‘Red 04’

…and cockpit of (pre-production) ‘white’ 48:

http://russianplanes.net/images/to65000/064288.jpg

I may have missed this, but there is genuine evidence that both these aircraft are so expensive that the competition is in tatters?

The true cost will approach $20bn that much has been acknowledged by officials already, I don’t see Rupee depreciation being much of an issue because it would have been factored in, besides it has been within a tight range with the Euro for around 18 months now (currently @ INR 65.13) but the Indian Govt. would ideally like to see it nearer INR 60 @ contract signing stage in late Spring (unless for some absurd reason this contract will be priced in US$). A reminder that MMRCA is deemed a critical national security acquisition to address force depletion.

It appears the Indian MoD is trying to wring the maximum possible from the two parties @ the 11th hour, and who could blame them? They’re well aware their decision will quite possibly forever doom the loser on the international market.

According to ACM Browne the announcement is imminent -and he’s most likely to be in the know, after waiting several years what’s a few more days (or possibly hours)?

Be patient.

Gasifier of изделия 129 in 2011 was already tested on a CIAM testing stand?

No, that’s referring to constructing a test stand/rig for the combustion chamber of the ‘Izdeliye 129’.

Interesting find JSTCVW09CD. It appears to be quite a well informed piece on NPO Saturn’s R&D during 2011- is it a shareholder’s synopsis?. This is only the second time the Izdeliye 30 has been mentioned (it was referred to as the ‘Type 30’ by Saturn’s General Designer and First Deputy General Director Chepkin in April last year).

Although Chepkin claimed the ‘Type 30’ had already flow, your article refutes that claim, more likely he was mis-quoted/reported and probably meant components of the ‘Type 30’ have been flight tested. Interestingly, the T-10M b/n ‘710’ has been quite active since last Autumn.

Imho, the ‘Izdeliye/Type 30’ is the engine selected by the IAF for the FGFA and is a de-rated ‘Izdeliye 129’ (Chief of the IAF has already categorically stated it will not be the 117). If RuAF PAK-FA’s are to achieve IOC ~2018, then in all likelihood they’ll do so with the ‘Type 30’ and ‘Izdeliye 129’ will follow later.

…make that tailfins:

Congressional Research Service report on the F-35 from April 2011:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30563.pdf

GAO Criticism of F-35 Program

An April 7, 2011, report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that although restructuring had helped the F-35 program overall, some specific issues continued to lag. Most notably, GAO cited:

• The maturity of the F-35’s design: “The JSF program still lags in achieving
critical indicators of success expected from well-performing acquisition
programs. Specifically, the program has not yet stabilized aircraft designs—
engineering changes continue at higher than expected rates long after critical
design reviews and well into procurement.”21

• Software development: “Officials underestimated the time and effort needed to develop and integrate the software.. each of the remaining three blocks—providing full mission systems and warfighting capabilities—are now projected to slip between 2 to 3 years compared to the 2006 plan.”22

• Testing: “The JSF program established 12 clearly-stated goals in testing,
contracting, and manufacturing for completion in calendar year 2010. It had
mixed success, achieving 6 goals and making varying degrees of progress on the other 6.”23 As a consequence of the failure to meet test goals, contractor Lockheed Martin forfeited $28 million of a possible $35 million in award fees for 2010.24

Three major technical issues emerged for the F-35B.

The first was premature wear on hinges for the auxiliary inlet door feeding the F-35B’s lift fan, which caused the F-35B fleet to be grounded in September 2010. A technical fix was in place by January 2011.

Second, cracks were discovered in a bulkhead of an F-35B used for fatigue testing “after the airplane had been subjected to the equivalent of about 1,500 hours of flight time out of a total 16,000 hours planned.” Prime contractor Lockheed Martin has redesigned the bulkhead, and“‘(o)ther locations of similar design are also being assessed,’ company spokesman John Kent said in an e-mailed statement Jan. 11.”27 The aluminum bulkhead is unique to the F-35B; “F-35A and F-35C bulkheads are still made of titanium, as are similar bulkheads on the F-22.”28

Third, the driveshaft, lift-fan clutch, and actuator for the F-35B’s roll-post nozzles will be redesigned following discovery that the driveshaft contracts and expands more than expected, and that the other components experience more heat than anticipated during flight operations.29

Unit Costs

As of December 31, 2010, the F-35 program had a program acquisition unit cost (or PAUC, meaning total acquisition cost divided by the 2,456 research and development and procurement aircraft) of about $154.4 million in constant FY2010 dollars, and an average procurement unit cost (or APUC, meaning total procurement cost divided by the 2,443 production aircraft) of $132.8 million in constant FY2010 dollars.

You can cast doubt on whatever you think, but the reality is that my background was naturally part of my clearance process. No clearance mans no job in the area I am in. Its simple really. I’ve been quite clear about having no involvement or influence on JSF and yet for some bizarre reason you have taken the path that anyone remotely seen as endorsing or supporting anything associated with JSF as fair game or implied vsted interest

There’s this dude called Richard Dawkins and he’s a world renowned geneticist and biologist, but most people will recognise him as a staunch atheist. This guy has picked up the mantle of string theory and the multiverse (which is, incidentally, the last bastion of the atheist) in an effort to rubbish the existence of a Creator or Supreme Being.

What irritates me greatly is that this guy trots the World and booms with authority about things he knows next to nothing about (I for one am fairly confident I know much more than him about quantum mechanics/field theory, relativity, classical physics etc. though I’m not a scientist/researcher).
Yet using his status as a professor and author to sell string theory and multiverse which is based on theoretical mathematical models untestable in the ‘real world’ (not to mention reaching a dead-end after countless twists and turns over the last 30 years), is grossly disingenuous.

He is dictating a baseless fallacy to pander to his sense of superiority and status that makes most physicists cringe. His hubris has culminated in his greatest misjudgement- it doesn’t matter what he himself believes in so vigorously, what matters is what reasonably intelligent people can deductively reason given the relevant information & data.

You Sir have directly emulated this fundamentally flawed approach with the F-35.

You’re so stoopid LowObservable!! The titanium tubs on the Swiss hornets are in case they fly into a mountain- of which there are many [in Switzerland], or so I’m reliably informed…..and fyi the titanium tub optional extra on the RAAF F-35s only increases their cost by $50K, to $68,050,000. G’Day!!