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The F-35 fighter jet, developed by Lockheed Martin, has a fascinating accessory. The pilot’s $400,000 helmet enables him or her to see through the jet’s skin, using a number of specially positioned cameras.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter might not be produced in sufficient numbers to maintain the U.S. Air Force’s current operational capabilities due to budgetary constraints, according to Aerospace Daily & Defense Report. As a result the service is considering filling the capabilities gap with 72 Boeing F-15s, Lockheed-Martin F-16’s, or even Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. “F-15s and F-16s are now expected to serve until 2045, when an all-new aircraft will be ready, and plans to modernize F-16s with active electronically scanned array radars and other improvements are being revived,” the article states. U.S. Air Force officials and industry officials revealed...

PARIS --- The unilateral decision by the United States to locate all F-35 software laboratories on its territory, and to manage the operation and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet from its territory, has introduced vulnerabilities that are only beginning to emerge. The biggest risk is that, since the F-35 cannot operate effectively without permanent data exchanges with its software labs and logistic support computers in the United States, any disruption in the two-way flow of information would compromise its effectiveness. All F-35 aircraft operating across the world will have to update their mission data files and their Autonomic Logistic...

The US military's fifth-generation fighter is no stranger to controversy. The F-35, which comes with an estimated $1.5 trillion pricetag over the life of the program, has faced numerous hurdles and delays. Most recently, there have been concerns over its computer systems' vulnerability, and Chinese hackers have possibly stolen classified data related to the project. The F-35's construction has continued, and it is being manufactured across multiple states and different countries. For better or worse, it's going to be the US and its allies' main warplane for decades to come. Despite the setbacks, the F-35 program is continuing and the...

The helmets for Britain's new Lightning II F-35 stealth jet fighter cost £260,000 each. The high-tech helmets are linked to six cameras embedded in the jet which combine images to provide a 360 degree view allowing the pilot to "see through" the airframe. Flight and targetting information is beamed directly onto the visor, into the line of vision of the pilot. Britain has said it will order 48 of the £70 million jets, which will fly from RAF Marham and the UK's new aircraft carriers. Earlier this month it emerged lightweight pilots have been temporarily banned from flying Britain’s new...

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is one of the most experienced and capable air forces in the world, with roughly 400 American-made F-16 and F-15 fighters in its inventory. For the most part, this force resembles a smaller version of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) “legacy” fighter fleet – fourth generation aircraft originally developed during the 1970s. Like the USAF, however, many of these aircraft are three decades old and nearing the end of their service life. snip If the F-35 cannot hold its own against fourth-generation fighters, which are increasingly equipped with infrared sensors that can detect stealth aircraft,...

Donald Trump boasts, “I’m the most militaristic person there is,” and that he’d build a military force so robust “no one is going to mess” with the U.S. Yet at his core, Trump is a businessman. So when the Republican presidential frontrunner looks at the Defense Department’s multi-billion dollar F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, he sees a lousy deal. During an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, the real estate mogul said he has received briefings on the fighter jet effort and that it has “big problems.” “I’m hearing that our existing planes are better. And one of the...

23 seconds long ... WATCH THIS GUYS!! Read this text before watching the video - F-35 unintentional loop at takeoff on a carrier. The video is only a few seconds long. This guy clearly has brass and you know the sailors on the flight deck had a cow when they saw this unfold in front of them. Intentional? Hardly! This is unbelievable! F-35 unintentional loop at takeoff, a real "check your laundry" event. A supremely well-trained US Navy pilot, ice running in his veins instead of blood, fully regains control of his $70 million, F-35 joint strike force fighter, after...

Lockheed’s F-16V testbed flew for the first time yesterday. This face-lift of the F-16 is almost entirely internal, but it gives the most successful 4th generation fighter a quantum leap in capabilities. But don’t expect the F-16V’s game-changing features to show up on USAF F-16s anytime soon, and that is a major problem. The F-16V will be available in both upgrade form for older F-16s and in new production aircraft. This new configuration features a slew of upgrades, most notably is Northrop Grumman’s APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Scalable Agile Beam Radar, also known as SABR. This new radar...

Canada has had its very own F-35 saga over the last decade. In Ottawa, the beleaguered jet is so politically controversial that its procurement has become a major policy differential between the parties. Now, with the Liberals winning yesterday’s vote, it seems nearly impossible for the F-35 to find a home with America’s neighbor to the north. Just last month, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau made it clear that he intends to scrap the F-35 program all together. In its place he intends to run an transparent competition to choose a more affordable fighter. Even without Trudeau’s recent comments, it...

