JSF (F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) News

[soldier20]

i read some news papers on TAI able to build the engines for the F35 as well any body have good source of that to

[Rapier55]

i read some news papers on TAI able to build the engines for the F35 as well any body have good source of that to

I know Kale Aerospace is working on fuel line pieces for the P&W Engines on the F-35 and Alp Aviation is producing fan rotor rear hubs. I just didn't realize they were so far along in production.

[Rapier55]

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 10th, 2009 -- With strong international partnerships firmly established, the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter) continues to meet or exceed its milestones in both performance and schedule. The program is moving quickly into its production and support phase, and will be ready when Australia needs it as its future fighter.
At the Australian International Airshow, Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice president for F-35 Program Integration, said flight testing is on track and the aircraft is performing extremely well. “The aircraft and its systems are proving to be significantly more mature at this stage of testing than those of past programs,” Burbage said. “The program is achieving established milestones and retiring technical risk according to plan. Production activities are accelerating with all SDD aircraft and the first six LRIP aircraft already in assembly," he said.
Burbage added that the F-35 is by far the most capable fighter available on the international market. It is designed for superiority in both the air-to-air and air-to-ground roles. Its combination of stealth and advanced sensor systems will provide vastly improved situational awareness and survivability over the most advanced 4th generation aircraft.
Also at the air show, Maj. Gen. (Select) David Heinz, F-35 Deputy Program Executive Officer, spoke about the U.S. government’s backing of the program. “We have the military services’ commitment to procure the aircraft in large quantities, and that is important to keeping the cost down and the program affordable,” he said. “The United States Government is committed to keeping this 5th Generation fighter on cost and on schedule.”
Air Vice Marshall John Harvey, Australia’s program manager of New Air Combat Capability, added, “The F-35 continues to make good progress and Defence and Australian industry are working closely with their international partners to make the F-35 Program a great success.”
Milestones achieved in 2008 and 2009 continue to validate the F-35’s continued success: The successful first flight of F-35 BF-1 on June 11, 2008; the deployment of F-35 AA-1 to Edwards AFB, Calif., with all tests accomplished ahead of schedule; and recently, the successful first flight of F-35 BF-2 on February 25, 2009. The program remains onschedule to deliver the first production-modelF-35s to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.,in 2010 and to meet all services’ Initial Operational Capability dates, starting in 2012.
The F-35 is a supersonic, multi-role, 5th generation stealth fighter. Three F-35 variants derived from a common design, developed together and using the same sustainment infrastructure worldwide will replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations initially, making the Lightning II the most cost-effective fighter program in history.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/p...-schedule.html

[seruriermarshal]

Lockheed Receives F-35 LRIP 4 Funds

March 12, 2009 (by Eric L. Palmer) - Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command for long lead materials and work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

This is an advanced acquisition contract with an estimated value of $265 million for long lead materials and effort associated with the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. This will be for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot IV procurement of 12 Air Force Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) F-35A, 14 Marine Corps Short Take-off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35B, one Navy Carrier Variant F-35C, and one Netherlands CTOL air system F-35A.

In addition, this contract provides for associated ancillary mission equipment, sustainment support, special tooling/special test equipment and technical/financial data.

http://www.f-16.net/news_article3309.html

[Rapier55]

Mar 12, 2009
By Bradley Perrett
MELBOURNE, Australia – The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II may be redesigned to improve its ability to absorb heat from its electronics and systems.
The aircraft is meeting the specification for thermal management, but the Joint Strike Fighter program’s deputy executive officer, Maj. Gen. David Heinz (select), says he is asking contractors to assess the costs of changes to give it a bigger margin over the requirement.
“We meet that requirement but it is a very tough requirement,” Heinz says, adding that, while he has asked for studies for an improved margin, “at the moment I don’t need it.”
The F-35 is designed to transfer heat from its powerful electronics and systems to its fuel, to keep the aircraft cool and make it less detectable by infrared cameras.
Under most conditions, that presents no challenge, but if the aircraft is at the end of a mission, it will have little fuel aboard to absorb the heat energy, says Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president for F-35 program integration. And the toughest part of the specification is to distribute the heat into the remaining fuel while operating in the tropics in hot and high conditions.
While Heinz says the aircraft can do that, his interest in finding ways of increasing the margin – for example, by circulating the fuel faster and reducing the amount of generated heat – implies that the aircraft is only just meeting its specification without much room for comfort.
High fuel temperature would not result in critical failure, Burbage says, speaking at the Australian International Airshow here. The limit on the temperature is set by the heat tolerance of the full-authority digital engine control unit submerged in a fuel tank, he says. Overly hot fuel will shorten the unit’s life, but not cause it to suddenly fail.
Apart from a design change, there is an operational way to work around excess fuel temperature: fly higher, to reach cooler air.
That method may not suit every mission, however, and it will obviously be unavailable at the end of a flight, when the small volume of remaining fuel presents the greatest challenge but the pilot must descend for landing. This is particularly an issue for the F-35B, the vertical-takeoff-and-landing version that must hover and land at high power at the end of a mission without exceeding fuel temperature limits.
Meanwhile, extensive testing by Lockheed Martin and the Royal Australian Air Force, an intended customer, has found that the F-35 is not as noisy as feared. That issue has threatened to disrupt basing plans and potentially presents health risks to ground personnel.
The F-35 is only about as noisy as an F-16 fitted with a Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 engine, Burbage says. It is quieter than the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the Boeing F/A0-18E/F Super Hornet. “It is noisier than a classic Hornet [F/A-18A-D] but not much noisier,” says Air Vice Marshal John Harvey, manager of Australia’s New Air Combat Capability program.
Moreover, the F-35 often will be able to minimize airfield noise by taking off without afterburner, partly due to its internal weapons and fuel stowage.
Photo: Lockheed Martin

