Thursday, July 21, 2016

Stealth Saga #50

MQ-25 Stingray:

The USN has made it official that the new tanker drone will be the MQ-25a Stingray instead of CBARS.

Fifth Generation Fighters:

Why the 5th gen is so critical to aerial combat these days.

TFX:

Pakistan may be interested in buying the Turkish TFX fighter.

ATD-X/X-2/F-3:

Boeing and Lockheed are turning out to be rivals over the Japanese F-3 fighter program.

J-20:

More J-20s have started appearing on the flight line.

PAK-DA:

WiB argues, rightly, its highly unlikely the next Russian bomber will be a near space, hypersonic monster as described by the Russian media.

 The National Interest is also mocking the Russian media's pronouncements.

However, the Russians might actually be trying to get the Chinese to buy into the program.

PAK-FA:

Russia continues to claim to be testing sixth gen fighter components on the PAK-FA prototype 5th gen fighters.

WiB claims the PAK-FA is roughly comparable to the F-22.

B-21:

The USAF has not decided on how many B-21s it will need and will not do so until after the aircraft is done with development.  The reason being the global situation in the 2020s may be better  than now...or worse.

F-22:

What does the F-22 look like through a thermal imaging system?

F-35:

The USAF is comfortable with sending the F-35A to war by year's end.

The modifications to the F-35A so the USAF can declare IOC are complete.


The F-35 deployments to Britain as part of the airshows have been testing ALIS, the software for maintenance. 

Israel is considering buying the F-35B.

Elbit Systems is looking to provide training systems for the F-35.

Will the Turkish coup attempt cause a problem in the F-35 program?  However, Lockheed has confirmed the F-35s for Turkey are in the early stages of production.

The British airshows have been welcome PR for the F-35.

WiB still hates the F-35.

ATAC calls the F-35B very 'Raptor-ish' in how it fights air to air. 

Here are some photos of the F-35B at the Red Flag exercise.

Lockheed has stated the F-35 is underfunded and apparently its cash flow is hurt by the delays in the negotiations for the next batches of F-35s.

META:

British Aerospace has developed a laser sensor for determining air speed, doing away with the pivot tube.

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