Stealth Saga #48

Sixth Generation Fighters:

The USAF successfully shot down multiple missiles using a laser meant for self defense of fighters at WSMR.

The US Navy next generation fighter may not be 6th gen and will DEFINITELY not be developed with the USAF.

Lockheed thinks the 6th gen may have lasers as weapons.

Airbus expects the Franco-German FCAS to be delayed due to export issues.

The Swedes are negotiating to join the British Tempest jet project.

F-3:

Lockheed and the US gov has offered Japan the source code to the F-35 avionics as part of the F-3 deal with Lockheed.  The tech transfer offer is pretty deep, actually.

MAGMA:

The flapless UAV has flown.

Hunter-B/Ohotnik-B:

The Hunter-B was present for Putin and to be seen by the US.

Supposedly, the Ohotnik-B's first flight has been delayed a year, but it is a rumor rather than citable.

OTOH, Tass claims the Ohotnik-B did a 'hop.'

Su-57:

The Russians are claiming the engine for the Su-57 has entered serial production.

Russia is willing to offer Turkey the Su-57 if the F-35 deal falls through.

Putin was escorted by 6 Su-57s on the way to Astrakhan.

Putin says Russia will buy 76 Su-57 by 2028.

J-XY:

The engine for China's new carrier aircraft under development apparently has been completed.

J-20:

The Chinese are in the midst of their own budgetary wars: the J-11 and J-20 programs are apparently fighting over funding.

The J-20 may have FOC declared this year.

Model 401:

Could the Model 401 be used as a (partial) A-10 replacement?

B-21:

There has been a big burst of construction at the facility at Edwards AFB where the B-21 will soon start testing.

B-2:

The cockpit of a B-2 was filmed and here are some callouts.

Watch a B-2 drop the MOAB.

F-22:

F-22s intercepted Russian nuclear bombers off the coast of Alaska multiple days in a row.

The 24 F-22 elephant walk was only doable because of a checklist change.

F-22 shots at an airshow are impressive.

Watch from inside an F-22 cockpit.

Lockheed won an $18.5M contract for the F-22.

F-35:

The US House of Representatives appropriation committee added 12 F-35As to the budget.  The SASC bill wants another 2 35Bs and 2 35Cs on top of that.

The F-35 AGCAS has been cleared for introduction.

Parts problems are delaying F-35 production.

The GAO has released a report on the F-35 sustainment: the low F-35 mission readiness is due to a lack of spare parts.

The Lot 12 production contract is expected to be final this summer.

The Pentagon is looking for replacement parts for those made in Turkey.

USAF F-35As have deployed to the Middle East for the first time.

USAF F-35As have conducted air strikes for the first time.  They did so with radar reflectors and external missiles mounted to increase their RCS.

USAF F-35As participated in a prolonged air defense exercise.

The 65th Aggressor Squadron will be stood up at Nellis AFB and use the earliest F-35s.

The standup of the 5th F-35A wing at Luke AFB has been delayed by 18 months.

A USAF F-35A was spotted in the Middle East with a single missile on a wing.  An odd configuration.

The F-35A will probably go to the Paris airshow.

USAF F-35As have deployed to Aviano in Italy.

USAF F-35As in the Middle East are shown deployed in 'beast mode.'

The USS Essex acted as a mini carrier with its load of F-35Bs.

The USS America (LHA-6) will forward deploy to Japan alongside the USS Essex.

The USMC Commandant talks about the 'lightning carrier' concept, using the LHD and LHAs as light carriers.

The USMC is folding the F-35B into its island hopping strategies.

The USMC has conducted its first elephant walk with 20 F-35Bs.

A USMC F-35B suffered a bird strike in Japan.

US Navy F-35Cs are finding new roles.

The USN's new anti radiation missile is making good progress and the USAF F-35As will also get the weapon.

The US Navy has deactivated the VFA-101 Grim Reapers.

British F-35Bs will fly at the Yeovilton airshow.

British F-35Bs deployed to Cyprus for their first overseas training.

Because Canada is already a partner in the F-35, their requirements for workshare for their CF-18 replacement may exclude the F-35 from the competition: Canada wants more local industry participation in the new fighter, but the agreement for who gets what work share in the F-35 is not renegotiatable.  Canada may bend the rules for the F-35.

Greece is considering the F-35 to replace the F-16.

Israel will "share" its operational experience with the F-35 with Britain and the US.

Japan is reassuring the US they will continue buying the F-35.

Japan stated its F-35s made 7 precautionary landings prior to the loss of its fighter.

The US Navy's blackbox hunter has joined the search for the downed Japanese F-35A.  The US and Japan are confident the F-35 lost will not be recovered by China or Russia.  The US military walked back the claim the F-35A wreckage had been found.  The canopy and the blackbox were found.  The US Navy has stopped looking for the wreckage.