FORT WORTH- An F-35 taxis out of a hangar at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics plant and proceeds to the edge of a runway, the view of the Fort Worth skyline shimmering in the August heat. A smaller sleek F-16, acting as a chase plane, pulls up behind the F-35 and slowly follows the futuristic stealth fighter as it prepares to take off on another test flight. Soon the two Lockheed Martin jets — representing the Fort Worth plant’s past and future — take off in a loud roar, quickly becoming small specks in the sky. Over the next few years,...

As if they suddenly came to an epiphany, the United States Air Force brass is now admitting what many of us have been screaming about for so long: We didn’t build nearly enough F-22s, and the F-35 cannot simply pick up the slack.

At the touch of a red button, an RAF pilot obliterates jihadist militants in Syria with a laser-guided missile – moments after blowing up an enemy warplane that never saw him coming. This is the world’s most advanced stealth fighter jet, which will soon fly secret missions blitzing enemy strongholds. Britain has so far bought eight F-35b Lightning II jets which are set to fly off two UK aircraft carriers, along with American jets, by 2020. The Daily Mail was given access to the cockpit of the aircraft yesterday as a simulator created a scenario in which the warplane would...

Israel is expected to request exclusive access, among Middle Eastern nations, to some US technologies – including the Lockheed Martin F-35 – as part of a "compensation package" being sought following Washington's support earlier this year for a lifting of economic and trade sanctions on Iran. Likely equipment requests involve additional F-35s, Boeing KC-46A tankers, Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotors and advanced precision-guided weapons which have yet to be exported by the USA, including bunker-busting weapons. Israel also wants to acquire undisclosed electronic systems that would be crucial to maintain its ability to perform long-range strike missions. The nation's defence ministry...

An Air Force public affairs document marked “not for public use” instructs airmen to praise the troubled F-35 program and to “debunk false narratives” in reports surrounding the F-35.The eight-page document explicitly asks airmen to shill for the program by emphasizing “the importance of the Air Force fielding the capability and having the capacity to best support combatant commander needs,” reports David Axe at War is Boring.The document bashes reports the aircraft is too expensive, is behind schedule and won’t be able to achieve its mission. And it provides airmen with a list of convenient, ready-to-use answers to rely on...

The U.S. has refused to transfer core technologies connected to the next-generation F-35 fighter jets to Korea, throwing plans to acquire 40 of them for the Air Force into disarray. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer, had agreed in negotiations in September last year to transfer the technologies to Korea. But U.S. government intervention means the entire project worth W20 trillion is up in the air (US$1=W1,177). According to data New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Ahn Gyu-baek obtained from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the military signed the contract with Lockheed Martin last September to buy 40 F-35As for W7.34 trillion....

The tests used by the military on the latest breed of stealth jet, which was declared to be 'ready for combat' this spring, have been called into question by the Pentagon. The F-35, which is one of the most highly anticipated advancements in military history has had more than its fair share of problems. Now according to a report seen by the Washington Post, a top weapons tester at the Pentagon has declared the testing exercise to be 'so flawed that it 'was not an operational test … in either a formal or informal sense of the term.' The report...

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has a damning report on the F-35B’s shipboard “Operational Test” trials that occurred last May. It paints a dismal picture of an aircraft that is so far from being “operationally capable” it’s almost comical at this point. As a result, it proves what many of us already know: the Marines’ declaration of F-35B initial operational capability made this Summer was a farce. The F-35B’s Operational Test trials aboard the USS Wasp late last May were widely portrayed as a big success and proof that the troubled aircraft had progressed past many of the issues...

The first two Lockheed-Martin F-35's, called Adir (Awesome) in Hebrew, will be delivered to the IAF in December 2016, Shortly before the US Congress votes on the nuclear agreement with Iran, Israel has publicly announced the efforts of its air force to double the flight range of the F-35 Stealth strike fighters, the fifth generation of the air force's planes. The Israeli version of the plane, manufactured by Lockheed Martin according to Israeli specifications, is called Adir (Awesome). The first two Adirs will be delivered to the Israel Air Force (IAF) in December 2016, and will join the Golden Eagle...

The Pentagon sank $400 billion into the F-35 stealth jet—only to have it come up way short. So they’re working on a secret new bomber to handle the job instead. Government officials and aerospace executives have met in secret. Engineers have drawn up blueprints, crafted components, and assembled prototypes, all under strict confidentiality agreements. Lobbyists are prowling the halls of Congress and the Pentagon, smiling, shaking hands, exerting influence. For the first time in more than three decades, the Pentagon and America’s aerospace industry are uniting to build a big, expensive, high-tech stealth bomber. And that’s a huge deal for...