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Serious F-35B - A New Chapter In The RSAF's Aerial Mastery Over ASEAN Skies!

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Stealth F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Has Some Serious Problems: Report
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January 31, 2019 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: ChinaRussiaMilitaryTechnologyF-35
The 2018 report from the Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm, set for public release this week and obtained early by Bloomberg's Tony Capaccio, indicates that ongoing reliability issues have drastically shortened the service life far below expectations.
by Task and Purpose
























The egregiously expensive and notoriously unreliable F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are even more of a disappointment than you previously thought, according to a new Department of Defense assessment obtained by Bloomberg News.
The 2018 report from the Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm, set for public release this week and obtained early by Bloomberg's Tony Capaccio, indicates that ongoing reliability issues have drastically shortened the service life far below expectations, so far that there's "no improving trend in" available aircraft for training and combat missions — a dangerous combinatio n for a perpetually buggy aircraft.
Here are some of the specifics, per Bloomberg's report :

-The service life of the F-35B variants adopted by the Marine Corps "may be as low as 2,100 [hours]," an eye-popping shortfall compared too the expected service life of 8,000 hours.
-"Interim reliability and field maintenance metrics to meeting planned 80% goal not being met," which means fewer aircraft available to actually train on and, therefore, increased barriers to improving readiness among aviators.

-Cybersecurity testing indicated that several vulnerabilities revealed in previous years "still have not been remedied," an alarming tend in an age of cyberattacks.
-Testing on the Air Force weapons systems used in air-to-ground attack indicates "unacceptable" accuracy, a detail which might explain why someone opted to leak a video of an F-35A hitting 5 precision targets at once earlier in January.

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-News of the OT&E report's contents came just a day after Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan statedthe that F-35 "had a lot of opportunity for more performance" in an apparent jab at the aircraft's shortcomings.
"I am biased toward giving the taxpayer their money's worth," Shanahan said on Tuesday. "And the F-35, unequivocally, I can say, has a lot of opportunity for more performance."

Lockheed Martin's CEO pushed back on the criticism during a call with investors, stating that, "If they chose to have an order on F-15 … it won't be at the expense of F-35 quantities," per the Washington Post : "I'm hearing that directly from the leadership in the Pentagon … not just our suspicion, but I've been told that directly. So I'm not concerned about that."
The F-35 program is expected to cost most than $1.5 trillion over the course of its 55-year lifespan, although the cost of each aircraft is expected to fall to $80 million by 2020.

This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter .
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Stealth Nightmare: Is the F-35 Unable to Fight?
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February 1, 2019 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: F-35MilitaryTechnologyWorldStealthAir Force
Another setback for the F-35?
by Dan Grazier
























Behler writes that operational testing cannot begin until the program updates versions of the F-35’s operating software, mission-data files, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and testing range infrastructure software.
The troubled $1.5 trillion F-35 program is not ready to begin the critical combat-testing phase, the Pentagon’s testing director said in a previously undisclosed August memo obtained by the Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). That decision marks another setback in the development of the Pentagon’s largest acquisition program.
The memo, issued on August 24, 2018, says the program has not met the necessary entry criteria to begin the crucial combat-testing phase called Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E). It comes on the heels of the revelation , reported first by POGO, that program officials have been trying to make it appear as though the program has completed the development phase, by altering paperwork to reclassify potentially life-threatening design flaws to give the appearance of progress rather than actually fixing them.

(This first appeared several months ago.)
IOT&E is the last legal hurdle an acquisition program must surmount before it can enter full-rate production. Per federal law , this process cannot begin until the director of operational test and evaluation approves in writing that the program has met all the necessary criteria to execute the agreed-upon testing program.

Robert Behler, the director of operational test and evaluation, is delaying IOT&E until the program addresses several software issues. Behler writes that operational testing cannot begin until the program updates versions of the F-35’s operating software, mission-data files, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and testing range infrastructure software.

