F-35 Lightning II Aircraft Problems
Just a couple of days ago, Lockheed Martin published new photos from the factory’s workshop, where the latest F-35 Lightning II fighter jets gather. The wing assemblies of the next aircraft captured on them are remarkable in that it will be the hundredth fighter in the series. All in all, almost 90 boards are located in the factories of the company in varying degrees of readiness. Thus, taking into account the 50 with more than the already built aircraft, in the coming months the total number of new fighters will exceed the mark of a hundred and fifty. As we see, despite all the problems and criticism, Lockheed-Martin not only completed the development of a promising aircraft, but also established a full-fledged batch production. However, even after the development of mass production, some problems have remained, no longer so large as before, which are still the object of criticism.
Economy
The main shaft of criticism of the F-35 project concerns the economic side of the matter. Despite the promised advantages over the existing and promising technology, the aircraft was very expensive. Currently, the production of one fighter F-35A costs more than one hundred million dollars. In the mid-nineties, when work on this project entered the active stage, it was planned to keep the cost of one aircraft, taking into account all preliminary costs at the level of 30-35 million. As you can see, at the moment there is a threefold excess of the price of the aircraft relative to the planned. Of course, such "factors" could not fail to attract the attention of opponents of the project. At the same time, the authors of the project from the company “Lockheed-Martin” are justified by objective reasons for a significant increase in prices, such as the difficulty of mastering new technologies or creating a unified structure.
It is noteworthy that all the costs of the project are directly or indirectly related to the policy adopted at the very beginning. Since the Pentagon wanted to get three aircraft with different purposes, different characteristics and for three different types of troops, Lockheed-Martin engineers headed for maximum simplification of the design. In addition, the issues of simplifying aircraft maintenance were actively considered. As in the case of the previous superproject - F-22 Raptor - all measures to reduce the price not only did not lead to this, but even increased the cost of the program in general and of each individual aircraft in particular. Particularly interesting project F-35 looks in the light of the concepts of creation and application. Initially, this fighter was made as a light and cheap aircraft, complementing the heavy and expensive F-22. The result was to comply with the required price ratio, but one hundred million overboard can be called a small cost only in comparison with 140-145 millions of F-22.
Probably, it was possible to maintain the ratio of the cost of airplanes and programs, thanks also to the correct approach to business. The F-35 project goes back to the ASTOLV program, which began in the first half of the eighties, but did not have much success. On the basis of the developments on this project, work was later developed under the code name CALF, which eventually merged with the JAST program. The tasks of all these programs were noticeably different, but at the stage of combining CALF and JAST the general requirements for a promising fighter were already formed. Perhaps it was the nomenclature moments, because of which the costs of one program did not add to the costs of another, as a result, significantly reduced the cost of the final F-35 project. At the same time, the last transformation of the JAST program (Joint Advanced Strike Technology - “Single Promising Shock Technology”), which only led to a change in its name to JSF (Joint Strike Fighter - “Single Shot Fighter”), can hardly be considered the cause of any savings.
It is worth noting that much greater savings were achieved through the use of existing developments. For example, in designing the new F-35 fighter, the CATIA automated system and the COMOC test system were actively used. These systems were created specifically for the F-22 project, which actually "took over" their cost. The situation is similar with some new technologies, for example, with several new varieties of composite materials.
Nevertheless, even with a similar cost sharing, the F-35 aircraft came out quite expensive. There is every reason to believe that the main reason for the high cost of these aircraft is the specific idea to create several independent machines based on the same design. Such a task is not easy in itself, let alone talk about modern aircraft, which should combine the newest technologies. In addition, a change in customer requirements. In the late nineties, the US Navy revised and corrected several times its desires regarding the characteristics of the future deck F-35C. Because of this, the designers of Lockheed Martin had to constantly update the project. In the case of a separate development of an independent project, such adjustments would not entail any particularly complex work. But in the case of the JSF program, in view of its requirements for unification, every noticeable change in the deck fighter or any other modification directly affected the other two fighter versions. According to various estimates, about 10-15% of the total design time was spent on additional revision of the projects. Obviously, the situation was similar in that with extra cash costs.
