JSF

[richelieu]

Il commento di 'AW&ST' sulle (non)decisioni canadesi .....

"Canada’s Hornet Upgrade Delays New Fighters - Canada extends hornet life, delays new fighter decision" .....
http://aviationweek.com/defense/canada- ... w-fighters

[richelieu]

Preparativi .....

U.S. Navy Readies Amphib Fleet for JSF, MV-22 .....

Aviation Week & Space Technology - Defense Technology Edition (Oct 13, 2014 , p. 6)

Michael Fabey (Washington)

As the U.S. Navy prepares to commission the “next-generation, aviation-centric” amphibious assault ship LHA 6 America this month, the service and contractor continue to work on modifications.
These are geared to making the ship and other large-deck amphibs capable of handling the added heat, downwash and other operational oddities created by the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.
The vertical-landing-and-liftoff operations of both aircraft create a need for structural ship changes, equipment relocation and operational shifts in the amphibious fleet that will carry the aircraft, which represent the linchpins for Marine aviation operations in coming decades.

The Navy is examining new flight-deck coating materials—including a metalized spray coating from Thermion Inc.—which are resistant to the high temperatures created during F‑35B and MV-22 operations, Navy officials say.
These materials were in trial use on the USS LHD 1 Wasp during F-35B flight developmental test operations and have thus far withstood the high temperatures and “exhaust downwash/outwash.”

The Wasp has become a testbed for the amphib assault-ship modifications.
The vessel is slated to be completely outfitted and altered for the F-35B by November while the America is scheduled to receive its JSF modifications in late 2015.
LHA 7 Tripoli, which is now under construction and 10% completed, will be the first LHA ship to be delivered “fully ready to integrate the entire future air combat element of the Marine Corps to include the F-35B,” Navy officials say.

The Navy identified more than a half-dozen “cornerstone” ship changes for LHD ships Nos. 1-8 that cost roughly $20 million.
These include: voltage regulators; Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), JSF weapons support; off-board mission support; and expendable countermeasures stowage.

The service also identified more than a dozen changes costing $34 million for shops, services and “external environments.” These include: communications equipment and systems; warfare systems; firefighting protection; ventilation; JP-5 fuel station protection; flight deck structures; life-raft stowage relocation; aviation weapons; safety nets and life rails; and lithium-ion battery stowage.

The Navy continues to study the logistics support necessary for F-35B operations.

More data is needed about how F‑35Bs and MV-22 Ospreys will affect LHA-6 large-deck amphibious ship operations, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation advises.

The Navy is working with contractors to make the proper ship and operational alterations, officials say.
“We fully understand and have characterized that heat aspect and what the flight decks can accept,” says Capt. Chris Mercer, amphibious warfare program manager.

The Marines are adamant about their needs. “We will be flying F-35s on a big-deck amphib,” says Maj. Gen. Robert Walsh, director of Navy expeditionary warfare.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), which builds the amphibious vessels needed to accommodate the aircraft, is studying the challenges presented by the F-35Bs and MV-22s, and working with the Navy to address the problems, says George Jones, who supervised the America construction and is now director of Ingalls shipbuilding.
“We have been having a series of sessions,” he notes.

Heat and stress continue to be priority problems for the aircraft.
The F-35B creates 10-20 sec. of thermal input—400-500F exhaust—during landings, Navy documents show, apparently requiring a 12 X 12-ft. steel plate 1-in. thick for specific primary landing spots to dissipate intense heat and prevent deck warping.
There also is concern about “built-up thermal loading with multiple close-sequence landings.”

With the MV-22s, there are long durations of lower thermal input as well as concerns over post-maintenance ground runs, both of which “exceed allowable stress levels in longitudinal webs (the flight-deck back-up structure).”

Altering a flight-deck design for LHDs and LHAs has to be done with the same care, Jones says, as redesigning a vessel’s propulsion system.
For heavy aviation operations, he adds, it is easy to underestimate acoustical impacts.

The amphib force has experienced a massive amount of shipbuilding changes.
The America, for example, was designed without a well deck, to focus more on aircraft operations such as those of the JSFs and Ospreys.
HII had to change 450 compartments on the ship to accommodate the well-deck removal and aircraft operation additions, Jones says, requiring extensive reworking of the associated distributive systems.
“That was a challenge.”

Now the Navy wants to go back to the well deck with LHA 8, a ship that also will have to incorporate changes needed to accommodate the F-35B and MV-22 aircraft.

[richelieu]

P&W ..... un nuovo contratto .....