Meanwhile, extensive testing by Lockheed Martin and the Royal Australian Air Force, an intended customer, has found that the F-35 is not as noisy as feared. That issue has threatened to disrupt basing plans and potentially presents health risks to ground personnel.
The F-35 is only about as noisy as an F-16 fitted with a Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 engine, Burbage says. It is quieter than the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the Boeing F/A0-18E/F Super Hornet. “It is noisier than a classic Hornet [F/A-18A-D] but not much noisier,” says Air Vice Marshal John Harvey, manager of Australia’s New Air Combat Capability program.

So all the hoopla about noise...
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...ment%20Changes

[highdiver_2000]

I wonder what they say about the MIG-31 engines. Those babies are huge.

ok back on track. Good to see progress is made.

[Clearday-TRForce]

I know Kale Aerospace is working on fuel line pieces for the P&W Engines on the F-35 and Alp Aviation is producing fan rotor rear hubs. I just didn't realize they were so far along in production.

Alp Aviation is a make to blueprint company which has multi axis (up to 5 axes) precision machining & CMM measurement capability with in-house customer approved special processes. Some Alp Aviation customers;


- Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation - USA
- Pratt & Whitney Corporation - USA
- Goodrich Landing Gear Corporation - USA
- Kaman Aerospace Corporation - USA
- Air Industries Corporation - USA
- Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. - USA
- Helicopter Support International (HSI) - USA
- Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. - TURKEY
- Aero Vodochody - Czech Republic

http://www.alp.com.tr/index.asp




and

Kale Aero is the subcontractor of Joint Strike Fighter Project F-35. Manufacturing body, wing and winglet spare parts, Kale Aero also manufactures sub systems of existing high pressure compressor in F135 program, the engine program of F-35, and engine exhaust winglets.

Over the next 10 years, Kale Aero will be involved in the production of a package of 800 different fuselage and wing parts for Boeing.

Some Kale Aero customers and strategic partners;

- Lockheed Martin Aero
- Boeing
- Pratt & Whitney
- Northrop Grumman
- Héroux Devtek
- IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd)
- PFW


http://www.kaleaero.com

[Herman the II]

JSF: Accelerating Procurement before Completing Development Increases the Government’s Financial Risk

JSF development will cost more and take longer than reported to the Congress last year, and DOD wants to accelerate procurement. Two recent estimates project additional costs ranging from $2.4 billion to $7.4 billion and 1 to 3 more years to complete development.

Despite cost and schedule troubles, DOD wants to accelerate JSF procurement by 169 aircraft from fiscal years 2010 through 2015; this could require up to $33.4 billion in additional procurement funding for those 6 years. DOD plans to procure hundreds of aircraft on cost-reimbursement contracts, magnifying the financial risk to the government.

Ongoing manufacturing inefficiencies and parts problems have significantly delayed the delivery of test assets. The prime contractor has extended manufacturing schedules three times and delivered 2 of 13 test aircraft. The program is still recovering from earlier problems that resulted in design changes, late parts deliveries, and inefficient manufacturing. The contractor is taking positive steps to improve operations, the supplier base, and schedule management. Schedule risk analyses could further enhance management insight into problem areas and inform corrective actions.

Officials expect to deliver all test aircraft and fix many problems by 2010. By then, DOD plans to have purchased 62 operational aircraft and will be ramping up procurement. Procuring large numbers of production jets while still working to deliver test jets and mature manufacturing processes does not seem prudent, and looming plans to accelerate procurement will be difficult to achieve cost effectively.

full story and the complete JSF report can be found here:
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/art...t-program.html

[signatory]

full story and the complete JSF report can be found here:
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/art...t-program.html

From that document:

While the program has been able to demonstrate basic aircraft flying
capabilities, it has recently experienced testing delays and has fallen
behind the flight test plan established in 2007. At the time of our review,
the program had flown about half of its planned 155 flight tests for 2008.

