F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

[CougarKing]

The Vermont ANG will be the first Air Guard unit to have F-35s:

Aviationist

A look at the first Air National Guard unit destined to transition from the F-16 to the F-35

- Dec 22 2014

The 134th Fighter Squadron of the Vermont ANG (Air National Guard) based at Burlington, VT, is well known as ” The Green Mountain Boys.”

This ANG squadron, flying 18 F-16C/D Block 30s is part of the 158th Fighter Wing, and will be the first ANG group to operate the F-35.

The transition, announced about a year ago and not to commence until about 2020, was granted in spite of a local controversy (some were concerned that the 18 incoming F-35s would be significantly louder than the current F-16s). It’s no small honor to be chosen as the first ANG base to transition to the new aircraft, and certainly speaks to the role and past performance of the squadron.

The images in this post depict with the 134th FS F-16C Block 30s on a typical training day carrying a standard load out made of an air-to-air complement for long-range air intercepts with tanks for extended range, as well as a LITENING target pod.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[MarkOttawa]

At Defense Tech:

A Tale of Two Gatling Guns: F-35 vs. A-10
http://defensetech.org/2015/01/02/a-tale-of-two-gatling-guns-f-35-vs-a-10/

Another current controversy:

Is The F-35's Targeting System Really 10 Years Behind Current Systems?
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/is-the-f-35s-targeting-system-really-10-years-behind-cu-1676442535

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Colin Parkinson]

does not matter, likely will never ever use it's gun on ground targets except on a range.

 

[SupersonicMax]

The Gun is used and certainly has its place in modern CAS.  It is the lowest CDE weapon available after all!

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Sixty five very expensive aircraft that have to last 30+ years, I don't see you getting orders to zap ISIS types with your gun when they are armed with Manpads and multiple light AA guns. The first time you return with bullet holes in your new planes will be the last time they will task it to do that. You be dropping bombs from up high. I may not know much about fighter aircraft, but I do know politics and bureaucracy. They are going to weigh risk vs benefit very carefully. My predication is that with the demise of the A10 and introduction of the F-35, gun runs on ground targets that shoot back will be over. 

 

[SupersonicMax]

Sixty five very expensive aircraft that have to last 30+ years, I don't see you getting orders to zap ISIS types with your gun when they are armed with Manpads and multiple light AA guns. The first time you return with bullet holes in your new planes will be the last time they will task it to do that. You be dropping bombs from up high. I may not know much about fighter aircraft, but I do know politics and bureaucracy. They are going to weigh risk vs benefit very carefully. My predication is that with the demise of the A10 and introduction of the F-35, gun runs on ground targets that shoot back will be over.

There will always be a risk vs benifit analysis.  We are given that risk as an "Acceptable Risk Level" and through guidance such as Theater Floors, circumstances, systems and authorizations required to go below said floor and so on. 

If you want to shoot a fast jet with unguided rounds, you need to be very lucky, especially when operating at low level where lie of sight is very rapid in all direction, except a very narrow couple of degrees from the nose.  Not impossible, just unlikely.

Knowing what I know about the JSF, the risks of operating low level will be mitigated by the time spent at low altitude and systems on the aircraft.  I understand there may be strategic/political considerations inolved, but I hope that the commanders will make effective recommendations to those making those strategic/political decisions, instead of opting for the "safest" course of action.  You'd be surprised from how low down the chain those recommendations come from: normally at the Capt/Maj level.

Of course, there is no way to really know until we get the JSF and until we deploy it for an Operation where it will conduct CAS.  For what we know, it may never happen....

 

[FSTO]

The Gun is used and certainly has its place in modern CAS.  It is the lowest CDE weapon available after all!

What is CDE?

 

[George Wallace]

What is CDE?

Common Desktop Environment.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Collateral Damage Estimate

 

[Baz]

In the Targeting CDE course, theu don't even consider guns below a 105... so definitely a CAS thing.  Great for show of force as well; not every mission needs to blow something up.

I did my CDE course in 2013 at Molesworth... top three students weren'teven Intel ( a Dutch F-16 pilot, a UK RA MLRS Officer, and a Canadian Sea King ACSO   They wanted to qual us as mobile instructors at some point but I came home instead.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Further to this post,
http://milnet.ca/forums/threads/22809/post-1344263.html#msg1344263

the Daily Beast dogfights with the F-35 Joint Program Office about the gun and EOTS:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/08/pentagon-misfires-in-stealth-jet-scandal.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

And speaking of the gun problems previously stated by that Daily Beast article, it seems they will have a fix for them sooner than previously stated.

DoD Buzz/Military.com

The gun on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet will fire in 2017, according to the Pentagon.


Joe DellaVedova, a spokesman for the F-35 program office, said the fifth-generation stealth fighter’s GAU-22 gun and the Electro-Optical Targeting System — two key systems to provide close air support to ground troops — will be operational with the installation of the Block 3F software update in fiscal 2017.