Pentagon Announces F-35 Engine Contract, Fixes Covered .....

Marc V. Schanz (10/15/2014)

The F-35 joint program office and engine maker Pratt & Whitney announced the award of a seventh low-rate initial production batch of F135 engines late Tuesday, a deal delayed by this summer’s grounding of the F-35 fleet after a June engine fire at Eglin AFB, Fla.
The Defense Department awarded P&W a $592 million contract for 36 engines, as well as program management costs, engineering support, and spares.
The contract also includes the company’s commitment to “cover the cost of corrective actions for previously delivered propulsion systems and modules to correct the third stage fan blade failure” in last summer’s mishap, according to the statement (*).
The Pentagon and P&W added they anticipate a follow on LRIP Lot eight contract for 48 more engines to be finalized “in the near future.”
Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the F-35 program director, said the engine maker has “kept their commitment to lower costs.”
P&W F135 Vice President Chris Flynn added the firm is “laser-focused on reducing costs and meeting our delivery schedule.”
The average engine price for all three variants was reduced by around 4.5 percent from the sixth LRIP lot to the seventh after negotiations, and officials project a similar savings for Lot 8, according to the statement.

..... e qualche ulteriore spiegazione circa il ben noto incidente .....

Prolonged Friction Caused F-35 Engine Fire .....

Marc V. Schanz (10/15/2014)

Prior to awarding a $592 million contract for 36 additional F135 engines, a joint Defense Department and Pratt & Whitney “investigative team met and reviewed the identified cause” of a June engine fire at Eglin AFB, Fla., which led to the grounding of the entire fleet.
The team concluded the fire was caused by “prolonged rubbing into the material in the stator,” which then “decomposed and superheated the titanium rotor leading to excessive heating.”
The excessive heating “started very small cracks in a titanium seal and then led to failure of the third stage fan rotor,” according to a joint statement (*), issued late Tuesday along with the contract notification.
Under terms of the latest contract, the JPO and P&W are now “executing a plan to modify the current fielded operational and test engines, and [will] implement a long-term solution for production engines.”

Fonte il 'Daily Report' dell' AFA .....

Altre fonti .....

(*) P&W e F-35 Joint Program Office ..... "Contract Awarded on Seventh Lot of F135 Engines" .....
http://www.pw.utc.com/News/Story/201410 ... %20Engines

Reuters ..... http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/ ... N820141015
.

[richelieu]

Gli F-35B dei Marines vanno a Edwards .....

Marine Operational and Evaluation Squadron 22 received its first F-35B aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, California for operational testing Oct. 9, 2014.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Previously, VMX-22 only consisted of MV-22 and CH-53 aircraft, but the arrival of the F-35B marks the start of VMX-22 fixed wing flight operations.
This is the first of four F-35B aircraft that will arrive over the upcoming months at Edwards Air Force Base.

Fonte ..... "VMX-22 receives first F-35B aircraft" .....
http://www.marines.mil/News/NewsDisplay ... craft.aspx
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[richelieu]

'"Ne abbiamo già consegnati 22 su 36 ..... per gli altri 14 ..... ci stiamo dando da fare" .....

Lockheed Martin Corp on Monday confirmed that it had delivered just 22 of 36 F-35 fighter jets promised to the U.S. government this year, but had a plan to complete work on the remaining 14 warplanes over the next two months.

Fonte ..... "Lockheed says has plan to catch up on F-35 deliveries by year-end" .....
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/10/2 ... VI20141020
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[richelieu]

Un missile turco-americano per gli F-35 ..... (dal 'Daily Report' dell' AFA) .....

New Internal F-35 Cruise Missile .....

John A. Tirpak (10/23/2014)

Lockheed Martin and the Turkish company Roketsan, Inc. announced Wednesday they have partnered to develop a new long-range, air-breathing stealth cruise missile capable of being carried internally on the F-35 and externally on other aircraft ..... http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/p ... -f-35.html
It is called the SOM-J, for Stand-Off Missile-Joint Strike Fighter.
It will have GPS guidance, terrain-following capability when GPS is not available, and an imaging infrared terminal seeker, although a datalink has not yet been selected.
Turkey has a requirement for such a weapon in 1,000-pound class with a range in excess of 100 nautical miles, Lockheed Martin Strike Systems Director Alan Jackson told Air Force Magazine in an interview.
"We ... believe there will also be some tangible benefits to the US," Jackson said, noting that although there is no "stated, funded" requirement for such a weapon among US F-35 users, there's "nothing on the books" filling such a niche besides "a glide weapon."
Much risk reduction has already been done by Rocketsan, which is flying the 2000-pound-class Stand-Off Missile (SOM) now on Turkish F-16 and F-4 fighters.
Some technology from Lockheed's JASSM cruise missile will also be incorporated.
Roketsan will do final assembly for any Turkish military SOM-J production; Lockheed would do the same for any US purchases in its Troy, Ala., facility, Jackson said.
He declined to provide work- or cost-sharing information, but development is to be complete by 2018, so the SOM-J can be integrated in the F-35 Block IV upgrade.
Integration is to be complete by 2023. Lockheed is seeking an export license from the State Department for the stealth technology involved.