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While it is not clear from the memo which specific problems remain to be resolved, previous testing reports found “key technical deficiencies in the ability of the F-35 to employ the AIM-120 weapons ” (the principle air-to-air missile) and an “uncharacterized bias toward long and right of the target” when pilots fire the aircraft’s cannon, resulting in them “consistently missing ground targets during strafe testing .”

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The next version of the F-35’s operating software, Behler writes, should add to the aircraft’s capabilities to ensure it can perform several key combat missions including strategic attack, air interdiction, offensive counter air, and electronic attack. The aircraft’s Mission Data Loads are large files of maps, threat electronic signals, data on potential enemy weapons, as well as friendly systems to enable the F-35’s sensors to sort friend from foe. ALIS is the much-troubled maintenance and logistics network that combines embedded diagnostics functions, supply chain management, and maintenance guidance. Previous testing found that most ALIS functions work only with “ a high level of manual effort by ALIS administrators and maintenance personnel.”
The services and program officials had previously set September 15, 2018, as the deadline to begin IOT&E. Behler, in the face of undoubtedly enormous pressure to stick to that schedule, has delayed the start date by approximately two months, when the updated software versions are expected to be delivered.

This is an example of an important government oversight office working precisely as intended. Congress created the Pentagon’s operational testing office in 1983 to ensure lawmakers received accurate information about the performance of new weapon systems. Before the creation of the office, any testing data Members of Congress received had been filtered through the very bureaucracies that had vested interests in making sure nothing stood in the way of a weapon system reaching full-rate production.
Decisions about full-rate production and combat testing should be based on performance, not merely predetermined schedules. Testing planes with software and systems that won’t be in the aircraft when it’s delivered to the services would be wasteful, and delivering systems that haven’t been combat-tested would put pilots’ lives at risk. We’re glad to see the director of operational test and evaluation is putting service members ahead of contractors.

Dan Grazier is the Jack Shanahan Military Fellow at the Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight (where this firstappeared).
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Is the F-35 obsolete?
By Ewen Levick | Sydney | 7 March 2019
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2 / 3 free articles left.

The unveiling of Boeing and RAAF’s experimental unmanned fighter, the Air Power Teaming System (or the less clunky ‘Loyal Wingman’), stole the show at Avalon last week.

The aircraft, developed under Minor Program 6014 Phase 1, is a semi-autonomous air vehicle designed to fight alongside fast jets like the F-35 or F-18. It is capable of carrying weapons, sensors, and possibly EW capabilities. The purpose of the Loyal Wingman is to ‘act as an extension’ of manned platforms, act as a force multiplier, and potentially undertake the riskier missions in a high-end fight. It is controlled from either a manned aircraft or ground stations.

Exact performance details are classified, but according to Boeing, the Wingman can “keep up with the aircraft it is designed to protect” - suggesting the aircraft can match the F-35 for speed, manoeuvrability, signature, and perhaps range (the unclassified range is around 2,000 nautical miles).

If this new unmanned ‘fighter-like’ aircraft is designed to match an F-35... why send an F-35 and a pilot into harm’s way at all?
Investment figures show that the platform clearly has capability and performance potential: Defence has stumped up $40 million to procure three Wingmen, an unusually large sum for an experimental platform, and the project is the largest investment Boeing has ever made in an unmanned platform outside the US. When asked for exact numbers, a Boeing spokesperson simply said, “Look, we’re Boeing. It’s a lot of money.”

The Wingman, however, raises significant questions about the platform it is designed to protect. It can be flown without an accompanying F-35, although neither RAAF nor Boeing “envision it being used that way”. Why not? If this new unmanned ‘fighter-like’ aircraft with ‘plug and play’ payloads is designed to match the performance and capabilities of an F-35, and can be flown without one nearby, why send an F-35 and a pilot into harm’s way at all? Has the Loyal Wingman made the F-35 obsolete?

These may come as deeply unattractive questions. After all, the F-35 is the world’s most expensive military project. Australia’s first two F-35s only landed in-country three months ago, and another 70 aircraft, worth somewhere in the realm of US$90 million each, are on the way. Yet ADM understands that the Loyal Wingman could be undertaking test flights as early as next year, before RAAF’s F-35s achieve IOC. A lot of money is going into an aircraft whose replacement may have already been unveiled.