The Jan. 7 statement from the program office followed recent news articles in The Daily Beast quoting unnamed Air Force officials saying the gun won’t work for most pilots until 2019 and that the targeting system is already outdated compared to similar systems on existing fourth-generation fighters.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I had no doubt the gun would fire, but will the aiming system work as advertized? That's a bit like our old Blackburn Sharks, fitted for, but not with synchronizing gear for the machine guns.

 

[MarkOttawa]

From Michael Gilmore, Pentagon’s director of combat testing:

Report cites continuing software deficiencies in F-35
A new report cites deficiencies with hardware and software used to develop data files in the F-35.
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article6992399.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

More Snowden:

China stole plans for a new fighter plane, spy documents have revealed

Chinese spies stole key design information about Australia's new Joint Strike Fighter, according to top secret documents disclosed by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

German magazine Der Spiegel has published new disclosures of signals intelligence collected by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and its "Five Eyes" partners, including the Australian Signals Directorate. The intelligence reveals new details of the directorate's efforts to track and combat Chinese cyber-espionage.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/new-snowden-docs-indicate-scope-of-nsa-preparations-for-cyber-battle-a-1013409.html

According to a top secret NSA presentation, Chinese cyber spies have stolen huge volumes of sensitive military information, including "many terabytes of data" relating to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) - also known as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II...
http://www.smh.com.au/national/china-stole-plans-for-a-new-fighter-plane-spy-documents-have-revealed-20150118-12sp1o.html

More on Chinese F-35 espionage and J-20:
https://www.google.ca/search?num=100&q=j-20+f-35+espionage&oq=j-20+f-35+espionage&gs_l=serp.3...11625.14794.0.15805.10.10.0.0.0.0.246.1113.6j3j1.10.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.serp..5.5.496.x7hECuhLrNo

Mark Collins

 

[Kirkhill]

More Snowden:

More on Chinese F-35 espionage and J-20:
https://www.google.ca/search?num=100&q=j-20+f-35+espionage&oq=j-20+f-35+espionage&gs_l=serp.3...11625.14794.0.15805.10.10.0.0.0.0.246.1113.6j3j1.10.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.serp..5.5.496.x7hECuhLrNo

Mark Collins

Obviously we need to start making better use of these guys....

Much harder to intercept and copy.

 

[MarkOttawa]

PDF text of 2014 Pentagon DOT&E F-35 report:
https://app.box.com/s/sqtjg17r3kwedzluok4xtmd195ktcjxg

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Fishbone Jones]

A 109 pages of best guesses, accurate or not, and what I read or saw is truth or not, corporate shills and detractors. Pilots who have never flown them (and probably never will). Emotion, technobabble and Walter Mitty I can't tell you, cause I'll have to kill you types.  :rofl:

Why don't we give it a rest until the government and taxpayer decide what to do?

Or wait until some real experts come along and burst everyone's bubble.

It's like going to the recruiting forums and watching cadets telling Reg Force applicants what Basic and Trades training is like.  :facepalm:


edit for more appropriate smilie

 

[MarkOttawa]

As USMC works toward July 1, 2105 IOC:

Important Tests Loom for Navy and Marine Corps F-35
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2015/February/Pages/ImportantTestsLoomfor.aspx

Also:

The Limits of Stealth
https://www.rusi.org/publications/defencesystems/ref:A540F4DDDC5315/#.VL6aty55KJd

A Cold War Legacy: The Decline of Stealth
http://warontherocks.com/2015/01/a-cold-war-legacy-the-decline-of-stealth/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Loachman]

The Limits of Stealth
https://www.rusi.org/publications/defencesystems/ref:A540F4DDDC5315/#.VL6aty55KJd.

I could not open that one.

A Cold War Legacy: The Decline of Stealth
http://warontherocks.com/2015/01/a-cold-war-legacy-the-decline-of-stealth/

Not impressed. Camouflage paint is not a guarantee of undetectability by the naked eye, and offers no protection at all from radar, yet is still applied to military aircraft. A slight edge, a split-second's hesitation for further analysis, can mean the difference between death/destruction and continued existence.

Despite its cost, "stealth" will continue to pose challenges to detection systems for some time to come. A small edge is better than none. To the guy in the cockpit, and I do not believe that the author has ever been one, that small edge is huge.

It'll likely be a while before radars on fighters are able to detect and track stealthy aircraft. Detection by ground-based radar is not a guarantee of a successful kill.

While detection, tracking, and guidance systems will evolve as claimed, so will countermeasures, including stealth. Failure to continue to develop stealth technology, along with other countermeasures and tactics, will simply reduce the edge. Why make a potential adversary's job any easier or cheaper?

UAVs are nowhere nearly as "cheap" as a lot of people believe. Removing the Pilot from the machine imposes costs and limitations.