Posted on 03/18/2024 11:58:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing (FW) takes off during an Agile Combat Employment exercise on Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, July 13, 2021. Agile Combat Employment exercises ensure the 354th FW is able to deploy, disperse and maneuver combat capability to create dilemmas for near-peer adversaries. Photo: US Air Force / Airman 1st Class Jose Miguel T Tamondong The Warzone reported that the full-rate production decision came more than four years later than planned, with the primary reason for the latest holdup being delays with the Joint Simulation Environment tests.
Those tests, the source mentions, were finally wrapped up at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland last September. It notes that in the meantime, 1,000 F-35s have been built for the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and foreign customers.
The Warzone says that completed F-35s are being parked as soon as they come off the production line due to ongoing delays in the Tech Refresh-3 (TR-3) hardware configuration.
It notes that configuration underpins the F-35’s future capabilities, collectively known as Block 4, which will provide advanced new capabilities to the F-35 including much-expanded processing power, new displays, enhanced cooling, new Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), Distributed Aperture System (DAS) electro-optical sensors and a host of additional weapons.
The decision to move forward with full production, known as Milestone C, comes as the US military is not accepting new aircraft due to concerns about the status of Block 4 upgrades, seen as a cornerstone of the F-35’s future development potential.
William LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, signed the memo approving the Milestone C decision, the report said.
China may be close behind in the advanced stealth fighter race. This month, The Warzone released recent images of China’s Shenyang J-35, indicating it could operate from its existing and future carriers including the Type 003 Fujian. The Warzone pictures reveal the aircraft’s underside, landing gear, and layout, all of which are similar to the F-35C.
The Warzone says the J-35 has long been linked to the People’s Liberation Army-Navy’s (PLAN) future catapult-assisted takeoff but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) carriers.
The report notes that the possibility of J-35s performing regular operations from Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carriers may make sense, as they would gain valuable experience and flight hours before the Fujian is fully ready.
Although the US has belatedly cleared the F-35 for full-rate production, it is unclear whether it will meet its production goals due to budget cuts that have resulted in reduced orders.
This month, Defense One reported that the US Air Force had been warned of cuts to purchases in its upcoming budget proposal due to reports that the service won’t be able to buy as many F-35s as originally planned.
Defense One mentions that the US Department of Defense’s (DOD) fiscal 2025 topline budget will be US$849.8 billion, about $10 billion less than forecast due to the US Congress’s cap on defense spending.
Defense One mentions that the cap has forced officials to cut the number of F-35 jets they buy next year from 83 to 70. As for other fighter types, Breaking Defense reported this month that the US Air Force would be receiving 18 instead of 24 F-15EX fighters, with overall cuts resulting in just 86 out of 107 fighter jets initially planned for acquisition.
Despite that, the 2025 cuts are at a level that the service can accept and will still allow progress on modernization, Defense One stated.
In contrast, China is progressing steadily with its 5th-generation fighter program, with the J-20 as its flagship project.
China’s J-20 fighters fly in formation at an air show. Image: China Daily Asia Times reported in February 2023 that China is set to surpass the US in 5th-generation fighter production, with its J-20 stealth fleet numbers expected to exceed the US F-22 inventory within this year.
F-22 production was stopped in 2011, with only 187 irreplaceable and increasingly obsolescent airframes built. In contrast, China may already have up to 200 J-20 fighters, based on serial numbers seen at the 2022 Zhuhai Air Show.
As of April 2022, the US has 450 F-35s but China’s J-20 production is gaining speed. China’s manufacturing techniques and jet engine technology have accelerated the production of the J-20, with China using world-class pulsating production lines to speed up fighter deliveries.
Asia Times reported in September 2022 that China’s fighter force may already have caught up with the US in the Pacific. The US has only 11 fighter squadrons in the Pacific, while it reportedly needs 13. Meanwhile, only three out of eight US fighter squadrons are transitioning to newer aircraft, resulting in a smaller, older and less capable fighter force.
China is estimated to have 1,800 fighters divided among its five theater commands organized into seven to ten fighter brigades, with three to six fighter groups having 30 to 50 aircraft.
Ideally, the US must maintain 134 modernized, well-equipped fighter squadrons and a production rate of 72 fighters per year to maintain combat capability while retiring older aircraft.