[richelieu]

Qualificati ad armare gli aerei .....


Airman 1st Class Reece Zoller, left, 58th Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew one load crew member, operates an MJ-1 lift truck carrying an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile as Staff Sgt Zachary Watts, center, 58th AMU crew one crew chief, and Airman 1st Class Robert Hughes, right, 58th AMU crew one crew member, guide him during a qualification load on Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 10.
The F-35 training program at Eglin currently serves as the primary source of F-35 expertise to new F-35A units across the Air Force.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Marleah Robertson)

"First F-35A operational weapons load crew qualified" ..... http://www.eglin.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123428957
.

[richelieu]

P&W F135 ..... test record per il motore destinato alla versione per portaerei .....

F135 Engine Test Sets Efficiency Record .....

(10/23/2014)

Team members at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex recently completed a successful test of a Pratt & Whitney F135 conventional takeoff and landing/carrier variant (CTOL/CV) engine at Arnold AFB, Tenn.
“One reason this test was significant is that it was the first 2,600 [Total Accumulated Cycle count] Accelerated Mission Test on the F135 engine at AEDC,” said John Kelly, AEDC F135 test manager, in a release.
“Previously these AMTs have been done at the Pratt & Whitney facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.”
The test, which achieved a record test time efficiency of 98 percent, “provided integrated aircraft thermal load simulation, as well as led to the re-activation of special test equipment for the F135 that hasn’t been used in several years,” according to an AEDC release.
Crews worked 24-hour operations over five days a week, with some six-day weeks as well, states the release.
Concurrent operations on an F119 engine were still being conducted for 16- to 18-hours per day while the F101 engine was also being tested around-the-clock.

Fonte ..... il 'Daily Report' dell' AFA .....
.

[richelieu]

In corso sulla portaerei 'Nimitz' i preparativi per le prime prove in mare dello F-35C .....

"Navy readies for 1st F-35 carrier landing" .....
http://www.stripes.com/news/navy-readie ... g-1.309808

[richelieu]

LRIP 8 ..... imminente una 'stretta di mano' .....

The Pentagon expects a 'handshake agreement' with Lockheed Martin on LRIP 8 production in the next several weeks
Prime contractors for the project have come under increased pressure to reduce costs

Fonte ..... "F-35 LRIP 8 deal expected within weeks" .....
http://www.janes.com/article/44953/f-35 ... thin-weeks

Reuters ..... "Exclusive: Lockheed, Pentagon reach $4 billion deal for more F-35 jets" .....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/ ... LY20141023
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[richelieu]

Come ti erudisco ..... le 'Vecchie Cornacchie' ..... o, forse, sarebbe meglio dire ..... i 'Vecchi Corvi' .....

The Association of Old Crows (AoC) annual conference in Washington is the arguably the largest gathering of electronic warfare experts in the world.
For three days, the basement of the Marriott Wardman Park in Northwest DC becomes the center of the EW-community, a mecca of sorts for those who gets down with wavelengths, sensors and receivers.
Unsurprisingly, experts from the Pentagon are well represented, both on the show floor and in the conference halls.
Among those speaking Oct. 8 was Air Force Lt. Col. Gene “Joker” McFalls, F-35 Enterprise Lead with the 53rd Electronic Warfare Group.

Fonte ..... "The Difference Between 4th and 5th Gen EW" .....
http://intercepts.defensenews.com/2014/ ... th-gen-ew/

[richelieu]

Anche il generale Hostage, attuale capo dell' Air Combat Command e ormai prossimo alla pensione, non manca di sottolineare, in quella che è probabilmente la sua ultima intervista in tale carica, l'importanza della 'fusione' dei dati .....

