F35 JSF Actualité

Is the JSF Faster Than We Thought?

By DAVE MAJUMDAR • PARIS — The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) might be faster than previously reported.

In a briefing at the Paris Air Show on June 21, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. C.D. Moore, deputy program executive officer for the F-35 program, said that the aircraft could fly at 750 knots and Mach 1.6. That would mean that at certain altitudes, the aircraft has a top speed that is considerably higher than previously known, although the Mach limit would remain the same.

Just a week earlier, F-35 test pilot Lt. Col. Hank “Hog” Griffiths had said the aircraft could do just 700 knots and Mach 1.6. Other test pilots had previously cited the same airspeeds.

By way of comparison, the F-16 is a 800-knot and Mach 2 jet.

Bonsoir !

Le F136 c'est fini !
Le second moteur destiné au F35 ne verra pas le jour !
RR et GE d'un commun accord arrêtent les frais !
Un marché qui se rétrécit, le Govt US qui ne paye plus, le "Funding" privé de RR et GE a atteint ses limites !
Dommage, il pouvait exister d'autres avions pour l'acceuillir ... un jour ...

De AviationWeek, Guy Norris, sur 3 pages.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awx/2011/12/02/awx_12_02_2011_p0-401195.xml&headline=GE,%20Rolls%20Give%20Up%20on%20F136%20JSF%20Alternate%20Engine&channel=defense

JPRS

Italie réduira de plus de 30% sa commande de chasseurs Joint Strike
Fighter F-35 passée à l'américain Lockheed Martin dans le cadre du plan
de réduction des dépenses lié à la crise, a annoncé mercredi le ministre
de la Défense. L'Italie prévoit désormais d'acheter seulement 90 avions
de combat au lieu des 131 sur lesquels elle s'était engagée il y a dix
ans, a précisé Giampaolo Di Paola qui s'exprimait devant les commissions
de la défense de la Chambre des députés et du Sénat réunies pour
l'occasion.
Cinq milliards d'euros d'économie

"C'est une diminution importante qui est cohérente avec la nécessité de
baisser les dépenses", a commenté le ministre. L'économie pour l'Etat
italien se montera à cinq milliards d'euros sur une estimation originale
de 15 milliards. Pour assainir les comptes publics face à la crise de
la dette dans la zone euro, le président du Conseil Mario Monti a mis en
place en fin d'année un plan de 33 milliards d'euros à base de
relèvement de la fiscalité et de réduction des dépenses.

Mardi, il a refusé de financer la candidature de Rome aux Jeux olympiques
de 2020, rappelant que la Grèce continuait de payer le coût de ceux
qu'elle a organisés à Athènes en 2004. En outre, l'Italie prévoit de
réduire de 20% ses effectifs liés à la défense. Le pays emploie pour sa
défense 183.000 militaires et 30.000 civils dont la rémunération
représente 70% des dépenses budget de la défense. L'Italie va fermer ou
vendre 30% de ses bases logistiques et des sièges de ses centres
régionaux sur cinq ans. Dans la marine, le nombre de patrouilleurs sera
ramené de 18 à 10 et le nombre de sous-marins de 6 à 4, a précisé le
ministre de la Défense.

En réduisant les dépenses militaires, Mario Monti s'inspire de la politique du président américain Barack Obama
qui a dévoilé lundi un budget de la défense 2013 prévoyant une
réduction des dépenses du Pentagone pour la première fois depuis 1998.
Le Pentagone a annulé des commandes de 179 F-35 sur cinq ans pour
économiser 15,1 milliards de dollars.
http://www.20minutes.fr/ledirect/880573/italie-reduit-30-commande-chasseurs-f-35

Lockheed Martin officials are creeping closer to a solution to problems with the tailhook design for the U.S. Navy F-35C.

The original design failed to snag the arresting wire in early testing owing to two problems: the point of the hook was not sharp enough to scoop under the wire and securely grab it, and a dampener device was not sufficient to maintain a hold on the wire. Essentially, the hook was bouncing upon landing, reducing the likelihood of a successful arrested landing.

Lockheed Martin, the F-35 prime contractor, has redesigned the hook to address those problems. An interim version, which has a sharpened point but lacks the dampener, was tested.

In three of five recent attempts, the redesigned hook did capture the wire; the failures were due to the pilot landing the aircraft too far from the wire for a successful arresting. This testing “was highly successful in demonstrating that when presented the wire . . . it will grab the wire,” says J.D. McFarlan, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of test and evaluation for the F-35 program. He briefed reporters Sept. 18 during the annual Air Force Assn. conference in Washington.

These failures to grab the wire were predicted by models based on where the pilots landed the aircraft, McFarlan says. This, he notes, helps to validate the modeling work done on the redesigned hook.

The tailhook problems came to light nearly a year ago, and redesign work has been in progress since. Company officials hope to test the final version of the new arresting hook, and its dampener, next summer.

Shipboard trials are set for 2014.

Durability testing on the most complicated version of Lockheed Martin's F-35 was halted last month after "multiple" cracks were discovered in the fighter jet, according to the Pentagon's testing office.

The previously undisclosed halt in high-stress ground testing involves the F-35B, the Marine Corps version that must withstand short takeoffs and landings on carriers and amphibious warfare vessels, according to an annual report on the F-35 that Defense Department testing chief Michael Gilmore sent to Congress recently. Flight testing wasn't affected.

Development of the F-35, the Pentagon's costliest weapons system, has been marked by delays and cost increases. The Pentagon estimates the total cost for development and production of 2,443 F-35 jets will be $395.7 billion, a 70 percent increase since the initial contract with Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin was signed in 2001.

Durability testing is intended to stress an airframe, assessing its capability to achieve a projected aircraft lifetime of 8,000 "equivalent flight hours."

Testing for the Marine short-takeoff-and-vertical landing version was progressing this year until last month's halt "after multiple new cracks were found in a bulkhead flange" on the fuselage's underside during an inspection after the equivalent of 7,000 hours of testing, according to the report to Congress. The cracks were confined to that area.

The officials said they are satisfied that the F-35B could bring back the internal weapons load that is initially planned, comprising–in the UK case–two AMRAAM air-air missiles and two Paveway IV smart bombs weighing some 5,000 pounds. But, one added, when high temperature and/or low pressure conditions prevail–such as in the Gulf of Oman–it would be prudent to achieve another 2,000 to 4,000 pounds of bring-back weight, for either fuel or weapons, especially since the F-35 will be able to carry additional weapons on wing pylons, when stealth is not a requirement.