Morocco, and they seem staisfied with it. They’re going to buy old to be retired last B variants to train pilots.

[QUOTE=hopsalot;2015906][QUOTE=bring_it_on;2015833]F-35A Cost Per Flying Hour Exceeds F-16 by 10%

The F-35A is expected to cost about 10% more to operate than the F-16 it is intended to replace for the U.S. Air Force and other international military services, according to U.S. government officials.

USAF Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, program executive officer overseeing the F-35 program, told Dutch government officials that the cost per flying hour for the F-35A, which The Netherlands intends to buy, is $24,000, according to Capt. Natasha Waggoner, an Air Force spokeswoman. Bogdan provided the data to Dutch legislators, including a “side-by-side comparison of flying hour costs between the F-16 and the F-35,” she says.

The article was already posted above.

You are right that the key thing here is that this is actually an apples to apples comparison, the first time good data has been made available publicly.

A 10% cost increase isn’t ideal, but it is certainly manageable and far from some of the grossly inflated numbers some have been throwing out.

Applesto apples? Yes and no. You wont need permanently a targeting pod on a legacy figher for ex. (air policing etc). So you wont buy and operate as many targeting pods as you have fighters, therefore reducing costs. No intend to argue.

But don’t forget that:
– The weight of such a “small” contract, that can be just a political move.
– They cannot buy additionnal mirage, so going for more F-16 is the easy path.

Awaiting for T3A or F3R standards?
Noone except Mr Lake ever stated that UAE are greedy to replace their M2K-9 (and specially NOT UAE pilots)

Thing is, why would UAE order any more fighters in the near future if they have a good complement of modern aircraft? I gather there is increasing concern over Iran. Is UAE looking to increase capability on account of this? 60 Eurocanards would be a big step up from 60 M2K’s.

It will be interesting to hear what the British PM and the UAE prince discuss in terms of defence co-operation when he visits the UK soon. It seems very likely to me that Cameron will want to include a Typhoon deal in the discussions.

Maybe transmit to Bin Zayed saying that UAE conditions are “unworkable” for both Eurofighter and Dassault? More seriously, Mr Cameron is getting as ridiculous as Sarkozy was belly dancing in the hope to sell few planes…

It is a bit more sophisticated then that i’d say. A modern lane will use memorized 3D maps + generate some in real time using SAR radars + Estimate threats (radars etc) to suggest a route to the pilot (still in real time) + GPS like + inertials…

@ hopsalot

news? or sellers propaganda…

Bogdan’s mission as of now is to avoid partners from bailing out of the program. what matters is not “the percentage” but simply how much cash you do have and can afford to spend on it, and how well your job will be done.

If you strip down your military for a single asset that, besides, can’t really do the job that YOU need as well as you’d need to, you loose capability.

what’s the point in spending huge amounts of money you don’t even have in order to weaken your defense?

Small countries like netherlands, denmark or belgium all have similar needs: air policing of their airspace with quite a small budget to do so: operations inside heavily defended airspace are nowehere near the top of their priorities or needs, and even those who aim at such things will mostly use cruise missiles and such stuff to get there anyway.

the only countries that eventually may have use of such technology are those that go around the planet waging wars for any reason (valid or not is another question) and these countries can be counted on the fingers of one hand: USA, UK, France… and that’s about it. And, interestingly enough, they usually have quite weak opponents that can’t really put up a credible air defense etwork… when such a network exists, it is more about economic pressure and diplomatic talk as nobody wants to get involved into something too costly, neither those three, nor their potential “enemies” like China or Russia

Interestingly, Dutch parlaiment 2nd chamber auditing plane constructors today… Will super duper iron “bogdan”be ale to help allies from tearing aparts F35 program? we’ll see in incoming weeks…

I doubt very much the US would get in a direct conflict with China. Yet, to answer your question “YES” 100% As would Australia for that matter…….

That would depend on a number of factors. Yet, again the answer is YES. The UK and France have the US back and the same can be said for the reverse!

They haven’t received all of the planned upgrades. Yet, most will in the coming months and years. Nonetheless, production aircraft are coming down the line as we speak. (and heading to squadrons) Plus, do we see Upgraded F-15C’s entering service. Even anytime in the near future?

Provide a source……..(squadron just received first aircraft)

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I think it was Hill AFB or SHAW AFB that was suppose to start receiving F-135A’s this year.

The point was the large number are in service with production standard aircraft now coming down the line. Plus, I never said today. We were talking about the next several years.

The USAF just increased its order in FY14 from 11 to 30 not counting the USN, USMC, and any export orders. (Japan and Israel) Now times that by several over the next few years. Which, doesn’t even include the likely order that will start being place my the JSF Members.

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So, what???

What is times of crisis or war the USN and USMC plus Allies won’t support the USAF?:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Again so what??? The President of the United States, Sec of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Congress. Make the final say…….

Well, you are the one dumb enough to state the US closes Allies would not be reliable partners. That is down right insulting and yet again shows your lack of maturity and knowledge of the subject!

I dont always agree with you, but this time 100%!

As of September 2012, the status was :

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_09_19_2012_p0-497526.xml

So they possibly tested an INTERIM solution, whereas a full solution would probably be tested this year, or during ship board trials in 2014.

Failures were predicted by the model… Good to know for pilots 😀