Technique
In addition to problems with the implementation of certain requirements, leading to unnecessary costs, the cost of the JSF program was also due to a number of new technical solutions, which also cost a lot of money to develop and test.
The first to catch the eye are the F-35B's short takeoff and vertical landing fighter lifting units. To meet the requirements of the Marine Corps regarding the possibility of basing on universal amphibious ships, Lockheed-Martin employees, together with engine builders from Pratt & Whitney, had to spend a lot of time on creating a lift-sustainer engine that could not only provide the necessary thrust, but also fit into the ideology of maximum unification adopted in the project. If to create a power plant for "land" and carrier-based fighters it was enough to do with the modernization of the existing PW F119 engine, then in the case of a short or vertical takeoff aircraft, a number of special measures had to be taken.
According to the results of the old ASTOLV program, several variants of lifting and cruising engines were eliminated. In the course of JSF work at Lockheed-Martin, it was concluded that the most convenient of the remaining options would be to use a turbojet engine with a rotating nozzle and an additional lift fan, driven by the engine. Such an arrangement provides sufficient for vertical take-off traction and ease of control, although it is not without drawbacks. First of all, the fact is noted that most of the time the plane will carry an extra load in the form of a lifting fan, which is only necessary during a vertical / shortened takeoff or landing. All fan units, from the split coupling to the upper and lower flaps, weigh about 1800 kilograms, which is slightly more than the dry weight of the F135-600 engine itself. However, when using a high-temperature turbojet engine, other options did not look too comfortable. The fact is that the flow of cold air from the fan, colliding with the jet stream of the engine, partially cools it, and also does not allow overheated gases to get into the air intakes. No other layout of the lifting power plant has such an opportunity and, therefore, extra weight is recognized as an acceptable price for advantages.
With another equally complex unit of the F-35B fighter powerplant - a rotating nozzle - an interesting one story. Research on this topic began in the days of the CALF program, but did not have much success. Having spent a lot of time, effort and money, American scientists and engineers turned for advice to the Russian design bureau. A.S. Yakovlev. As a result of lengthy negotiations, the Americans were able to buy part of the documentation for the Yak-141 project and study it carefully. Already using the knowledge gained, a new nozzle for the F135-600 engine was designed, having a number of features in common with the corresponding unit of the Soviet Yak-141 aircraft.
And yet, despite the use of foreign experience, the creation of a power plant for a vertical take-off aircraft turned out to be very difficult. In particular, shortly before the start of testing the first prototype of the F-35B with the BF-1 index, there was a risk of cracks in the blades of the engine turbine. Because of this, for several months, all tests of lifting units were carried out with severe power limitations, and after each gazovka an engine inspection for damage was required. As a result of fairly lengthy work on the final design of the power plant, we managed to eliminate all its main problems and ensure the required reliability. It is worth noting that these problems are still occasionally blamed on the new aircraft, and a number of sources mention the appearance of new cracks, including on production aircraft.
Not without problems and when creating a deck version of the F-35C. Initially it was supposed to increase its take-off and landing characteristics with the help of an engine with thrust vector control and a boundary layer control system. However, back in the late nineties, the overall complexity and cost of the JSF / F-35 program grew so much that it was decided to leave only the controlled thrust vector. According to some sources, employees of Lockheed Martin and related enterprises have already begun research and design work on the subject of the border layer management system, but soon ceased them. Thus, one more expense was added to the total cost of the program, which, however, had no practical benefit.
Like the previous F-22 fighter, the F-35 initially had to be equipped with a powerful computing system that would provide the ability to work on air and ground targets, navigation, control of all aircraft systems, etc. When creating a complex of avionics for the F-35, the developments of the F-22 project were widely used. At the same time, some features of the production of components for electronics were taken into account. It was assumed that the use of the newest components will not only improve the performance of the equipment, but also protect the aircraft from trouble like those that happened with the F-22 in the mid-nineties. Recall, then, soon after the start of testing of the first version of the computing complex, the manufacturer of the microprocessors used announced the end of their release. Employees of several companies involved in the F-22 project had to urgently redo a large part of the electronics.