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The Loyal Wingman could be undertaking test flights as early as next year. Credit: Boeing
The Loyal Wingman could be undertaking test flights as early as next year. Credit: Boeing
So let’s assume that the Loyal Wingman has not made the F-35 obsolete, as Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne asserted when ADM asked the question. That gives us a new question - where is the point of difference?

If the Wingman truly can ‘keep up with an F-35’, then the point of difference must be on-board capabilities rather than flight performance. The air vehicle is far more than glorified ordnance carrier; the project team has taken a modular ‘plug and play’ approach, allowing for quick payload reconfigurations for different missions. This means the point of difference is unlikely to be the on-board capabilities themselves, but rather the number of capabilities the Wingman is capable of carrying in comparison to an F-35 on any given mission.

Could the combination of Wingmen and an F-35 could be equalled by alternate, unmanned combinations?
That conclusion, however, only leads to further questions. Could the combination of Wingmen and an F-35 could be equalled by alternate, unmanned combinations? If ISR, EW, and weapons capabilities are truly ‘plug and play’, perhaps other Wingmen with different on-board configurations, or even a Triton, could fill in for the manned jet. The answer to this question is not clear. Yet as long as there is no clear answer, then the first question – whether the Wingman has made the F-35 obsolete - remains valid.

So let’s take it a step further and assume that the sum of an F-35 and Wingmen truly is greater than any alternate combination of platforms. If the Wingmen are used as intended, the likely scenario will be an F-35 with two Wingmen deployed forward and the pilot out of harm’s way in the rear. Yet this puts strain on the pilot, who now has control, either partial or full, over three rather large aircraft, and relegates the F-35 to an over-the-horizon task manager. Why not assign control of the Wingmen to a ground station or any other manned aircraft? The point of difference that necessitates the presence of an F-35 must now lie between the jet and any other platform capable of acting as a ‘system of systems’ node and remotely tasking an unmanned system, and until that point of difference is clear, the question of obsolescence remains open.

An alternate explanation is that the Wingmen are not actually accompanying the F-35, but the F-35 is the one accompanying the Wingmen. US company Department 13 has demonstrated its ability to take over UAS in flight using protocol mimicry. If RAAF fears that the Wingmen are vulnerable to being commandeered by an adversary, then perhaps the F-35 is actually there to watch the watchmen. This conclusion is abstract, but even if true, it still does not prove the unique utility of F-35s.

Either the Wingman is not what it appears to be, or the F-35 is a short-lived benchwarmer
Lastly, there is the observation that the F-35 is needed to fill the capability gap between Super Hornets/Growlers and a truly operational fleet of unmanned fighter aircraft. The Loyal Wingman certainly has a fair way to go before it is deployable, but with a test flight scheduled next year, it is well on the way. This observation, therefore, at best relegates the F-35 to the role of a short-lived benchwarmer.

So we’re back where we started – if the Wingman is what it appears to be, why place the person in the cockpit of an F-35 in danger at all? Where is the point of difference? It may be payload capacity, but as long as that conclusion is unclear then the obsolescence question remains valid. If it truly is payload capacity, then the point of difference must lie between the F-35 and any other networked joint platform with ‘system of systems’ integration, beyond line-of-sight and remote tasking capabilities – another unclear conclusion that leaves the original question open. Perhaps an F-35 must fly alongside the Wingman to off-set the vulnerability of the semi-autonomous system, but it is not the only solution to that problem. We’re left with two possible answers: either the Wingman is not what it appears to be, or the F-35 is a short-lived benchwarmer - not quite obsolete, but close.

The question may be deeply uninviting, but until we know more about what the Wingman can and cannot do, it is worth asking.

