Saturday, November 17, 2018

Stealth Saga #41

Sixth Gen Fighters:

The AFRL is seeking information on the status of lasers that could be used to shoot down incoming SAMs or air to air missiles.

France and Germany are having a tiff over whether or not the FCAS will have significant export restrictions.  Germany wants them.  France does not.

Germany is eager for Spain to participate in the FCAS and some design parameters are starting to emerge.

The FCAS program must be manned because France needs it for the air superiority and nuclear missions.

KF-X:

Indonesia is trying to renegotiate its contribution to the KF-X/IFX project due to fiscal constraints.

TF-X:

Turkey selected GE over Rolls Royce to provide the engines to its new fighter.

Other sources are stating Turkey is putting in a local engine design instead.

SU-57:


The Russians did a photoshoot of the SU-57.

They also did a slightly cheesy shoot of the load testing and failures on a static article for the SU-57.

The Russians are claiming the SU-57 is better than the F-22 and the F-35.  WiB comes to defend the F-22 vs the SU-57.

SU-57 pilots are testing gravity suits to counter the affects of acceleration had high g turns and the like.

The Russians have released pictures of testing the SU-57 at a radar range.

CH-7:

China showed off its stealthy CH-7 UAV.

Tiang Ying:

China also showed off a flying wing UAV that could be a carrier based drone.

J-20:


J-20s, at least three, possibly more, participated in the airshow at Zhuhai.

The J-20 overflew the Zhuhai airshow with its weapons bay open.  It showed it could carry six missiles: four in the main bay and one in each of the secondaries.

F-35 haters are defending the J-20.

China is making significant advances on the fighter front.

J-31/FC-31:

Sources stated the Chinese government has given AVIC a contract to develop the J-31 into an aircraft suitable for the Chinese military due to the J-15 problems.

H-20:

Reports are starting to circulate the Chinese will unveil the H-20 next year.  Accurate?  Who knows.

Unknown Tonopah aircraft:

Satellite images were censored of an unknown aircraft at the famous Area 51.

Northrop Grumman Stealth Transport:

Was this a cockpit mockup of an undisclosed stealthy transport aircraft?

B-2:

A B-2 bomber had an emergency landing in Colorado Springs.

B-21:

Edwards AFB will be where the B-21 is tested and Tinker AFB will be its regular post testing base.

F-23:

The F-22 changed a lot from the YF-22 to the F-22A.  Had the YF-23 won the competition, what would the production F-23A looked like?

WiB attacks the idea bringing the F-23 into production is a good one.

F-22:

Hurricane Michael did damage to up to 17 F-22s at Tyndall AFB. At least five were in good enough condition they were flown out of Tyndall to Langley.

F-22s arrived at Klein-Brogal AFB in Belgium.

The KC-30 is undergoing refueling trials with the F-22 for certification.

On April 13th, an F-22 had a bellyflop landing on take-off.  The pilot was to blame.

All F-22s have left Tyndall, SecUSAF has stated.

F-35:

Has the Block Buy for the F-35 begun?  Lockheed received a downpayment of $6B for 255 F-35s.

80% of F-35s have been returned to flight operations after the recent grounding.

The crash may slow the F-35 testing a couple months.

The USAF is working to fix the cyber security weaknesses of the F-35.

An F-35B connected to the USS Wasp anti cruise missile system.

The Aviationist has a video of a F-35B refueling over the Middle East.

Belgium has reportedly selected the F-35A over the Eurofighter to replace its F-16s.  European firms are unhappy with the selection.  The F-35 selection shouldn't shock anyone.  It still makes some haters unhappy.

The Brits tested the Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing technique for the first time on the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

F-35Bs on the Queen Elizabeth have completed DT-1 trials.

The British confirmed their order of another 17 F-35Bs.

Israeli F-35Is had been returned to service faster than the rest it seems.

Italy is signaling it will be slowing down its F-35 orders.

A report from the Pentagon to Congress on Turkey's participation in the F-35 has been delivered.

Lockheed expects to sell even more F-35s.

Can Lockheed keep the sustainment costs down for the F-35?

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