People focus on stealth as the determining factor or delineator of the fifth generation.
It isn’t; it’s fusion.
Fusion is what makes that platform so fundamentally different than anything else.
And that’s why if anybody tries to tell you hey, I got a 4.5 airplane, a 4.8 airplane, don’t believe them.
All that they’re talking about is RCS (Radar Cross Section).
Fusion is the fundamental delineator.
And you’re not going to put fusion into a fourth gen airplane because their avionic suites are not set up to be a fused platform.
And fusion changes how you use the platform.

Fonte ..... "ACC’s Gen. Hostage: On Fifth Gen Combat Cloud And Syria" .....
http://breakingdefense.com/2014/10/accs ... and-syria/



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[richelieu]

Low-Rate Initial Production lot 8 ( LRIP 8 ) .... c'è qualcosa anche per l'Italia .....

The LRIP 8 contract procures 29 U.S. aircraft including 19 F-35As, six F-35Bs and four F-35Cs.
It also provides for the production of the first two F-35As for Israel, the first four F-35As for Japan along with two F-35As for Norway and two F-35As for Italy.
The United Kingdom will receive four F-35Bs.

Fonte ..... comunicato LM ..... http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/p ... 027ae.html
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[richelieu]

Vi sarebbe la conferma di un secondo, più cospicuo, ordine, da parte di Israele .....

Israel plans to buy a second batch of Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter jets, bringing its total number on order to about 44, Israeli defense and U.S. sources said on Tuesday.
Israel bought 19 F-35s for $2.75 billion in 2010, a deal that included options for up to 75 planes.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, visiting the United States last week, placed a preliminary order for about 25 more F-35s, the defense sources said without elaborating on cost.

Già ..... il costo .....

Fonte ..... "UPDATE 1-Israel to buy 25 more F-35 Lockheed stealth fighters -sources"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/ ... DI20141028
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[richelieu]

Le ali verranno prodotte in Israele ..... cosa che, d'altronde, viene fatta anche in Italia .....

The F-35's wings will be built in Israel by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan, the Pentagon’s F-35 programme chief, plans to visit Israel next week for the official inauguration of the wing production line.
IAI will begin delivery of F-35 wings to Lockheed Martin in mid-2015.
The decade-long contract for F-35 wing production is part of Lockheed’s plan to share manufacturing cost and responsibility among its partner nations, although Israel is technically a foreign military sales customer under US law.
The contract is worth up to $2.5 billion.
IAI has invested substantially in the advanced systems and technologies required to produce the wings since signing the contract in April 2013 and has established a dedicated production line to carry out the work.

Fonte ..... "Israeli F-35 buy takes fleet to 44" .....
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... 44-405395/
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[richelieu]

Initial Operational Capability (IOC) ..... cominciano a sorgere dubbi sul rispetto di quella relativa agli F-35B dei Marines .....

Despite years of Pentagon officials fervently holding firm to the milestone, Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall is opening the door to a delay.
"It is going to be hard to hold to the July date," Kendall tells Aviation Week in an Oct. 28 interview.
"I am pretty confident we can meet the threshold by the end of the year. And we will make it as close to July as we can."

Fonte ..... "Pentagon Acquisition Chief Doubts UMSC’s July F-35 IOC Target" .....
http://aviationweek.com/defense/pentago ... ioc-target
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[richelieu]

P&W F135 ..... si sta ponendo mano ai rimedi .....

Within the next three months, all 19 F-35 test jets will incorporate a fix to avoid a recurrence of the excessive friction in the third-stage integrally bladed rotor (IBR) that prompted a June fire in a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine in June, says U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer.

..... ma sarà una cosa lunga .....

A limiting factor, however, is fabrication of the new stators.
Pratt is only able to produce one stator per week, he says.
"One per week will take an awful long time to fix" the fleet, Bogdan said, noting that the team is assessing options to accelerate production.

Fonte ..... " ‘Burn-In,’ ‘Pre-Trenching’ Fixes Approved For F-35 Test Jet Engines " .....
http://aviationweek.com/military-govern ... et-engines
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[richelieu]

Per due F-35C ..... domani (3 Novembre) ..... appontaggio sulla 'Nimitz' .....

The naval variant of the tri-service Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter is set to land upon the deck of USS Nimitz (CVN-68) next week.
Two of the single-engine F-35C stealth fighters are set to carry out a set of sea trials onboard the carrier to ensure that the jets can operate safely from the flight deck.

Fonte ..... "F-35C’s First Carrier Landing Scheduled for Next Week" .....
http://news.usni.org/2014/10/31/f-35cs- ... -next-week

Inoltre .....