The main means of obtaining information about the situation in an F-35 aircraft is an airborne radar AN / APG-81, equipped with an active phased antenna array. Also, six AN / AAQ-37 system sensors, which monitor the situation from all angles, are distributed according to the aircraft design. To observe and use weapons The aircraft is equipped with an AAQ-40 thermal imaging system. Also worth attention is the station of active radio interference AN / ASQ-239. During several years of development, testing and development, American engineers managed to solve almost all the problems of electronic equipment for the F-35.
However, the prolonged epic with a special pilot's helmet has not yet ended. The fact is that, in accordance with the requirements of the military and the fabrications of the authors of the overall look of the F-35, pilots of advanced fighters must work with a special helmet, the glass of which is equipped with an information output system. On the helmet screen it is planned to display all the data necessary for navigation, search for targets and attack. Initially, the development of the helmet was engaged in the company Vision Systems International, but for several years she did not manage to bring it to mind. So, even at the end of 2011, there were delays in displaying information on the helmet screen. In addition, the electronics of the protective headgear did not always correctly determine the position of the pilot's head relative to the aircraft, which led to the issuance of incorrect information. Because of these problems with the VSI helmet and obscure fixes, Lockheed Martin was forced to order the development of an alternative pilot helmet for BAE Systems. Its prototypes already exist, but the adoption of one of the helmets is still a matter of the future.
Prospects
If we compare the state of the F-35 and F-22 projects at the time of the start of mass production, then first of all, the degree of the overall performance of the fighters is striking. It seems that the engineers and managers of Lockheed Martin took into account all the troubles that had happened to the previous promising aircraft and tried to avoid most of the problems that had interfered with earlier. Of course, the fine-tuning and additional testing of all three F-35 modifications took extra time and money, but such a fee seemed to be acceptable in the light of possible further problems. Therefore, at present, Lightning-2 has mainly financial problems and, as a result, not quite clear prospects regarding, first of all, deliveries for export.
Year after year, the F-35 fighter has been subjected to various criticisms by experts from different countries, including those participating in the project. Perhaps the most interesting is the position of the Australian military and experts. This country has long intended to purchase a number of new fighters with great prospects, and it wants to buy F-22 aircraft. The United States, in turn, just as long ago clearly and clearly denied to all foreign countries the possibility of such deliveries and offered “in return” newer F-35. Australians, not wanting to lose the opportunity to buy F-22, in recent years have regularly raised the issue of the feasibility of buying F-35 in particular and the prospects of this aircraft in general. Often there is an opinion that in pursuit of a more interesting “Raptor”, Australians are ready to blame Lightning-2 for non-existent flaws. However, in the current conditions, statements from Australia can be used as one of the sources of information that does not cause serious distrust.
One of the most famous and scandalous are the statements of analysts of the center Air Power Australia. After analyzing the available information, experts a few years ago recognized the F-35 aircraft as the 4 + generation fighter, although Lockheed Martin positions it as belonging to the fifth. To prove their words, Australian analysts have resulted in low thrust-to-weight ratio of the aircraft and, as a result, the impossibility of supersonic flight without switching on a boost, relatively high visibility for radar and a number of other factors. A little later, the Australian think tank compared the ratio of the capabilities of the F-22 and F-35 fighters with a motorcycle and a scooter. In addition, the Australian experts have been conducting comparative analyzes of F-35 and air defense systems of various countries for already some years. The result of such calculations is constantly becoming the conclusion about the almost guaranteed victory of the anti-aircraft gunners. Finally, several years ago, the Australian military was present during a virtual test of air combat between the American F-35 aircraft and the Russian Su-35 (4 ++ generation). According to information received from the Australian side, American aircraft, at least, did not show all that they should have been. The official Pentagon explained these failures of the American technology in “digital form” by some other goals. Anyway, Australia continues to be the most ardent critic of the draft F-35.