The Japanese Izumo and Kaga are being converted to being F-35B aircraft carriers.  Some oppose this.

There has been no further word on the F-35A Japan lost.  A sub rescue ship and a USAF U-2 joined the search when it was happening.

The F-35 program has been coming under fire in South Korea over the offset portion and induction of the first F-35 has been delayed as a result.

Turkey is claiming if they will not participate in the F-35 program, the program will collapse.  Turkey is eying its options if it does lose the F-35 and have announced they are starting to jointly develop aircraft with the Russians.  The US House of Representatives has an early spending bill barring Turkey from buying the F-35.  The crisis is deepening because Turkey is supposed to take delivery of their first S-400 missiles by July.  Erdogan claims Turkey will eventually get the F-35.  the US Senate bill will ban Turkey from getting the F-35 ever if they receive the S-400.  Turkey had claimed they thought the negotiations were getting better.

Turkey's TCG Andalou, an amphibious ship intended to carry F-35Bs, has had a fire in its bow on April 29.

Lockheed has developed a new missile rack to allow the F-35 A and C models to carry 6 AMRAAM missiles internally compared to the four now.

Lockheed is hoping that new suppliers for the F-35A will help reduce the aircraft price significantly.

Lockheed saw its bottom line increase in large part due to the F-35.

Lockheed got a $117 million contract for spare parts for the F-35.

Lockheed has received a $1.1 billion contract from the US Navy for the F-35.

Lockheed is pitching F-35Cs armed with hypersonic missiles.

Northrop has benefited from the increased F-35 work.

Pratt & Whitney got a $200M contract for long lead items for the F-35 engines and another contract for another $53M.

Stealth Saga #46

Sixth Generation Fighters:

The USAF NGAD/PCA has a proposed FY20 budget of $1B.  It had been predicted to be $1.2B.  The AETP engine often associated with the NGAD also received a budget of $870M.  The F-22 and F-35 both funded their engines internally, unlike the NGAD/PCA.  However, Jane's takes the stance the NGAD is being rethought.

The US Navy's Next Generation Fighter program is shifting from $5M in FY19 to a proposed $20M in FY20.

The US Navy will finish its AOA this summer for its 6th gen fighter.

Leonardo wants a role in Britain Tempest.

International interest in the British Tempest is growing.

The Franco-German FCAS may be a bad idea, or so goes one opinion.

FGFA (Pakistan):

Pakistan is outlining its plans for developing a 5th gen fighter.

Su-57:

Putin - goodness me - considers the Su-57 the best plane in the world.

The Russians have already created an export version of the Su-57.  They may be trying to export it to Turkey and China.

?!?!  The Russians are stating the first batch of Su-57s will be delivered to a frontline unit in 2019.

The Russians are refuting the Su-57 has been redeployed to Syria.

YF-23:

Why did the YF-23 lose to the YF-22 in the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition?  The only man to have flown both the F-22 and the YF-23 talks explains.

Model 401:

Scaled Composites' Model 401 is on the east coast at a Navy flight test facility.  Why?

F-117:

The F-117 has been out flying about (with a plexiglass canopy, btw).

The Drive noted the interesting bit of the choice of emblem on the F-117.

B-2: 

Listen to a B-2 test drop nuclear weapons.

B-21:

The USAF has selected which airbases will be hosting the B-21.

F-22:

Rapid Raptor: the program to allow the F-22 to deploy anywhere, well, rapidly.

24 Raptors conducted an elephant walk in Alaska.

Will Langley AFB be the center of F-22 training?

F-35:

General Fick is the new head of the F-35 program.

The Pentagon is considering selling the F-35 to Poland, Greece and Romania.

A continuous software upgrade program would speed capabilities to the F-35, but delay the purchase of aircraft.

The F-35 is expected to hit an 80% availability rate in Sept 2019.

The F-35 has the capability to deploy towed decoys from under its stealthy skin.

Some are strongly arguing to buy the F-35 instead of the F-15X.

48 F-35As, 10 F-35Bs and 20 F-35Cs are in the FY20 proposal.

The USAF wants 12 more F-35As than the budget provided for.

The USAF has conducted the first fast/hot crew swap exercise for the F-35A.

The IG is slamming the F-35 program office for allowing contractors to manage government assets.

The F-35 will take a starring role in an exercise in Greece.

China claims it is not the reason countries are buying the F-35.  Actually, about that...

The USS Wasp carried at least 10 F-35Bs into the South China Sea.  The USS Wasp has been operating near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

The USMC may deploy F-35Bs off the deck of the Korean amphibious ships.

The US Navy F-35Cs that achieved IOC are only ready 5% of the time...

The readiness of the F-35C is improving, supposedly.

The British are monitoring the situation about the Japanese F-35 crash.

