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F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sharpey
  • Start date Start date
He did a great explanation of the Russian fighters being operated by the USAF as Red Force in his video "The Secret Program That Hid an Even More Secret Program."
 
OceanBonfire said:
Full-rate production decision won’t come until at least the end of fiscal 2023:

www.defensenews.com

F-35 production decision won’t come until end of fiscal 2023 — at least

If the testing process were to slip further, "there's not a lot of leeway" to reach a decision on full-rate production by the end of fiscal 2023, Lt. Gen. Eric Fick said.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
Click to expand...
I dont see why it matters they're basically building them at full rate anyways and have done an endrun around the accountants and government
 
Looks like Finns will have all their F-35s operational well before RCAF has most of its 88--note also some Norwegian QRA F-35s for Arctic:

Finland’s first F-35s will be based up north​

Lapland Air Command in Rovaniemi will get the first new F-35 fighter jets in 2026.

The announcement to base the first F-35 multirole aircraft up north was made by the Finnish Air Force on Friday [May 27].

“The Air Force’s F-35 fleet will be commissioned first to the Lapland Air Force in Rovaniemi in 2026,” Air Force Commander Brigadier General Juha-Pekka Keränen said...

The airbase is located on the Arctic Circle, seven kilometers north of Rovaniemi City Centre, and is Finland’s northernmost base with fighter jets.

It was last December Finland announced it had chosen to buy 64 of the F-35 to replace the current fleet of F/A-18 Hornets. The first F-35s will arrive at Rovaniemi in 2026 and all 64, including those to be based further south in Finland, will be in operation by 2030.

With Finland’s decision to join NATO, the cross-border strength of the Alliance’s fleet of F-35s in northernmost Europe will be significant. Norway, which already has received 34 of 52 aircraft, has its main airbase at Ørlandet in the south, but a few of the planes are on so-called Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) for NATO at Evenes airbase north of the Arctic Circle [emphasis added].

On Thursday this week, two F-35s were scrambled from Evenes to meet two Russian military aircraft over the Barents Sea north of Finnmark region. The planes, a MiG-31 and a Su-24, did not violate Norwegian airspace [emphasis added]...

If NATO will deploy some of the Rovaniemi-based F-35s on QRA, the flying time north to meet Russian military planes flying west of the Kola Peninsula will be shorter than flying from the Evenes airbase in Norway. However, as part of Norway’s reassurance policy towards Russia, other NATO allies have so far not been allowed to use the airspace over the eastern part of Finnmark when flying missions to monitor Russian activities.

A flight from Rovaniemi to the Barents Sea will for a short minute or two have to cross over Norwegian airspace. Most likely, Norway will continue to facilitate for NATO’s QRA over northern waters, while Finland from 2026 will guard NATO’s new 1,340 kilometers long land-border with Russia.

Finland decided to apply for NATO membership on May 17 as a direct consequence of Russia’s brutal unprovoked military attack on Ukraine. On Friday, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen announced the decision that Finland will invite partner countries for more military training, especially this summer...
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thebarentsobserver.com

Finland’s first F-35s will be based up north

Lapland Air Command in Rovaniemi will get the first new F-35 fighter jets in 2026.
thebarentsobserver.com thebarentsobserver.com
Click to expand...

Mark
Ottawa
 
And note this--a tweet:

Hans Kristensen

@nukestrat

Finland’s first squadron of stealthy F-35s will be based at Rovaniemi air base in the north in 2026, only 400 km from Russia’s strategic submarine base near Murmansk. The aircraft will be equipped with JASSM-ER long-range conventional precision missiles. Finland – F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft with Air-to-Air Missiles and Air-to-Ground Precision Guided Munitions | Defense Security Cooperation Agency
Click to expand...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1530502390197141506

Mark
Ottawa
 
If common sense existed in NATO it would redesignate a 6pack of F35 for delivery to Finland ASAP ahead of their current designated US customers.

Or rotationally deploy to Finland until they get theirs operationsl.
 
Why? The Russian Air Force has failed to achieve air superiority over Cold-war legacy aircraft in Ukraine. The US can forward push multiple squadrons to the Baltic fairly quickly, I think the Finns and Swedes would hold up long enough for the cavalry to arrive and also reduce the exposure of the F-35 to Russian ELINT systems.
 
Quirky said:
I thought it was Spanish? Either way it’s the same one with two ejections, yet still flying.
Click to expand...
Can someone PLEASE explain this to me or post something related to this? This sounds genuinely fascinating…

A zombie jet with 2 ejections, yet still flying? That’s worth a read.
 
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