"F-35 Ahoy! Navy Version Of JSF Faces Nimitz’s Tests" .....
http://breakingdefense.com/2014/10/f-35 ... tzs-tests/

"Navy F-35 starts first sea trials with new tailhook" .....
http://www.navytimes.com/article/201410 ... w-tailhook
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[richelieu]

If sequestration .....

Sequester Versus F-35 .....

John A. Tirpak11/3/2014

If sequestration resumes in Fiscal 2016, “there will be an impact” on the F-35 production buys for all three US services, but it remains to be seen how much, program manager Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan said.
Bogdan noted that the F-35 buy was largely protected by the services in the last bout with sequester, and the services are anxious to buy the jets as fast as possible.
The Navy is only planning to buy two in ’16, and it “can’t go much below two,” Bogdan told reporters on Oct. 30.
However, the Marine Corps “has made it clear they need as many airplanes as they can get,” and the Air Force has “shown a tremendous commitment to keep on the ramp” the numbers it plans to buy, he reported.
Sequester could affect Lots 9-11, in which the buy is now planned to be broken out, respectively, as follows: Low-Rate Initial Production Lot 9 would include 57 aircraft, of which 34 are for the US; in LRIP 10, 96 aircraft, of which 55 are for the US; and in LRIP 11, 121 airplanes, of which 68 are for the US.
The request for proposals on LRIP 9 will go out shortly and Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney should return their proposals in January or February.
Bogdan said he expects the Lot 9 negotiations to wrap up “about a year from now.”

Fonte ..... il 'Daily Report' dell' AFA .....
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[richelieu]

F-35C ..... primi appontaggi .....

"Video: U.S. Navy Version of F-35 Lands on Carrier for First Time" .....
http://news.usni.org/2014/11/03/u-s-nav ... first-time

[richelieu]

US Navy .....

"F-35C Completes First Arrested Landing aboard Aircraft Carrier" .....
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=84238

[richelieu]

Qui si producono ..... ali .....

Israel Aerospace Industries on 4 November inaugurated its wing production line for the Lockheed Martin F-35 at its Lahav division.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
The production facility will supply the wings for aircraft to be delivered to customers outside of the programme's nine partner nations, which are already supplied by Alenia Aermacchi.

Fonte ..... "IAI opens F-35 wing production line" .....
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ne-405592/
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[richelieu]

F-35C sulla 'Nimitz' ..... pare che il famigerato 'gancio' abbia funzionato a dovere .....

Both aircraft made highly stable approaches, and trapped firmly on the third of the Nimitz's four arrestor wires.
The touchdown spot between the second and third wires is considered the optimum for carrier landings.
The landing was also key test for the F-35C's arresting hook system, which had to be redesigned with additional stiffness, a modified hold-down damper and revised shaping after poor performance in tests three years ago at Naval Air Warfare Center Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Having delayed the start of carrier trials, the performance of the redesigned hook was a significant watch item.
"It's a little bit different of a design, and obviously it works," says U.S. Pacific Fleet Naval Air Forces Commander Vice Adm. David Buss.

Fonte ..... "F-35Cs Make First Carrier Landings" .....
http://aviationweek.com/defense/f-35cs- ... r-landings
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[richelieu]

An F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighter conducts approaches the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) for an arrested landing.
Two joint strike fighters are conducting initial at-sea developmental testing expected to last two weeks.

U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin by Andy Wolfe (Released)
.

[FAS]

questo aereo mi piace sempre piu....

ovviamente dopo Raptor e Tifone.

[sochmer]

questo aereo mi piace sempre piu....

ovviamente dopo Raptor e Tifone.

Non solo a te...
soprattutto la variante Carrier che, a mio parere, risulta molto più massiccia esteticamente

[FAS]

questo aereo mi piace sempre piu....

ovviamente dopo Raptor e Tifone.

Non solo a te...
soprattutto la variante Carrier che, a mio parere, risulta molto più massiccia esteticamente

"mi eccita proprio", se pensi al lavoro di safety che é stato fatto per ogni "porticina" che potrebbe non aprirsi....
lo trovo fantastico, e se consideri i tempi di sviluppo che ancora sono limitati e non solo, anche gli investimenti mi sembrano ancora giustificati nonostante siano stati sforati....

Cost, time and quality.....sforato solo il costo, parziale ma "negligible" ritardo per una piattaforma simile, e qualitá fenomenale.

Il Raptor omunque fa ancora da punto di riferimento, non so se riusciremo a vedere nuovamente un qualcosa di simile.

