Turkey Air Force (THK) F-35As (18-0001 & 02) will be put in storage at USAF’s Luke AFB this week. Their Turkish pilots will return their country with their training incomplete as the US President Trump signed NDAA banning delivery of F-35s to Erdogan’s regime.

https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee/st…35666561658880

Has this been confirmed by other sources?

Saab doesn’t mention supercruise capability on their website.

Actually they do:

Supercruise capability: Yes

https://saab.com/globalassets/gripen.com/downloads/gripen-e-fact-sheet–en.pdf

I think it is widely understood that:

1. The SC capability of Gripen E is limited to around Mach 1.2 or so

2. Gripen E will have this capability only in a light config (i.e., a2a with 4 a2a missiles).

So the value of this is limited, nevertheless, according to Saab, the capability should be there (within the above-mentioned limits, most likely).

Japan is considering engaging with the United Kingdom on its newly disclosed Combat Air Strategy and its plans to develop the Tempest future fighter aircraft, a model of which was unveiled at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow in mid-July.

http://www.janes.com/article/82008/japan-indicates-possible-tempest-collaboration-with-uk

Because the two other european designs are, oh… such a sucess…

I would say both Rafale and Gripen programs were successful, meeting the main customer’s requirements with acceptable delays and minimal cost overruns.

The Typhoon seems to struggle in comparison, in spite of having much deeper pockets and the advantage of much larger number of units on order which should reduce the per unit cost considerably. Instead we are seeing that the Rafale is much more mature, and seem to cost less (or the same) as the Typhoon; in addition the Rafale is also carrier capable. So overall a much more versatile and mature system.

Lack of export orders are partly due to politics, partly due to veru tough competition from the US.

LONDON (Reuters) – The chief executive of Airbus (AIR.PA) said he was open to a merger of his firm’s jet fighter business with that of BAE Systems (BAES.L), the Sunday Times reported.

Tom Enders was quoted as saying it was time to “seriously look at consolidating and coalescing efforts eventually to one” and that “there’s just no room for three different programs, not even for two”.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbus-m-a-bae-systems/airbus-ceo-says-eyes-merger-of-its-baes-jet-fighter-units-sunday-times-idUSKBN1KB0U1

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/airbus-boss-im-a-veteran-of-trying-to-merge-with-bae-dnt58brz7

With Brexit coming up, how realistic is this?

FARNBOROUGH, England — Saab showed off its developmental RBS15 Mk4 anti-ship missile dubbed the Gungnir at the Farnborough Airshow, stressing that the focus of the work is to deliver it for integration on the Swedish Air Force’s Gripen E fighter so the service can retain this capability when in-service versions become obsolete.

The Mk4 will have a sea-skimming range of some 300km, and although Saab could not reveal the exact range of the Mk1, the new version is expected to be triple that.

It will also have an anti-jam capability, will be fitted for but does not come with a new data link, and is a composite design that reduces the weight of the system.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/farnborough/2018/07/19/saab-readies-new-anti-ship-missile-for-swedish-air-forces-gripen-fighters/

It is a bit funny that Brexit seems to be leaving the UK out of the French/German fighter initiative, at the same time the UK is starting their own initiative, indicating several EU countries (Spain, Italy, Sweden) as possible partners….

If Brexit really means that the UK cannot participate in EU defence development work as they did in the past, why would EU countries consider to drop joining the French/German fighter program and instead joining an UK led effort to build a new fighter?

Possible answers could be that the UK fighter could be a better fit in tems or requirements; or that the UK program offers a better deal.

Hopefully the UK will come to her senses, have another Brexit referendum, and halt the Brexit. This could then be followed by a combined program involving all of Europe. Europe is not big enough for two fighter jet programs.

I hope the French and Dassault are not expecting Germany to pay for anything. If so, it will languish like Typhoon development.

Trumps behavior may start to change how Germany looks at defence… I think there is a slow change in Germany regarding this. The US has long pushed for all NATO countries to spend 2% of GDP on defence. Germany is far from that but the pressure is increasing. Something got to give in the end.

On verra.