A few days ago, the Australian edition of the Sidney Morning Herald published excerpts from the plans of the Ministry of Defense of the country. From these quotes it follows directly that the Australian military intends to terminate the contract with the United States for the supply of new F-35. Instead of a dozen Lightnings, Canberra is going to purchase a number of the latest F / A-18 fighter-bombers. The actions of the Australian military create a steady impression that the Air Force commanders consider the F-35 to be significantly inferior in cost-effectiveness to the older F-22 and therefore not worth the attention and expense. It is for this reason that the Australian Air Force is ready to buy old and proven F / A-18, but not the new and dubious F-35.
In April last year, a real scandal broke out on the sidelines of the Canadian Ministry of Defense. A few years ago, when Canada entered the F-35 program, it was planned to buy X-NUMX F-65A planes worth about 35 billions of dollars. Taking into account the twenty-year service of the aircraft, all expenses should have been packed in 10-14 billions. A little later, Canadians recalculated the costs of the contract and it turned out that the total cost of the planes would be 15 billion. Finally, by the end of 25, as a result of the next recalculation, the total cost of the purchase and operation of aircraft increased to over 2012 billions. Because of this increase in costs, Ottawa is forced to abandon the purchase of a fifth-generation fighter and consider more modest options. It is noteworthy that due to the draft of the F-40, the Canadian Air Force was in a not too pleasant position: the available technology is gradually developing its resource, and the arrival of a new one will not begin today or tomorrow. Therefore, Canada is currently considering the purchase of F / A-35 fighter jets or European Eurofighter Typhoon in order to save money and time.
All current export problems of the F-35 aircraft are based on a number of reasons. The complexity of the project led to a delay in the timing and a slow but sure increase in the cost of both the program as a whole and each aircraft in particular. All this could not but affect the export future of the fighter. The United States Air Force, Navy and ILC, being the main customers, must necessarily continue to purchase new equipment. The maximum risk for the program in this case would be a decrease in the number of purchased equipment. Export deliveries have less clear perspectives, because further displacement of terms and increase in prices will only scare off potential buyers.
Today and tomorrow
Meanwhile, in the 2012, a total of three dozen new F-35 aircraft took off, more than twice the production rate of the 2011 year. Their first fighters received the British Air Force (two) and the Netherlands (one). In addition, the first three F-35B fighters set off to serve in the Marine Corps Squadron. According to the official data of Lockheed Martin, over the past year 1167 test flights were carried out (by 18% more than the plan), during which 9319 points were obtained, characterizing progress (the plan was exceeded by 10%). As we see, the Americans do not even think about stopping the fine-tuning and production of the newest fighters. For the current 2013 year, tests and revision of the onboard avionics equipment of the Block 2B version are planned, as well as the first tests of weapons. The first tests of the modification of the shortened take-off on the universal landing ships of the Wasp project were scheduled for summer.
In general, employees of all companies and enterprises engaged in the F-35 project continue to work on it and are not going to abandon it. Yes, and the project itself has long passed the point of no return, so the military and engineers do not have a way back - you need to continue fine-tuning and building new aircraft. All problems with the complexity of a particular part of the project, as well as the delays in their implementation caused by them, ultimately lead to an increase in the cost of the entire program. But, as already mentioned, there is no turning back, the F-35 will serve at any cost.
That's just not quite clear how the next update of the US Air Force will look like if the price of the next plane will be even higher than now. In the late nineties, one of the senior leaders of Lockheed-Martin N. Augustine noted that every ten years the development program of the new fighter rises four times the previous one. If this trend continues, by the middle of the 21st century, one annual US military budget of the late 1990s sample will be equivalent to the cost of developing and building just one aircraft. According to Augustine’s apt expression, this fighter will serve in the Air Force for three and a half days a week, as many more in the Navy, and in particularly successful years it will occasionally “overtake” the Marine Corps. Will Lightning-2 be able to stop this bad tradition? Judging by the current situation, the likelihood of this is not so great.
