3 -- 3rd STOVL flight sciences asset. Roll-out scheduled on Saturday.
AF-1 -- 1st CTOL flight sciences asset. Roll-out scheduled Dec 19.
AG-1 -- 1st CTOL static test airframe. Roll-out date is "close", later this month.
Lockheed Martin has to continue delivering flight test aircraft at a rate of almost one per month to meet their ramp-up schedule, and that appears to be roughly on track with three aircraft rolling out later this month.

The next important roll-out will be BF-4 -- the first mission systems test asset.

[FlyNavy]

Hot Tubs & Swivelling Ducks: F-35 JSF Simulator in operation [showing a JSF-B vertical landing on automatic (for the people REM)]

au.youtube.com/watch?v=SbnWg4v6iHk&NR=1

"This is part of a great show that aired on the night of Feb/6th 2008 in Melbourne Australia. (The Shape of things to come)

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multi-role aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat.

The JSF program was created to replace various aircraft while keeping development, production, and operating costs down. This was pursued by building three variants of one aircraft, sharing 80% of their parts:

F-35A, conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant.
F-35B, short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant.
F-35C, carrier-based (CV) variant."

[FlyNavy]

www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2008/12/dutchl-f-35-is-best-and-cheape.html

Dutch: F-35 is best and cheapest multi-role fighter after 2015
By Stephen Trimble on December 18, 2008 6:51 PM
It's been a good month for Lockheed Martin's international sales team. After bagging Norway's generously early endorsement a few weeks ago, they just picked up a love letter from The Hague.

The F-35's opponents in the Dutch Parliament required the Ministry of Defense to perform a comparative study of the F-16 advanced, Gripen Next Generation and F-35.

According to secretary of defense Jack de Vries's statement today, the F-35 won big-time.

"The F-35 is the best multi-role combat aircraft and by around 2015 will certainly be able to carry out all six main missions successfully," according to de Vries. The statement continues:

"The F-35 also has the greatest operational availability. In addition, the capital costs of the F-35 are the lowest and it is anticipated that the total life-cycle costs will also be the lowest."

The de Vries statement notes that the comparison was overseen by Rand Europe, which deemed the study was transparent, objective and accurate.

AND in DoubleDutch:
www.defensie.nl/actueel/nieuws/2008/12/18/46125480/JSF_scoort_beste_in_kandidatenvergelijking

[yak2]

F35 order program un-clogged

[FlyNavy]

Clogged? Yep. Now I get it. ;D Clogs are good.

[FlyNavy]

JSF avionics explaino movie UUUuuutube: AESA radar - SAR mapping - DAS & EOTS 6min - GOOD VALUE

au.youtube.com/watch?v=7-oXs3gezl4&e

[Leyland P75]

See what I mean? Fused sensors.

Good stuff huh? Although they can't work too well seeing as they seem to have sunk the HMAS Anzac in that vid....

[FlyNavy]

I'm enFuzed then.

[Leyland P75]

Did you note the Fantasy Dogfight in the vid?

[FlyNavy]

Did I not note all the fantasy? ;D But I get the drift. This is the new sh..t... being 'productionized' all for 'close dogfighting'? I think not. An earlier segment sees a bogey splashed from some distance. This is the new deal. Missile shootdowns can be done all the way down to the close in weapon system in case your wing man goes postal/ape. ;D