The airframes will be new builds. But parts that can be scavenged, for instance the ejection seats, will be reused.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/06/us-usa-budget-airforce-idUSBRE91516120130206

So the official F-35 order cut is coming. The US Navy will be glad to just dump the F-35C and buy Silent Hornets instead.

Those cuts are a result of the automatic spending cuts triggered if the US debt ceiling is reached. They will probably make sure that does not happen.

But further along the road, F-35 cuts are likely.

FYI, ATD-X Shinshin was RCS measured in France, because only the US ad France had such RCS measuring facilities.

Here is a shot of Viggen from the 90ies, on its way up from the underground for RCS tests on Combtech’s (a SAAB subsidiary) outdoor antenna measurement range.

Signatory, the oracle of all things Gripen, seems to indicate May 2013 for resumed flights with Gripen Demo, no info on the first flight of a newbuilt aircraft though.

“Return to flight of #Gripen test aircraft 39-7 scheduled for May 2013 (Phase 5) fitted with digital HUD, 4 channel AESA, IRST.”
“#Gripen E flight test programme using a/c 39-7 (existing NG Demo) and future airframes 39-8, 39-9, 39-10.”

Syarikat means compay, Daesu = Dassault 😉 Creative spelling.

Hum a few navies have and even more are now building stealth frigates. The fact that the US stayed way behind for a while and is planning a doing so in the future with the prologation of current class of ships doesn’t mean the rest of the world is. China, Russia, India, Europe… many countries are building stealth ships.

Also while most people talk about the Visby class when thinking about steatlh ships, the very first were the French Lafayette class.

9/10 of those stealth sthips are arguably not stealthy but rather have reduced observability characteristics. Most (all?) of them have exposed weapons. Many sensors/antennas are not sufficenctly dealt with (lack of lo&bandpass-radomes for radar is not an uncommon sight for ex). Visby is one rare exception.

Anyway, that is for another topic and not the F-35 thread…

[…]
Some news.
– Saab was the foreign partner that was involved in the project under the radar.
– The KFX has a Saab-certified life-lime cost(Development + Production + Operation) of $23 billion for 120 Block 1 units.
[..]

Interesting.

Do you, or anyone else reading this thread, have another source for that? (I.e. a source that is not a forum posting / blog post)

Gripen E/F will not necessairly use MAW300. As an alternative SAAB has proposed a two-color IR MAWS solution. I have not heard much about that lately though.

See this http://bayimg.com/MaiCaAAem for some older (~2008-2009 IIRC) information.