Based on:
http://lockheedmartin.com/
http://pw.utc.com/
http://jsf.mil/
http://airwar.ru/
http://ausairpower.net/
http://lenta.ru/
http://rnd.cnews.ru/
http://smh.com.au/
Kudishin I.V. F-22 Raptor and JSF. American fighter of the fifth generation. - M .: Astrel / AST, 2002
Economy
The main shaft of criticism of the F-35 project concerns the economic side of the matter. Despite the promised advantages over the existing and promising technology, the aircraft was very expensive. Currently, the production of one fighter F-35A costs more than one hundred million dollars. In the mid-nineties, when work on this project entered the active stage, it was planned to keep the cost of one aircraft, taking into account all preliminary costs at the level of 30-35 million. As you can see, at the moment there is a threefold excess of the price of the aircraft relative to the planned. Of course, such "factors" could not fail to attract the attention of opponents of the project. At the same time, the authors of the project from the company “Lockheed-Martin” are justified by objective reasons for a significant increase in prices, such as the difficulty of mastering new technologies or creating a unified structure.
It is noteworthy that all the costs of the project are directly or indirectly related to the policy adopted at the very beginning. Since the Pentagon wanted to get three aircraft with different purposes, different characteristics and for three different types of troops, Lockheed-Martin engineers headed for maximum simplification of the design. In addition, the issues of simplifying aircraft maintenance were actively considered. As in the case of the previous superproject - F-22 Raptor - all measures to reduce the price not only did not lead to this, but even increased the cost of the program in general and of each individual aircraft in particular. Particularly interesting project F-35 looks in the light of the concepts of creation and application. Initially, this fighter was made as a light and cheap aircraft, complementing the heavy and expensive F-22. The result was to comply with the required price ratio, but one hundred million overboard can be called a small cost only in comparison with 140-145 millions of F-22.
Probably, it was possible to maintain the ratio of the cost of airplanes and programs, thanks also to the correct approach to business. The F-35 project goes back to the ASTOLV program, which began in the first half of the eighties, but did not have much success. On the basis of the developments on this project, work was later developed under the code name CALF, which eventually merged with the JAST program. The tasks of all these programs were noticeably different, but at the stage of combining CALF and JAST the general requirements for a promising fighter were already formed. Perhaps it was the nomenclature moments, because of which the costs of one program did not add to the costs of another, as a result, significantly reduced the cost of the final F-35 project. At the same time, the last transformation of the JAST program (Joint Advanced Strike Technology - “Single Promising Shock Technology”), which only led to a change in its name to JSF (Joint Strike Fighter - “Single Shot Fighter”), can hardly be considered the cause of any savings.
It is worth noting that much greater savings were achieved through the use of existing developments. For example, in designing the new F-35 fighter, the CATIA automated system and the COMOC test system were actively used. These systems were created specifically for the F-22 project, which actually "took over" their cost. The situation is similar with some new technologies, for example, with several new varieties of composite materials.
Nevertheless, even with a similar cost sharing, the F-35 aircraft came out quite expensive. There is every reason to believe that the main reason for the high cost of these aircraft is the specific idea to create several independent machines based on the same design. Such a task is not easy in itself, let alone talk about modern aircraft, which should combine the newest technologies. In addition, a change in customer requirements. In the late nineties, the US Navy revised and corrected several times its desires regarding the characteristics of the future deck F-35C. Because of this, the designers of Lockheed Martin had to constantly update the project. In the case of a separate development of an independent project, such adjustments would not entail any particularly complex work. But in the case of the JSF program, in view of its requirements for unification, every noticeable change in the deck fighter or any other modification directly affected the other two fighter versions. According to various estimates, about 10-15% of the total design time was spent on additional revision of the projects. Obviously, the situation was similar in that with extra cash costs.
Technique
In addition to problems with the implementation of certain requirements, leading to unnecessary costs, the cost of the JSF program was also due to a number of new technical solutions, which also cost a lot of money to develop and test.
