Re. range, I bet the F-35C outranges the A model easily. But the reported numbers are for specific mission profiles, and the USN one requires much more reserves for bolters and diversion. My guess.

I’d say the F-35A still takes the title of longest ranged variant although it is probably very close. The A mission profile is a lot more aggressive than the C but the C is approx. 20% heavier and retains more reserve fuel for carrier ops. In a straight range comparison those two factors probably balance each other out.

This modification provides for the procurement of 50 aircraft for non-Department of Defense participants and foreign military sales (FMS) customers comprised of one F-35B aircraft for the UK; one F-35A aircraft for Italy; eight F-35A aircraft for Australia; eight F-35A aircraft for the Netherlands; four F-35A aircraft for Turkey; six F-35A aircraft for Norway; and 22 F-35A aircraft for FMS customers.

Is there a break down anywhere on the split of airframes per FMS customer for Lot 11?

What i meant by NEZ Volume is pretty straight forward. Its the Volume of Space in any direction from the jet that the missile could teoretical cover or reach when launched.

That is not what NEZ means and Scorpion82 had a clear and correct definition. NEZ is No Escape Zone which is the zone at which a missile kinematically cannot be defeated by the target aircraft, ie the target aircraft cannot flow cold and defeat the missile by denying an intercept. An intercept will occur so the target aircraft will have to defeat the missile through evasion/ECM/DIRCM etc.

And b.t.w. where does it explicit state that No Escape Zone is measured in distance from point A to B rather than in Volume?

The western fighter community doesn’t talk about NEZ volume, just NEZ. The volume side of it is implicit in the description.

A few shots of the Fort Worth plant posted recently on LMAs Flickr Page

Very impressive, thanks for posting.

The US F-35 sortie rate KPP is clearly defined and has been posted on the forum about 400 times in the last 5 years. [ATTACH=CONFIG]254195[/ATTACH]

F-35 A/C the KPP is 3 surge/2 sustained
F-35B the KPP is 4 surge/3 sustained

The difference is a recognition of the operational requirements of the respective variants, not a specific limitation of the jet. The Bee is likely to operate closer to base on shorter CAS runs while the A/C will operate from longer ranges and hence have less time to generate more sorties within the one day. GW 1 & 2 demonstrated F-16s and other 4th gen aircraft flying 10-12 hour sorties with continued AAR and given F-35 internal fuel loads that wil be no problem. Alternatively, I’ve seen the same Hornets hot turned and flown 6+ WVR sorties in one day when the mission duration is short.

Hence there will be no appreciable difference between sortie rate for the Gripen and F-35.

The concept of making a valid assessment on performance of any airframe from a youtube clip is deluded…

Makes sense to maximise B-21 production, the next 30-60 aircraft will come off the line at a great price, especially if the production rate is kept high.

Just read that regarding the interior of the F-22 intakes.

A disadvantage of stealth planes I think is that as soon as they are even slightly damaged ( say hit by a gun round or by a missile that exploded far ), they are probably impossible to repair to fly more sorties relatively quickly, say within a few days or weeks, which could be possible otherwise with a non stealth plane.

You know the answers to these very simple questions are available. You just need to do a simple bit of internet research to get the info…