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You Can't Stop the Eagle: Why the F-15X Will Dominate the Skies

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March 26, 2019 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: F-22F-35MilitaryTechnologyWorldStealth
The F-15X’s weapons loadout would make it a beast in any “Beyond Visual Range” fight.

by Task and Purpose



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The F-15X’s weapons loadout would make it a beast in any “Beyond Visual Range” fight, and in the age of China’s anti-access/area denial strategy or A2/D2, BVR will be the name of the game in the opening phase of any hypothetical conflict in Asia.

The U.S. Air Force has been secretly organizing a plan to replace its F-15 C/D fleet with brand spanking new F-15X Eagle air superiority fighters, the Drive reported on Wednesday. This move could take the heat off of the service’s handful of F-22 Raptors or make up for F-35 shortcomings — and cushion the expenses involved in operating and maintaining two 5th-generation fighters.

(This first appeared mid last year.)


Originally commissioned in the mid-’70s to take on Soviet hordes over the skies of Europe , the Eagle has become a staple in the warzones of the Middle East and Central Asia. The age of the Air Force’s 200-plus Eagle fighters has been a cause for concern — especially as they age faster than F-35s are getting operational.

The F-35 is a Swiss army knife of an aircraft, laden with stealth features and air-to-ground missions, making it a less capable dogfighter than the F-15 in close quarters. And if the F-35 is used as a stand-off missile-hauler, carrying a full complement of 16 air-to-air missiles on external pylons, it loses the stealth characteristics that make it so valuable (and pricey).


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The F-15, on the other hand, is arguably the king of 4th-gen air to air fighters. Boeing has continued to refine the internal avionics of the Eagle, exporting upgraded variants to Israel, Saudi Arabia , and Qatar. The proposed F-15X would be able to hold 22 air-to-air missiles, and would slide right into the systems already in place to field and service the F-15 C/D fleet. The F-15X’s weapons loadout would make it a beast in any “Beyond Visual Range” fight, and in the age of China’s anti-access/area denial strategy or A2/D2, BVR will be the name of the game in the opening phase of any hypothetical conflict in Asia.

The F-15X will feature a new pylon system allowing it to handle heavier weapons loads, upgraded electronic warfare suites, an electronically scanned radar array, and even a sweet new multi-function sensor known as the “Legion Pod.” It will also feature the relatively low, low price of $27,000 per flight hour to fly, compared to the $35,000 it costs to fly the Raptor for an hour.


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In the novel Ghost Fleet , reliance on 5th-gen fighters paints Uncle Sam into a corner when a war kicks off with China and Russia in the Pacific. In this nightmare scenario, the U.S. Air Force pulls retired F-15s out of bone-yards to supplement the skeleton fleet of F-22s and F-35s that survived the surprise attack.

Well, at least that’s one war scenario we can actually preempt now.


This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter .
 

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Asset
:"Singapore's healthcare receipts already exceed $9 billion and is rising faster than GDP, with a certainty it will rise even further.
Eventually, this will be unsustainable, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday (March 23).
In the medium-term, the country will have to find new ways to fund healthcare spending "

LHL says no money for healthcare but got money to buy expensive weapons .
See what happened when 2 Malaysian boats deliberately intruded into our waters and stayed for months -did these expensive weapons deter them?
 

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:"Singapore's healthcare receipts already exceed $9 billion and is rising faster than GDP, with a certainty it will rise even further.
Eventually, this will be unsustainable, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday (March 23).
In the medium-term, the country will have to find new ways to fund healthcare spending "

LHL says no money for healthcare but got money to buy expensive weapons .
See what happened when 2 Malaysian boats deliberately intruded into our waters and stayed for months -did these expensive weapons deter them?
Pinky should just invest a small portion on Soylent Green. Old n infirmed who take tat option can move on peacefully m with dignity. Cut demand for the medical corporations n save the budget heaps. It also helps the pappies be letting them drop the facade of caring for the populace. Win win for all. Soylent Green. It's For People
 