The first to catch the eye are the F-35B's short takeoff and vertical landing fighter lifting units. To meet the requirements of the Marine Corps regarding the possibility of basing on universal amphibious ships, Lockheed-Martin employees, together with engine builders from Pratt & Whitney, had to spend a lot of time on creating a lift-sustainer engine that could not only provide the necessary thrust, but also fit into the ideology of maximum unification adopted in the project. If to create a power plant for "land" and carrier-based fighters it was enough to do with the modernization of the existing PW F119 engine, then in the case of a short or vertical takeoff aircraft, a number of special measures had to be taken.
According to the results of the old ASTOLV program, several variants of lifting and cruising engines were eliminated. In the course of JSF work at Lockheed-Martin, it was concluded that the most convenient of the remaining options would be to use a turbojet engine with a rotating nozzle and an additional lift fan, driven by the engine. Such an arrangement provides sufficient for vertical take-off traction and ease of control, although it is not without drawbacks. First of all, the fact is noted that most of the time the plane will carry an extra load in the form of a lifting fan, which is only necessary during a vertical / shortened takeoff or landing. All fan units, from the split coupling to the upper and lower flaps, weigh about 1800 kilograms, which is slightly more than the dry weight of the F135-600 engine itself. However, when using a high-temperature turbojet engine, other options did not look too comfortable. The fact is that the flow of cold air from the fan, colliding with the jet stream of the engine, partially cools it, and also does not allow overheated gases to get into the air intakes. No other layout of the lifting power plant has such an opportunity and, therefore, extra weight is recognized as an acceptable price for advantages.
With another equally complex unit of the F-35B fighter powerplant - a rotating nozzle - an interesting one story. Research on this topic began in the days of the CALF program, but did not have much success. Having spent a lot of time, effort and money, American scientists and engineers turned for advice to the Russian design bureau. A.S. Yakovlev. As a result of lengthy negotiations, the Americans were able to buy part of the documentation for the Yak-141 project and study it carefully. Already using the knowledge gained, a new nozzle for the F135-600 engine was designed, having a number of features in common with the corresponding unit of the Soviet Yak-141 aircraft.
And yet, despite the use of foreign experience, the creation of a power plant for a vertical take-off aircraft turned out to be very difficult. In particular, shortly before the start of testing the first prototype of the F-35B with the BF-1 index, there was a risk of cracks in the blades of the engine turbine. Because of this, for several months, all tests of lifting units were carried out with severe power limitations, and after each gazovka an engine inspection for damage was required. As a result of fairly lengthy work on the final design of the power plant, we managed to eliminate all its main problems and ensure the required reliability. It is worth noting that these problems are still occasionally blamed on the new aircraft, and a number of sources mention the appearance of new cracks, including on production aircraft.
Not without problems and when creating a deck version of the F-35C. Initially it was supposed to increase its take-off and landing characteristics with the help of an engine with thrust vector control and a boundary layer control system. However, back in the late nineties, the overall complexity and cost of the JSF / F-35 program grew so much that it was decided to leave only the controlled thrust vector. According to some sources, employees of Lockheed Martin and related enterprises have already begun research and design work on the subject of the border layer management system, but soon ceased them. Thus, one more expense was added to the total cost of the program, which, however, had no practical benefit.
Like the previous F-22 fighter, the F-35 initially had to be equipped with a powerful computing system that would provide the ability to work on air and ground targets, navigation, control of all aircraft systems, etc. When creating a complex of avionics for the F-35, the developments of the F-22 project were widely used. At the same time, some features of the production of components for electronics were taken into account. It was assumed that the use of the newest components will not only improve the performance of the equipment, but also protect the aircraft from trouble like those that happened with the F-22 in the mid-nineties. Recall, then, soon after the start of testing of the first version of the computing complex, the manufacturer of the microprocessors used announced the end of their release. Employees of several companies involved in the F-22 project had to urgently redo a large part of the electronics.
