Norway defense plan reveals hidden costs of F-35 procurement.

Norway F-35 “Upgrade”

lol, I guess they thought they were getting Blocks 4,5,6,7, etc for free?

Btw, am I the only one who is missing the “quote” reply button… Or did I miss the announcement that it was being removed?

don’t shoot the messenger.

np, I did not mean to make it sound like I was….

btw, While the weight restrictions have been lifted, only one F-35A has been modded for the fixes. The plan is most likely to mod the training jets first in order to get light-weight pilots into the pipeline and have the front-line jets done by the time those pilots finish with training.

That story just points to the official press release which says testing complete and does not say anythgin about “first time”

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/525055/naval-aviation-history-f-35b-stovl-airborne-gunfire-testing-complete

170508-N-ZB537-004 The Salty Dogs of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23’s Pax River Integrated Test Force (ITF) made aviation history Monday, May 8, 2017 when they completed airborne gunfire testing for the F-35B Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant. U.S. Navy video by Dane Wiedmann/Released.

The whole “first time” thing is clearly “click bait”.

Here is a story from back in February of the F-35B firing it’s gun in the air for the 1st time.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/8124/check-out-this-pic-of-an-f-35b-firing-its-gun-pod-in-the-air-for-the-first-time?

Air Force to Release F-35 Weight Restrictions

this is the safest ejection seat I’ve ever flown,” said Brig. Gen. Scott L. Pleus, the F-35 Integration Office director.

http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1182874/air-force-to-release-f-35-weight-restrictions/

WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Air Force leaders recently removed the restriction that kept pilots weighing less than 136 pounds from flying the F-35A. The restriction was imposed in 2015 due to concerns about the risk during ejections in a portion of the flight envelope.

After rigorous testing to ensure the escape system works reliably and safely in all planned conditions and across all pilot weights, three distinct modifications were implemented. A switch was installed on the seat that slightly delays parachute deployment at high speeds and decreases parachute opening forces for lightweight pilots. Additionally, a head support panel has been mounted on the rear risers of the parachute to prevent the pilot’s head from moving backwards during an ejection. Finally, the overall helmet weight has been reduced through both the reduction of internal strapping material and the removal of an additional external visor, which decreases injury risk during parachute opening.

“I have personally briefed every single F-35 pilot in the United States Air Force about these changes to their ejection seat, and I’m confident our pilots are no longer concerned with the safety of the F-35 ejection system. I’ve flown in this seat myself and believe, with these modifications, this is the safest ejection seat I’ve ever flown,” said Brig. Gen. Scott L. Pleus, the F-35 Integration Office director.

In July 2015, during the manufacturer’s ongoing testing, analysis identified an unacceptable risk of neck injury during parachute deployment/opening for pilots weighing less than 136 pounds. The requirement is for the seat to be certified for any pilot weighing between 103 and 245 pounds.

Air Force headquarters and wing leadership took immediate action to ensure pilot safety and work with the manufacturer to meet requirements for the seat. The F-35 Joint Program Office has been working in concert with contractors to develop options to reconfigure the ejection system.

The new ejection seats are already being retrofitted into the existing fleet, and the lightweight helmets are available in pre-production now, while full production starts later this year. The Air Force has received more than 100 F-35As to date, trained more than 400 pilots and accumulated more than 40,000 flight hours.

What’s the value of bringing down a radar-less T-38? Frankly, that’s a job for an F-4 Phantom II, not for a Raptor..

Most OpFor has never had any real BVR capability (A-4s, T-38s, etc). As the article said, they were there to simulate BVR opponents and to take advantage of any Blue Force mistakes.

If we assume SpudmanWP counted the prongs , not the gaps ( which he said he didn’t ) then you can deduce number by 1 for each collume, there are around 50 collumn of T/R modules on APG-81. So 1626 – 50 = 1576 T/R modules, still higher than CAPTOR-E number

The “valley” represent’s the T&R module, not the “hill”.

Here is a commercial x-band AESA array that clearly shows the radiating element in the “valley”. Notice that each side “ear” of the element creates a large “hill” between each “valley” except for the ends which only have a “half-hill”, just like the APG-81.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]252776[/ATTACH]

…. definitely roll-by-wire.

FIFY