Spitfire9They just published a 3 series article in favour of F35 also. I think if someone writes a nice piece about F18 ASH (or Typhoon), they will publish it also.
Thanks. Just skimmed through the final pro-F-35 article by David Pugliese. In its conclusion it claims “Of the fighters being considered, (Rafale, Eurofighter, Gripen NG, F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-35 ;Lightning II), only two of the five options will be or is expected to be in production when Canada decides to purchase its replacement. The options will be F-35 and Gripen NG.” I hear that Boeing need to make a decision very soon on continuing the F/A-18 line but Rafale production is assured for many years and Eurofighter at least until 2017/2018 meaning no production continuation/shutdown decision would need to be taken for at least another year. When is Canada scheduled to make a decision?
Spitfire9For refs wait for next week ottawa citizen
Does Ottawa Citizen hold an opinion on F-18 replacement? Is it lobbying against F-35 for Canada or simply setting out the pros and cons for F-35 and alternatives?
Spitfire9I don’t know, I’m thinking what a sad and pathetic situation the U.S. military and defence industry has become, not being able to design, build and deliver a trainer aircraft in general! But in reality I would hate to think what U.S. ‘corporate’ defence industry would create if they were given the opertunity and faith ……….. complexity, time blow-outs and massive over costs 🙁
Regards
Pioneer
Yes. If there is a wheel available that will do the job why invite problems by re-inventing it? In contrast to developing something new (a) the contractor is not going to come back and ask for more money after the contract is signed (b) the contractor is not going to come back and say there is a multi-year delay in agreed delivery date.
Spitfire9FRANKFURT — Airbus is demanding €900 million ($1.2 billion) in compensation from Germany for canceling an order for a batch of 37 Eurofighter jets, according to a newspaper report Monday.
The amount had emerged in a closed-door parliamentary budget meeting last week in which the scrapped fighter-jet order was also reported to lawmakers, said the Handelsblatt business daily.
Would be nice for Airbus to get a load of money because a Eurofighter order was cancelled.
Spitfire9@Loke regarding the situation in Norway
Have money = willing to spend..?
Don’t forget to tell the guys in your navy 😉
Having 5 ships and 1 possibly 2 is manned due to cost reasons. I expect a lot of army/navy projects to stand back in order to get the F35, “Archer” was only be the beginning.
I have predicted for years that opting for F-35 would mean reduced overall military capability for many export customers due to higher than expected F-35 cost. The one country I thought would be immune was Norway.
Spitfire9Hello guys,
I would like to know what is going to happen in the next five years for the current Croation Air Force? In 2007 the Croatians started a Modernization and procurement program till 2015. Well known is the, to me, surprising news that the Croations will soldier on with the refurbished MiG-21, including five ‘new’ aircraft delivered from Ukrainian firm Ukrspetsexport. However, it is also reported that this is a interim solution as the MiG’s will be withdrawn in the year 2019…..
If they want a minimal cost fighter capability they will be restricted to used lightweight fighters. Will any F-16’s with medium term serviceability (say 5-10 years) be available in 2018/2019? The obvious candidate is Gripen. Perhaps South Africa’s government will have reduced the air force to such a dire state that it will want to offload some aircraft which could be bought at a giveaway price (plus consultancy fees to government-connected “consultants”).
Spitfire9‘Not so sure that 2 missiles were sufficient’. Don’t forget the 2 guns that were fitted to the F1, F1A, F2 and F6. I don’t think that anyone really considered 2 missiles to be ‘sufficient’; there just wasn’t anywhere to hang any more. Yes, we did discuss the ram option but it was never official doctrine. Rather than be a modern kamikaze the feeling was that ,if one did need to resort to ramming, we wanted to survive the collision and be home for tea and biscuits so a sideways lurch into the tailfin was the favoured option.
Would the tea and biscuits have survived a nuclear strike?
Spitfire9Article about need for Eurofighter partners to make a decision on tranche 3B orders.
“The Eurofighter industrial partners have given nations until mid-2014 to decide whether they wish to order Tranche 3B aircraft or not,” the Italian source said.
Eurofighter — the Airbus Defence & Space, BAE Systems and Finmeccanica-owned consortium that runs the program — wouldn’t be drawn on the details of any discussions with the governments. But a spokesman did confirm they were “talking to the customer to find a solution acceptable to both sides.”