The main means of obtaining information about the situation in an F-35 aircraft is an airborne radar AN / APG-81, equipped with an active phased antenna array. Also, six AN / AAQ-37 system sensors, which monitor the situation from all angles, are distributed according to the aircraft design. To observe and use weapons The aircraft is equipped with an AAQ-40 thermal imaging system. Also worth attention is the station of active radio interference AN / ASQ-239. During several years of development, testing and development, American engineers managed to solve almost all the problems of electronic equipment for the F-35.
However, the prolonged epic with a special pilot's helmet has not yet ended. The fact is that, in accordance with the requirements of the military and the fabrications of the authors of the overall look of the F-35, pilots of advanced fighters must work with a special helmet, the glass of which is equipped with an information output system. On the helmet screen it is planned to display all the data necessary for navigation, search for targets and attack. Initially, the development of the helmet was engaged in the company Vision Systems International, but for several years she did not manage to bring it to mind. So, even at the end of 2011, there were delays in displaying information on the helmet screen. In addition, the electronics of the protective headgear did not always correctly determine the position of the pilot's head relative to the aircraft, which led to the issuance of incorrect information. Because of these problems with the VSI helmet and obscure fixes, Lockheed Martin was forced to order the development of an alternative pilot helmet for BAE Systems. Its prototypes already exist, but the adoption of one of the helmets is still a matter of the future.
Prospects
If we compare the state of the F-35 and F-22 projects at the time of the start of mass production, then first of all, the degree of the overall performance of the fighters is striking. It seems that the engineers and managers of Lockheed Martin took into account all the troubles that had happened to the previous promising aircraft and tried to avoid most of the problems that had interfered with earlier. Of course, the fine-tuning and additional testing of all three F-35 modifications took extra time and money, but such a fee seemed to be acceptable in the light of possible further problems. Therefore, at present, Lightning-2 has mainly financial problems and, as a result, not quite clear prospects regarding, first of all, deliveries for export.
Year after year, the F-35 fighter has been subjected to various criticisms by experts from different countries, including those participating in the project. Perhaps the most interesting is the position of the Australian military and experts. This country has long intended to purchase a number of new fighters with great prospects, and it wants to buy F-22 aircraft. The United States, in turn, just as long ago clearly and clearly denied to all foreign countries the possibility of such deliveries and offered “in return” newer F-35. Australians, not wanting to lose the opportunity to buy F-22, in recent years have regularly raised the issue of the feasibility of buying F-35 in particular and the prospects of this aircraft in general. Often there is an opinion that in pursuit of a more interesting “Raptor”, Australians are ready to blame Lightning-2 for non-existent flaws. However, in the current conditions, statements from Australia can be used as one of the sources of information that does not cause serious distrust.
One of the most famous and scandalous are the statements of analysts of the center Air Power Australia. After analyzing the available information, experts a few years ago recognized the F-35 aircraft as the 4 + generation fighter, although Lockheed Martin positions it as belonging to the fifth. To prove their words, Australian analysts have resulted in low thrust-to-weight ratio of the aircraft and, as a result, the impossibility of supersonic flight without switching on a boost, relatively high visibility for radar and a number of other factors. A little later, the Australian think tank compared the ratio of the capabilities of the F-22 and F-35 fighters with a motorcycle and a scooter. In addition, the Australian experts have been conducting comparative analyzes of F-35 and air defense systems of various countries for already some years. The result of such calculations is constantly becoming the conclusion about the almost guaranteed victory of the anti-aircraft gunners. Finally, several years ago, the Australian military was present during a virtual test of air combat between the American F-35 aircraft and the Russian Su-35 (4 ++ generation). According to information received from the Australian side, American aircraft, at least, did not show all that they should have been. The official Pentagon explained these failures of the American technology in “digital form” by some other goals. Anyway, Australia continues to be the most ardent critic of the draft F-35.
A few days ago, the Australian edition of the Sidney Morning Herald published excerpts from the plans of the Ministry of Defense of the country. From these quotes it follows directly that the Australian military intends to terminate the contract with the United States for the supply of new F-35. Instead of a dozen Lightnings, Canberra is going to purchase a number of the latest F / A-18 fighter-bombers. The actions of the Australian military create a steady impression that the Air Force commanders consider the F-35 to be significantly inferior in cost-effectiveness to the older F-22 and therefore not worth the attention and expense. It is for this reason that the Australian Air Force is ready to buy old and proven F / A-18, but not the new and dubious F-35.