[sochmer]

Primo Catshot da portaerei
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHanYr ... 2wFuqfkMEA

e... sempre da Aviationweek un piccolo trafiletto che esalta una nuova logica di controllo delle superfici
http://aviationweek.com/defense/f-35cs- ... r-landings

Unlike conventional carrier aircraft, in which the pilot approaches the carrier with flaps set at a fixed position and adjusts power and pitch attitude to stay on the glideslope, the F-35 system controls power through an "auto-thrust" function and alters the position of the trailing edge flap in response to the pilot's inputs. "So the stick becomes my glideslope controller," Dyckman notes. "If I pull back the flap adds lift, if I push forward it commands a steeper approach," he says. As nominal flap position for a carrier approach is 15 degrees, or half-flap, this provides ample margin for additional flap movement to add or reduce lift. Wilson says the effect is to "change the 'heave' of the aircraft, rather than the pitch."
"I was watching the angle-of-attack indicators," Senior Chief Petty Officer Alistair McIntyre says. ''As they came in [to land] from the break it was perfect green all the way in. It was stable all the way in for both approaches. I was amazed for that being their first time landing on the carrier as it looked like both pilots were old pros at landing F-35s. They came in on the glideslope and landed with no problems. It felt like we'd been doing this for a long time."

[MatteF88]

Lo strattone verso il basso che prende quando parte la catapulta... sembra più ampio di quello degli altri aerei imbarcati tipo l'hornet

[richelieu]

Una parziale retromarcia .....

Foreign air forces ordering the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will be able to customize the mission data packages loaded onto their aircraft in a compromise that defense officials say both preserves U.S. security and allows allies a greater degree of customization of their fighters.
Loading specific mission data packages onto the stealth fighter had been a bone of contention amongst the partner nations helping to develop the F-35.
The Pentagon — which is paying for the lion’s share of the roughly $50 billion F-35 development program — has a strict policy of never sharing the source codes for any U.S. weapons system even with America’s closest allies.

Fonte ..... "Foreign F-35 Partners Allowed More Freedom to Customize Fighter Software" .....
http://news.usni.org/2014/11/04/foreign ... r-software
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[richelieu]

Bogdan, sorridente, taglia il nastro .....

Touted by US and Israeli officials as a new milestone in decades-long defense-industrial cooperation, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) inaugurated a production line Tuesday to provide wings for Lockheed Martin-produced F-35 joint strike fighters.
Under an estimated $2.5 billion industrial cooperation deal, the new facility at IAI’s Lahav Division will produce up to 811 wing sets through 2030 at a rate of four per month.

Fonte ..... "Accent on US-Israel Alliance as IAI, Lockheed Launch F-35 Wing Line" .....
http://www.defensenews.com/article/2014 ... -Wing-Line
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[richelieu]

Presi in carico i primi due F-35A olandesi .....

"F-35s Go Dutch" ..... http://aviationweek.com/blog/f-35s-go-dutch

[richelieu]

Occhio ..... sta arrivando McCain .....

With McCain at the Helm, SASC Focuses Could Shift .....

Autumn A. Arnett (11/6/2014)

Now that Republicans have gained control of the Senate, the make-up of the Senate Armed Services Committee will look much different.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is expected to become the next SASC chairman, and will likely push for a stronger US presence in Iraq and Syria (*), as well as a stronger response against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
He has been vocal in his opposition to Russian engines propelling US rocket launches, and will likely continue his efforts to block future RD-180 contracts.
The Defense Department should expect heightened probing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which McCain has called “both a scandal and a tragedy,” decrying its cost and delivery schedule. (**)
McCain is also likely to push harder on VA and defense acquisition reforms and to heavily scrutinize the costs associated with various programs.

(*) ..... http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/ind ... 2717266c98
(**) ..... http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/ind ... 5218aacb05

Fonte ..... il 'Daily Report dell' AFA .....
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[richelieu]

Selfie di Guy Norris, corrispondente di 'AW&ST', davanti ai due F-35C parcheggiati sul ponte di volo della portaerei 'Nimitz' .....

Bio ..... http://aviationweek.com/author/gnorris
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[richelieu]

F-35 per Israele ..... malpancismi ministeriali ....

Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Thursday exposed strong opposition within the cabinet to purchasing more F-35s than the 19 included in an initial contract.
The newspaper says several ministers, headed by strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz, have objected to additional purchases.
They expressed their opposition in a meeting of the cabinet’s committee for defense purchases.

Fonte ..... "Key ministers object to buying more F-35s" .....
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/ariel ... el-debate/
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