If someone wished to be evil they might say LM is afraid of doing tests since each flight create new problems... Strange, I thought they had such advanced ground and air-rigs set up to avoid problems like this.

[Unifil 37]

We do not write under on anything until we have the final price, "said State Secretary Espen Barth Eide (AP) in the Defense Ministry, told Aftenposten.

The U.S. Office of the Auditor General, Government Accountability Office (GAO) came Friday with a new report showing that the Joint Strike Fighter, fighter planes that Norway plans to buy from Lockheed Martin, can be very much more expensive than planned.

Debate: - JSF is becoming increasingly expensive

The government will buy 56 JSF aircraft of the type F-35 for 18 billion. But should the U.S. Office of the Auditor General have the right, these planes will cost the full 48 billion to produce. Lifetime costs for the aircraft, which the government has been estimated at 145 billion, could increase to 169 billion.

- But the GAO has made similar reports before, and Parliament is made known to them. So this is not something that changes on very much. This year's report is actually somewhat milder than the one that came last year, "said State Secretary Eide.

- Norway is also in the lucky situation that the aircraft must not be obtained before for several years, when development of the aircraft has come further. We get a lower price for the aircraft to be delivered in 2016, than we would have had to fly in 2013, he adds.

(© NTB 16.03.2009 kl. 06:40, Last updated 16.03.2009 kl. 06

[signatory]

We do not write under on anything until we have the final price, "said State Secretary Espen Barth Eide (AP) in the Defense Ministry, told Aftenposten.

- Norway is also in the lucky situation that the aircraft must not be obtained before for several years, when development of the aircraft has come further. We get a lower price for the aircraft to be delivered in 2016, than we would have had to fly in 2013, he adds.

Interesting comment considering that the Norwegian Gov when submitting the proposition on selecting JSF publically said that the LM price offer was "significantly lower than the [competitor]". But they never knew and still don't know the price? I hope it will not be seen as an attempt to deceive the parliamentarians so they in protest will feel more tempted to vote on reducing the budget or a/c numbers or something.

[Herman the II]

UK signs for first three F-35B Joint Strike Fighters

The UK has kept its commitment to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme despite massive pressure on its procurement budget, today signing for its first three production aircraft to support initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) of the fifth-generation fighter.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...-fighters.html

[seruriermarshal]

DATE:18/03/09
SOURCE:Flight International
UK signs for first three F-35B Joint Strike Fighters
By Craig Hoyle

The UK has kept its commitment to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme despite massive pressure on its procurement budget, today signing for its first three production aircraft to support initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) of the fifth-generation fighter.

Signed during a visit to Washington DC by defence secretary John Hutton, the deal will see the UK take delivery of its first short take-off and vertical landing F-35Bs in 2011, with the aircraft to be drawn from the JSF programme's third low-rate initial production batch.


© Team JSF


To be delivered in 2011-12, the UK aircraft will be assigned to a joint test team for the F-35 in the USA, with the Netherlands also expected to acquire two conventional take-off and landing F-35As to support IOT&E activities.

Describing the JSF as "an essential part of our Future Combat Air Capability", Hutton says: "Working alongside their US colleagues, our pilots will gain an unrivalled understanding of this awesome aircraft and its capabilities."

As the USA's lone Level 1 partner to the JSF programme, the UK expects to spend £2 billion ($2.79 billion) during the design's ongoing system development and demonstration phase. More than £1.1 billion of this total had been spent by 31 March 2008, according to the UK National Audit Office's Major Projects 2008 report.

The MoD declines to reveal the value of its 18 March contract, citing "commercial sensitivity", but confirms that the sum is in addition to its previously identified £2 billion investment in the programme.

To be acquired under its Joint Combat Aircraft project, the UK's future F-35Bs will replace its current BAE Systems Harrier GR7/9s, operated by the Royal Air Force/Royal Navy Joint Force Harrier organisation. Up to 138 of the aircraft are expected to be purchased.

Up to 32 of the aircraft will be deployed aboard each of the RN's two 65,000t Future Aircraft Carrier vessels, and today's IOT&E acquisition "will enable the MoD to move forward in developing the Carrier Strike capability", Hutton says.

Links posted in this story: Lockheed Martin|Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter|Royal Air Force
Spread the word: relatedbookmark it!diggit!reddit!newsvine!


http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...-fighters.html

[Herman the II]

US auditors predict new cost, schedule problems for Joint Strike Fighter

A new report by US congressional auditors warns that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter faces up to three years of delays and $7.4 billion in cost overruns.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...nt-strike.html

[signatory]

Dutch JSF price tag upped 400 million euros to €6,1 Bn

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/3...d__.html?p=2,1