In April last year, a real scandal broke out on the sidelines of the Canadian Ministry of Defense. A few years ago, when Canada entered the F-35 program, it was planned to buy X-NUMX F-65A planes worth about 35 billions of dollars. Taking into account the twenty-year service of the aircraft, all expenses should have been packed in 10-14 billions. A little later, Canadians recalculated the costs of the contract and it turned out that the total cost of the planes would be 15 billion. Finally, by the end of 25, as a result of the next recalculation, the total cost of the purchase and operation of aircraft increased to over 2012 billions. Because of this increase in costs, Ottawa is forced to abandon the purchase of a fifth-generation fighter and consider more modest options. It is noteworthy that due to the draft of the F-40, the Canadian Air Force was in a not too pleasant position: the available technology is gradually developing its resource, and the arrival of a new one will not begin today or tomorrow. Therefore, Canada is currently considering the purchase of F / A-35 fighter jets or European Eurofighter Typhoon in order to save money and time.
All current export problems of the F-35 aircraft are based on a number of reasons. The complexity of the project led to a delay in the timing and a slow but sure increase in the cost of both the program as a whole and each aircraft in particular. All this could not but affect the export future of the fighter. The United States Air Force, Navy and ILC, being the main customers, must necessarily continue to purchase new equipment. The maximum risk for the program in this case would be a decrease in the number of purchased equipment. Export deliveries have less clear perspectives, because further displacement of terms and increase in prices will only scare off potential buyers.
Today and tomorrow
Meanwhile, in the 2012, a total of three dozen new F-35 aircraft took off, more than twice the production rate of the 2011 year. Their first fighters received the British Air Force (two) and the Netherlands (one). In addition, the first three F-35B fighters set off to serve in the Marine Corps Squadron. According to the official data of Lockheed Martin, over the past year 1167 test flights were carried out (by 18% more than the plan), during which 9319 points were obtained, characterizing progress (the plan was exceeded by 10%). As we see, the Americans do not even think about stopping the fine-tuning and production of the newest fighters. For the current 2013 year, tests and revision of the onboard avionics equipment of the Block 2B version are planned, as well as the first tests of weapons. The first tests of the modification of the shortened take-off on the universal landing ships of the Wasp project were scheduled for summer.
In general, employees of all companies and enterprises engaged in the F-35 project continue to work on it and are not going to abandon it. Yes, and the project itself has long passed the point of no return, so the military and engineers do not have a way back - you need to continue fine-tuning and building new aircraft. All problems with the complexity of a particular part of the project, as well as the delays in their implementation caused by them, ultimately lead to an increase in the cost of the entire program. But, as already mentioned, there is no turning back, the F-35 will serve at any cost.
That's just not quite clear how the next update of the US Air Force will look like if the price of the next plane will be even higher than now. In the late nineties, one of the senior leaders of Lockheed-Martin N. Augustine noted that every ten years the development program of the new fighter rises four times the previous one. If this trend continues, by the middle of the 21st century, one annual US military budget of the late 1990s sample will be equivalent to the cost of developing and building just one aircraft. According to Augustine’s apt expression, this fighter will serve in the Air Force for three and a half days a week, as many more in the Navy, and in particularly successful years it will occasionally “overtake” the Marine Corps. Will Lightning-2 be able to stop this bad tradition? Judging by the current situation, the likelihood of this is not so great.
Based on:
http://lockheedmartin.com/
http://pw.utc.com/
http://jsf.mil/
http://airwar.ru/
http://ausairpower.net/
http://lenta.ru/
http://rnd.cnews.ru/
http://smh.com.au/
Kudishin I.V. F-22 Raptor and JSF. American fighter of the fifth generation. - M .: Astrel / AST, 2002
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