As to how America’s F-35 compares with China’s J-35, Joseph Trevithick notes in a July 2022 The Warzone article that the J-35 has a F-35-like front opening, an internally bowed canopy with an integral bulkhead at the rear and a rear canopy configuration similar to F-35A and F-35C variants.
Trevithick notes that the J-35’s canopy is less severely “bubbled” and blends more evenly with the airframe towards its rear.
He points out that the F-35, which is arguably the prototype for the J-35’s design, has a canopy configuration resulting from a design compromise to accommodate the lift fan and other unique elements found on the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL)-capable F-35B variant.
He also notes that the J-35 may have domestically-built WS-21 engines, with serrated exhausts to minimize its heat signature and other adaptations for a maritime environment.
As to how the F-35 and J-20 would face off against each other, Brent Eastwood notes in a November 2023 article for The National Interest (TNI) that the two stealth fighters would likely square off in a Taiwan Strait conflict.
Eastwood says that the F-25 has better stealth attributes than the J-20, with the latter being unable to see the former until a missile lock. However, he points out that while the J-20 is faster than the F-35, the Chinese jet does not have a cannon while the American one has better stealth characteristics.
He notes that pilot skills could determine who wins any dogfight.
“Eastwood says that the F-35 has better stealth attributes than the J-20, with the latter being unable to see the former until a missile lock.”
LOL, and the F-35 in the photo at the top of the article isn’t even slightly stealth. It has to dirty sidewinders hanging on two dirty pods out on the wingtips. It’ll show up like a dirty F-16. And the F-35 “stealth” on a clean 35 is only from the front.
Take away stealth and it’s a slower less maneuverable fighter with a gun installed as an afterthought with a whole 180 rounds (3 seconds of ammo).
And without stealth, it isn’t the handful of J-20s that are the problem, it’s the 500+ J-10s (Their F-16 copy). It can outrun, outturn and outrange a 35 that has lost it’s stealth.
The 35 is designed to prevail in two environments, one where it is protected by F-15s and 22s, and another called the “defense procurement process”.
F-35s production contracts are spread out to 46 states and god only knows how many congressional districts, that’s it’s actual survivability and stealth.
When I went into the USAF in the 1970's we were already flying planes that were as old as the pilots. Our fearless leaders have been suckered by the false peace dividend of the 80's and shut down our creativity and design capacity.
Now we have only three major suppliers and an astounding 25 year R&D cycle to field a new aircraft. They are obsolescent by the time they are deployed.
Congresscritters playing politics, losing the technological edge, surrendering the manufacturing capacity to over regulation and finally, losing the willingness to field a force that would deter an aggressor like the chicoms has led us on a course of national suicide.
We will never again have the luxury of time like we had in WWII to regain the title of Arsenal of Democracy. The American people simply cannot grasp that the next major conflict will be over in hours not even taking into account the use of nukes.
Without the spin and opinion from AsiaTimes
F-35 Cleared For Full-Rate Production 17 Years After Its First Flight
The F-35 has been cleared for full-rate production, although there are lingering issues with preparations for its critical Block 4 upgrade.
https://www.twz.com/air/f-35-cleared-for-full-rate-production-17-years-after-its-first-flight
The F-35 is only sort of kind of stealthy head on - otherwise its huge. F-22 has the RCS of a small bird for comparison.
That picture was from a recent airstrike by U.S. Air Force F-35s in northeastern Iraq. The planes involved carried AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles on their wingtips, but in this particular instance the F-35s didn’t have to worry about being detected by radar.
Normally, the missiles are stored in an internal weapons bay. So stealth is still a thing they have.
Article brought to you by Rolls Royce Lycoming, Boeing, Lockheed, and Raytheon.
“China’s J-20 fighters fly in formation at an air show. Image”
Those are not J-20 fighters. They look like Hongdu JL-8 or JL-10 trainers.
The recent GAO audit found the F-35 to be 30% fully mission capable. Marine version was ~15%.
- Maintenance challenges negatively affect F-35 aircraft readiness. The F-35 fleet mission capable rate—the percentage of time the aircraft can perform one of its tasked missions—was about 55 percent in March 2023, far below program goals.
Would you help me out here because I seem to be confused? Is the MIC evil or are they not working fast enough to create more weapons of war?
Yes.
Same F35 that’s only about 35% Combat Capable? Those F35s?
Regardless of other considerations, the F-35B is as asinine as the Osprey and for the same reason, Congressional/donor corruption.
-fJRoberts-
Not a jet v. jet “air superiority fighter”
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