Italy's Deputy PM  defended the F-35 purchases.

The Italian F-35As in Sardinia get close ups.

Italian F-35As participated in the 'Lightning Thunder over Europe' exercise.

How did Italian F-35 pilots feel about their participation in Red Flag exercise?

Japan just purchased the JSM antiship missile for its F-35s.

Japan declared IOC for its first F-35A unit.

Japan had its first F-35 crash.  The wreckage has been located, but salvage and investigation will be daunting.  Efforts are still underway to try to find the pilot.  Japan has grounded its F-35As. The aircraft that crashed was the first F-35A assembled by Japan.  Here's an update.

Poland is considering the F-35 for its Harpia program.  In fact, they want to outright buy 32 of them.

The first two F-35As for South Korea have arrived in country.

Switzerland will evaluate the F-35 for its new fighter requirement this summer.

Turkey's F-35 deliveries may get paused.  Strike that: the deliveries have stopped of parts.  The US has stated buying the F-35 and the S-400 missile system are not compatible.  In the mean time, the US military continues to train Turkish F-35 pilots. Congress again has warned Turkey they cannot have the F-35 and the S-400 missile.

If Turkey gets cut, the F-35 program can progress just fine. Or will it?  How problematic is it for Lockheed?  What next?

BAE has begun Meteor and Spear integration on the F-35.

Lockheed received a $264M contract to support South Korea's F-35s.

META:

What aircraft does the USAF need to defeat Russia and China?

Stealth Saga #67

KF-X:

The baseline twin engine design has been decided on, but refinements are still being made.  The first prototype roll out is expected in 2022 with an ambitious 2026 entry into service.  The Indonesian variant, called the IF-X is apparently virtually the same as the KF-X, except it will lack stealth coatings and also lack an internal weapons bay.

J-20:

China is moving the J-20 into production.

This stealth fighter is operational.  Really.

Su-57/PAK-FA/T-50:

The Russians are claiming the Su-57 will be (or can be) upgraded with 6th generation fighter capabilities.

FGFA:

More reports the Indian Air Force does not want to continue their participation in the Su-57 program.

Sixth Generation Fighter:

Lockheed scored the laser portion of the SHIELD program, something that will likely lead to a weapon for fifth and especially sixth generation fighters.

The US has been working on a new long range AAM for two years.

Northrop patented a kinetic kill anti missile system for stealth aircraft.

Model 401:

Scaled Composites flew their Model 401 for the first time.  The aircraft looks like a cross between the 1960s Quiet Bird and the General Atomics Avenger.

B-21:

Is the B-21 meant to be a high altitude bomber?

Will the B-21 have morphing wing technology?

B-2:

The B-2 got a night time photo op.

Some interesting details on how the B-2 trained for potential strikes on North Korea.

The B-2 flew over Japan for the first time.

F-117:

In 2006, the largest known formation of stealth aircraft flew over Holloman Air Force Base.

F-22:

Six F-22s have deployed to Britain at RAF Lakenheath.

One of them landed with an open missile bay.

Upgrades to the F-22s might cost $1.7 billion over 11 years.

F-35:

An overview of the F-35 program.

The F-35 had a week of good and bad news.

Corrosion issues are delaying F-35 deliveries by a month.

F-35 deliveries were lagging behind already.

Serious, serious spare parts issues are hitting the F-35 program: depots are six years behind on maintenance already.

F-35s are getting a significant software update.

The USAF has graduated its 500th F-35 fighter pilot.

The USAF has sent one F-35A to Eielson AFB for testing in preparation of the arrival of two F-35 squadrons in 2020.

Two F-35As participated in a South Korean air show.

12 F-35As are being deployed to Japan.  They stopped at Hawaii along the way.

As many as 108 F-35As may not get the most recent software that allows them to be considered combat coded.

The first internationally assembled F-35B has flown its first short take-off and vertical landing.

F-35Bs in Japan performed a night refueling exercise.

The US Navy has been forced to shift qualifying the VFA-125 on the F-35C from the Lincoln to the Vinson by hurricane Irma.

F-35 data was stolen from an Australian defense contractor through hacking.  None of it is supposed to be classified.

The RAF has increased the F-35's risk rating.

A rumors are spreading about an attempted SAM attack on an Israeli F-35I after the Israelis ground their F-35s for a supposed bird strike.

A RNAF F-35A has been sent to Eielson AFB for the second stage of the drag chute testing.

Norwegian F-35As were to return to Norway on November 2nd (they landed).

Turkey is interested in the F-35B.

The F-35 is increasingly important to Lockheed's profitability.

Orbital ATK will be building composite components for the F-35.

Counter Stealth:

The US Navy's newish E-2D Hawkeye is intended (supposedly) to watch for Chinese stealth fighters.

Iran is building air defenses with stealth aircraft in mind.