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F-35 Can't Do This: Russia's Su-57 Stealth Fighter Has a New Weapon
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April 7, 2019 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: RussiaMilitaryTechnologyWorldSu-57F-22F-35
"In accordance with Russia's State Armament Program for 2018-2027, Su-57 jet fighters will be equipped with hypersonic missiles. The jet fighters will receive missiles with characteristics similar to that of the Kinzhal missiles, but with inter-body placement and smaller size," says a defense industry insider.
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In the prior months, The National Interest discussed the possibility of Russia’s fifth-generation stealth fighter being outfitted with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Russian state news reported Kinzhal integration on the Su-57 earlier this week: "In accordance with Russia's State Armament Program for 2018-2027, Su-57 jet fighters will be equipped with hypersonic missiles. The jet fighters will receive missiles with characteristics similar to that of the Kinzhal missiles, but with inter-body placement and smaller size," says a defense industry insider.
(This first appeared late last year.)
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The prospect of hypersonic missiles on the Su-57 was previously teased by Boris Obnosov, general director of the Tactical Missiles Corporation (KTRV): “In perspective, we can certainly anticipate this [hypersonic] weaponry over the following decade. Everything will come in due time for the Su-57, likely including hypersonic weapons.”
The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is a nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putinat a high-profile speech in early 2018: “The missile flying at a hypersonic speed, 10 times faster than the speed of sound, can also maneuver at all phases of its flight trajectory, which also allows it to overcome all existing and, I think, prospective anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, delivering nuclear and conventional warheads in a range of over 2,000 kilometers.”


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Prior speculation on this topic centered around the difficulties of fitting KInzhal missiles onto the Su-57, and doing so without compromising its stealth capabilities. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not issued an official confirmation at the time of writing, leaving a host of open questions about what could prove to be a major development for Russian threat projection.
Does “characteristics similar to that of the Kinzhal missiles” simply mean a smaller Kh-47M2 variant, or a different hypersonic missile with similar capabilities to that of Kinzhal? Will smaller dimensions translate into reduced range or other technical limitations as compared with the original Kinzhal, and how many of these missiles can be stored in the Su-57’s weapons bay? Will this Kinzhal-like missile increase the Su-57’s cross section?

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This development can be taken as a sign of the Kremlin’s confidence in the state of the Su-57 project, which itself heavily depends on the manufacturing progress of the Su-57’s new Saturn Izdeliye 30 engine. There is no indication as to whether or not the smaller Kinzhal variant will be compatible with other Russian fighters that cannot fit the original Kh-47M2.
It is not surprising that the Russian air force would pursue ways to package its latest missile capabilities together with its cutting-edge jet technology. Russia’s integration of hypersonic missiles with fifth-generation stealth capabilities could yield considerable dividends in its threat projection capacity.

Still, It remains to be seen how much these weapons will increase production costs of the already expensive Su-57. To the extent that there are design workarounds to mitigate the stealth impact of hypersonic missiles, will that drive up the Su-57’s cost even more?
Kinzhal was first demonstrated with the MiG-31K supersonic fighter, an iteration of the MiG-31 designed for the new hypersonic missile. In a similar vein, the Tu-22M3 has been modified from the base Tupolev Tu-22M to carry four Kinzhal missiles. Whereas these two aircraft were modified to accommodate the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, it is a noteworthy departure that the Kh-47M2 is reportedly being modified to accommodate the Su-57.

Mark Episkopos is a frequent contributor to The National Interest and serves as a research assistant at the Center for the National Interest. Mark is also a Ph.D. student in History at American University.
Image: Creative Commons.




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Historic Moment: U.S. Air Force F-35 Stealth Fighters Just Went Off to War


April 16, 2019 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: F-35MilitaryAir ForceStealthTechnologyISIS
At least six F-35s from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings on April 12, 2019 traveled from their home station at Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates to participate in coalition air operations targeting Islamic State militants in the Middle East.

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U.S. Air Force F-35 stealth fighters for the first time have deployed for combat.

At least six F-35s from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings on April 12, 2019 traveled from their home station at Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates to participate in coalition air operations targeting Islamic State militants in the Middle East.