The four nations are on the hook for a total of 124 Tranche 3B aircraft for what is planned to be the last batch of the twin-engine planes to be delivered to the European partners.
With budget cuts across Europe biting into Air Force fighter jet numbers, most analysts have for some time written off the possibility of a Tranche 3B order, unless export orders are counted as part of the commitment.
The governments might have to pay compensation to industry if they do not turn their longstanding commitment to buy the remaining Tranche 3 aircraft into a firm order.
One imponderable is whether it would make financial sense to pay contractual cancellation fees for Tranche 3B.
Might UK agree to more Typhoons and less F-35’s if F-35 operating costs risk being uncomfortably high? The added benefit of avoiding some cancellation penalty fees needs to be factored into any such decision. Italy: same question.
IIRC BAE Systems is responsible for sales to the Gulf area and assembles aircraft for export orders it secures for Eurofighter. There is a good chance of securing a further order from SA (and Bahrain). AFAIK the other partners have no likely export customers. Typhoon production is scheduled to end 2017/2018. If SA orders more will the lines in Italy, Germany, Spain shut down before the UK line?
Spitfire9Some info re: interim spending budgets. Last table in the linked page seems to indicate a one third reduction in air force aircraft/aero engine procurement for financial year 2014-2015 compared with 2013-2014.
Spitfire9The major perceived threat to the UK ADIZ was that of a Soviet bomber coming in at high altitude to drop bombs on our major cities and industrial centres. The EE Lightning was intended to be able to intercept that bomber and shoot it down. Time to altitude was the critical decider in its design, the EE Lightning was never intended to get into dog fights so the design was optimised to get the jet up to altitude quickly initially with a rocket pod then with the new generation of air to air missiles. The air to air missiles carried on the Lightning are optimised for taking out bombers and a payload of two missiles was regarded as more then adequate considering the RAF fielded far more fighters at the time.
Not so sure that 2 missiles were sufficient. I had a friend who was a Lightning pilot at the time of the Cuba crisis and he told me of a briefing in which the squadron pilots were told that if the balloon went up they were to intercept Soviet bombers (that would be over the North Sea), fire their missiles then attempt to ram a bomber. There was no point in returning to base since there would be no base to return to. If they did manage to ram a bomber and then eject or run out of fuel and eject the prospects of rescue by search and rescue would be nil since there would be no SAR assets left after the attack.
Spitfire9http://www.janes360.com/article/34077/benelux-nations-look-towards-integrated-air-force
So it’s very, very likely that also Belgium will buy the F-35, after the Netherlands decided to do so.
Under the circumstances (F-35 cost increase over projected cost) pooling reduced resources is a good idea. If that is the political direction, too, even more reason for Belgium to go down the F-35 route.
http://www.janes360.com/article/34077/benelux-nations-look-towards-integrated-air-force
I am surprised Denmark is not considering to join the BeNeLux countries?
The integration of the Benelux countries predates the Treaty of Rome that set up the European Economic Community. A Benelux parliament was set up in 1955. Free movement of people between the countries was established long before border controls between most European Union countries were removed. In contrast Denmark is just another EU country.
Spitfire9Interestingly a large number of countries, including the netherlands and Korea decided to go for the F-35 in spite of all the delays and in spite of the high cost. They achieve this within exisiting budget by reducing the numbers.
As you say, the plans The Netherlands made in the first decade of this century came off the rails because the JSF project came off the rails.
Spitfire9Back in the day, the F-35 was supposed to dominate in every mission, for an F-16 price and sub-F-16 operating cost. The True Believers have a hard time accepting that it didn’t happen.
The Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, UK also have a hard time accepting that it didn’t happen. The fact is that JSF did not map out as planned. Even LMA have to agree about that. It’s an unfortunate reality that has to be confronted by many countries whose air defence plans for the period 2015-2040+ have been plunged into disarray.
Spitfire9Gripen NG is not an F-35 equivalent, but it does many things as well and some better.
I don’t understand why this is so unacceptable to some. Is it their view that reality is some kind of heresy (where the F-35 is concerned)?
Spitfire9The section 496 bulkhead is the same structure found in 2010 to have had a crack at the 1,500-hr. mark; this temporarily halted flight testing until a fix was implemented.
It is somewhat worrying that the bulkhead crack reported earlier is in the same bulkhead that was redesigned to fix the problem of cracking.
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_02_21_2014_p0-666195.xml
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