But again, was just emphasizing that the actual DIRCM’s supplier is probably not yet selected

Likely true.

As far as above JPO graphics are concerned, they will unfortunately need to be re-graphed. Prior JPO estimates are now certified defunct (out the window) – as has been widely anticpated by critics… as Ashton Carter, actual US services and CAPE are the latest battle grounds for revising and better defining the updated estimates.

But there will not be a mature block IV system delivered to anyone, before SDD is completed.. Things schedule wise have also been reshuffled and will be substantially restructured further.

Work on Blk4 will not stop just because SDD is not done. Besides, I already put a one-year delay into my Blk4/5/6 dates above.

As far as CAPE (and all the other Doom & Gloom) estimates go, if LM can do LRIP-4 for 40% than CAPE… what does that do to CAPE credibility?

Geo,

I think you may be confusing terms. Partner nations have signed an MOU which spells out, IIRC, that all partner nation components come from a single source.

Partner nation sales are not FMS sales. Isreal would be an FMS sale and thereby allow them to modify the jets as reported in the news.

As far as when Blocks are IOC for US/Partner/FMS sales, it all depends on when and how quickly they order them.

F-35s ordered for delivery in 2013 are Blk3, 2015 for Blk4, 2017 for Blk5, and 2019 for Blk6. These dates are supported by quotes from JPO (“New blocks every 2 years”), the Norway docs, the std delivery schedule and the above graphic.

As far as how long a Partner or FMS nation takes to go IOC, Norway expects deliveries to begin in 2016 and IOC to be in 2018, so 1.5 to 2 years after first delivery is normal.

Here are the timelines that different Partner and FMS sales are planned:

LM Confirms 6 Internal AAM Capability

From Air Force Magazine

Squeezing In Two More Shots: Lockheed Martin’s “Skunkworks” operation has figured out a way to increase the F-35’s air-to-air magazine by 50 percent, company officials told the Daily Report Thursday. With “very modest” changes to the weapon bay and “no changes to the outer mold line,” it will be possible for F-35s to carry up to six AIM-120 AMRAAMs internally instead of the four that it can now bear, one official said. (In this configuration, the F-35 would carry no internal bombs.) With six AMRAAMs inside, the F-35 would match the radar-missile capability of the F-22, but without the Raptor’s two infrared AIM-9 missiles. The company is briefing the Defense Department about the potential weapons bay refinement, which could be done as a product improvement in later lots. Limited internal carriage for air-to-air weapons has been one criticism of the F-35 in some circles.

That was a UK pilot in a “teen” trying to get a weapon lock, most likely a radar lock.

These photos do not show a weapon lock, just a visual track.

Everything you said is possible.

For the sake of argument, I will agree with your assessment and still ask… What about this is controversial?

At the max range of 40km (your number), the F-22 would be a small speck (or just a few pixels), not a large, well defined image. This is why I know the range is very close.

Also, since the OSF swivels, the pictures only show that the F-22 was somewhere in it’s forward sector, not necessarily in a nose-on gun shot. Again, not controversial.

From:
http://www.bensware.com/photos/events/F35CCF1First/