"We are adding a cutting-edge weapons system to our arsenal that significantly enhances the capability of the coalition," said Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command. "The sensor fusion and survivability this aircraft provides to the joint force will enhance security and stability across the theater and deter aggressors."


Air Force F-35As in April 2017 deployed to Royal Air Force base Lakenheath. USAF F-35As that fall also deployed to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. The Middle East deployment is the USAF stealth fighter's first to a war zone.

The F-35s could fill the gap that the Air Force's F-22 Raptors left when in February 2019 they departed the Middle East after five years of continuous operations. Older, non-stealthy F-15C fighters stood in for the radar-evading F-22s as the Pentagon's main air-superiority fighters in the region.


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The Air Force once touted the Raptors as a "quarterback" for strike operations in a complex area that includes anti-aircraft threats from the Syrian military, as well as Russian aircraft operating in the region.

Not coincidentally, Air Force leaders have begun describing the F-35 in similar terms. "The F-35A provides our nation air dominance in any threat," said Gen. David Goldfein, chief of staff of the Air Force. "When it comes to having a ‘quarterback’ for the coalition joint force, the inter-operable F-35A is clearly the aircraft for the leadership role."


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In fact, the Air Force had little choice but to pull the radar-evading Raptors from the Middle East. The flying branch is struggling to rebuild the tiny and stressed F-22 force following the destruction of Tyndall Air Force Base, once the home of scores of Raptors, in Hurricane Michael in October 2018.

The Air Force operates around 180 F-22s in five front-line squadrons. The F-35 force as of April 2019 actually is smaller with just four front-line squadrons, all at Hill. But the Air Force steadily is buying around 50 F-35s annually as it works toward a total inventory of more than 1,700 of the single-engine stealth fighters.


With the April 2019 deployment, the U.S. Air Force becomes the third service after the Israeli air force and the U.S. Marine Corps to deploy the F-35 in combat. The U.K. Royal Air Force soon could become the fourth to send F-35s to a war zone.

Tel Aviv in May 2018 announced it deployed the radar-evading jet on two fronts. The Israeli government circulated a photo of an Israeli F-35A flying over Beirut in Lebanon during the daytime, strongly implying the fighter struck targets in Lebanon. Israeli warplanes also frequently operate over Syria.


U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs in September 2018 conducted an air strike in support of what the U.S. Navy described as "ground clearance operations" in Afghanistan.

The Royal Air Force in April 2019 announced its own plan to deploy F-35Bs to the Middle East some time in 2019. "Britain’s new cutting-edge F-35B aircraft will depart their home station of RAF Marham in Norfolk later this year for Cyprus in their first overseas deployment," the U.K. government stated.


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RAF warplanes fly from two bases for missions targeting Islamic State militants in the Middle East. In the east, RAF fighters and support planes operate from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. In the west, another RAF expeditionary group flies from Al Udeid air base in Qatar.

Deploying to Cyprus makes it likely the RAF F-35s will fly combat sorties. The RAF in April 2019 operates 17 vertical-landing F-35Bs. In all, the U.K. air arm plans to acquire 138 F-35s from Lockheed Martin and operate them over the long term alongside a similar number of Eurofighter Typhoons.


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Besides flying from land bases, RAF F-35Bs starting in late 2019 also will operate from the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. While the RAF owns the F-35s, air force and navy crews together fly the planes as part of the U.K. Lightning Force.

The U.S. Navy is still working up its own F-35C squadrons for their first front-line cruise aboard an aircraft carrier, currently scheduled for 2021.
 

mudhatter

Alfrescian
Loyal
Won't jamming tje radar make any aircraft stealth!

Frequency hopping.

With advanced technologies like AESA radars, frequency hopping radar emissions will make it easier to evade jamming.

Jamming is easier said than done. You need good ISR ability for that. You also need powerful jammers.

Armed Forces use more than just a single radar. Which makes jamming all radars hard.

With ''home on jam'', the source of jamming can also be targetted with missile strikes.

More complicated than it sounds to a noob.
 
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