F-35 Lightning II
The F-35 Lightning II accomplished a significant test milestone Aug. 8 when the aircraft successfully released a weapon in flight. BF-3, a short take-off and vertical landing F-35 variant, executed an inert 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) separation weapon over water in an Atlantic test range while traveling at 400 knots at an altitude of 4,200 feet. “While this weapons separation test is just one event in a series ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program accrued the highest number of test points in a single month during June, an accomplishment indicative of the program’s ongoing maturation. Additionally, for the 18th consecutive month the F-35 test program remained ahead of plan. As of June 30, the F-35 Lightning II 5th Generation multirole fighter had conducted 595 test flights in 2012 versus a plan of 445 and accrued 4,830 test points against a plan ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Northrop Grumman Corporation recently demonstrated the ballistic missile detection, tracking and targeting capabilities of the company's elector optical Distributed Aperture System and active electronically scanned array radar, both of which are featured on the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Leveraging NASA's Science Mission Directorate-sponsored ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has announced that plans to deliver Carrier Strike capability will now be executed using a different type of Joint Strike Fighter jet than was planned. The MOD will move away from the Carrier Variant (CV) JSF and our Armed Forces will instead operate the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant. Even with this change in JSF jet type, the MOD’s plan to deliver Carrier Strike in 2020, ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
The Prime Minister told today his Government was prepared to change defence purchases when the costs change, amid speculation of an embarrassing U-turn on fighters for Britain’s new aircraft carriers. David Cameron said the approach marked a stark change from the last Labour government, suggesting money had been wasted previously. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour MP Tom insisted the Strategic Defence and Security Review was “unravelling”. Ministers are said ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Marine Corps aviation introduced the F-35B Lightning II aircraft into its fleet. The short takeoff vertical landing variant combined with fifth generation capabilities is a breakthrough in itself, matching the importance of the first Marine aviator and starting a new chapter in Marine Corps aviation history. 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 hosted the ceremony inducting the F-35B Lightning II multirole, joint strike fighter, into the ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Lockheed Martin has announced today that the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A Lightning II has conducted its first external weapons test mission. On missions where stealth isn’t such a high priority, F-35 is able to carry external weapons loads like fourth-generation fighters of today. The first external weapons test was conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and is a further expansion of the flight test envelope for the ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Italy will reduce its planned order of Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter jets and trim the size of the military as part of defense-spending cuts, Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola said. Italy will purchase 90 F-35s rather than the originally planned 131, Di Paola said in Rome in testimony before a joint defense committee of both houses of Parliament today. The nation needs to cut the military’s size by about ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
The Pentagon is gearing up to restructure Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program for a third time in three years, sources said, with production of more than 120 more planes to be postponed to save money and allow more time for development. The latest changes should save the Pentagon about $15 billion from fiscal 2013 through 2017 and will be part of the fiscal 2013 budget plan to be ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Japan has chosen the F-35 stealth fighter jet to replace its aging F-4s as the mainstay of its air defence fleet. Tokyo announced it would buy a total of 42 of the Joint Strike Fighters from defence giant Lockheed Martin, in a deal worth some $8bn (£5bn). The jet was chosen over the Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. The announcement comes amid regional uncertainty following the death of ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
The most expensive weapons program in U.S. history is about to get a lot pricier. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, meant to replace nearly every tactical warplane in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, was already expected to cost $1 trillion dollars for development, production and maintenance over the next 50 years. Now that cost is expected to grow, owing to 13 different design flaws uncovered in the last ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Senator John McCain took to the Senate floor this afternoon to criticize Lockheed Martin’s handling of the Joint Strike Fighter program and pressed for the company “to assume an increased share of any cost overruns.” McCain, who cited AOL Defense’s interview last week with F-35 program head Vice Adm. David Venlet, pointed to the LRIP Lot 5 negotiations with Lockheed. “It is at this exact moment that the excessive overlap ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Nov
20
New cracks on some F-35Bs
Three of the five developmental Lockheed Martin F-35Bs have developed tiny cracks in a lift fan-related component which prevent the flight-test aircraft from reconfiguring in flight and landing vertically. Two flight-test aircraft – BF-1 and BF-2 – are now being modified with a redesigned actuator support beam, according to the joint programme office. BF-4 has also developed “hairline” cracks in the same part, but is continuing to fly in conventional ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
Washington is prepared to offer India its latest F-35 Lightning II stealth combat aircraft, otherwise known as the Joint Strike Fighter, according to India’s IANS news agency, after U.S. companies lost a tender earlier this year to sell 126 fighter aircraft to Delhi. If India is interested in the JSF, the United States is prepared to supply information about the aircraft as part of the sales process, according to a ...
Category: F-35 Lightning II
