F-35 news roundup

[DutyCat]

With all due to a guy like Waco, who probably can build a waaaaaayyy too accurate F-22 kit...most pilots don't seem to look at their aircraft with the same eyes modelers do. I've talked with too many pilots of various aircraft through the years asking fairly innocuous questions (in the guise of official chit chat) and getting honestly blank stares. They just don't care that the lower pitots on the underside of an F-15 are flattened tubes, not round. They care about details from the functional "will this kill me today?" perspective, not what freakin' shade of gray it is. I'm fairly certain there are less than three F-35 pilots who could off the top of their head tell you how many lightening holes are in the wheel hub.

This is generally true unless your pilot/flight crew happens to be a modeler. I was probably one of the only folks in the squadron, outside of the paint guys in CC, who could tell you that our S-3's were Light Gull Gray on top. To most folks, it is whatever particular shade of gray the Navy was using on our jets. Professional flight crews are focused on how it flies and fights, not the shade of tan that is on the end of the MAD boom, or whether the leading edge mach tape on a particular squadron bird is off yellow, tan, or clear.

Edited May 23, 2015 by DutyCat

[fulcrum1]

Hahaha, as a modeler in the military, some odd facts have come out of my mouth at the absolute wrong times to the wrong people causing them to give me that cocked head raised eyebrow look.

[MarkW]

Yeah, walking down the assembly line and asking why the A and C had three red canisters in a certain bay while the B had 4...

More news...

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2015/05/15/will-the-a-10-dodge-retirement-and-get-new-wings/

[TaiidanTomcat]

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/05/its-in-hands-of-the-professionals-f-35bs-on-the-uss-wasp/

[82Whitey51]

This is generally true unless your pilot/flight crew happens to be a modeler. I was probably one of the only folks in the squadron, outside of the paint guys in CC, who could tell you that our S-3's were Light Gull Gray on top. To most folks, it is whatever particular shade of gray the Navy was using on our jets. Professional flight crews are focused on how it flies and fights, not the shade of tan that is on the end of the MAD boom, or whether the leading edge mach tape on a particular squadron bird is off yellow, tan, or clear.

Clear Mach tape?! There's no fun in that.

My first job in the Navy was a 12C bubbah in VAW...I had a blast learning how to shoot paint. Amongst us 12C guys we did refer to the paint by FS number often..."Hey, Smitty (there's always a "Smitty"...) go grab us another can of 16440!".

I was on the flight line at NAS P-Cola a few years back with a FS595 in my hand walking around a bunch of German MiG-29s getting paint references, a pilot from one of the VTs came walking out and saw me and says "Ahhh, model builder, huh?".

Back to F-35 news...these new paints are making life tough on us with the sheen.

[-Neu-]

With all due to a guy like Waco, who probably can build a waaaaaayyy too accurate F-22 kit...most pilots don't seem to look at their aircraft with the same eyes modelers do. I've talked with too many pilots of various aircraft through the years asking fairly innocuous questions (in the guise of official chit chat) and getting honestly blank stares. They just don't care that the lower pitots on the underside of an F-15 are flattened tubes, not round. They care about details from the functional "will this kill me today?" perspective, not what freakin' shade of gray it is. I'm fairly certain there are less than three F-35 pilots who could off the top of their head tell you how many lightening holes are in the wheel hub.

While that is almost certainly true for operational pilots, the test pilots can give you a lot of those answers... partly because they are part of the iterative process that got it changed a certain way. That's been my experience anyways.

[Check Six]

http://breakingdefen...n-the-uss-wasp/

Awesome update; thanks for sharing!

I have to admit; I got major entertainment out of the comments section .

Who'da thunk so many LM engineers would post the F-35's actual capability and limitations .

[GreyGhost]

>>> Article <<<

-Gregg

[TaiidanTomcat]

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/05/fundamental-change-in-direction-for-f-35-kendall-floats-plan-to-buy-450-planes/

[GreyGhost]

>>> Marine Times Article <<<

-Gregg

[TaiidanTomcat]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/02/us-lockheed-fighter-exercises-idUSKBN0OH30H20150602?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563

Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet will play a major role in a large U.S. military exercise this week for the first time, marking another milestone for the Pentagon's largest weapons program, Air Force officials said Monday.

The exercise, which is called "Green Flag West" and runs through June 12, tests the U.S. military's ability to engage in large-scale contested operations and helps get ground troops who pinpoint potential air strikes ready for combat.

One or two F-35 A-model jets will participate in the exercises each day, along with F-16 fighter planes, A-10 gunships and other weapons, said Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Dadgar, who is charge of the exercise.

"This is the first time that the F-35 will be the primary player in this exercise," Dadgar told Reuters.

[GreyGhost]

One or two equates to "primary player"? :unsure:

-Gregg

[TaiidanTomcat]

One or two equates to "primary player"? :unsure:/>

-Gregg

Yes

[GreyGhost]

I thought it was a bigger exercise ...

-Gregg

[MarkW]

It's primarily an EW exercise. The F-35 radar has been participating for years on a different airframe.

[Fellow Hobbyist]

"[The Green Flag West exercise] provides training for approximately 75,000 joint and coalition personnel per year, including 3,000 sorties, 6,000 flight hours, and the expenditure of over 700,000 pounds of live and training ordnance." USAF Fact Sheet on Green Flag West

[Check Six]

Will the F-35 platform eventually replace the EA-18G Growler?

IIRC; I read somewhere that the F-35 has an EW capability that will be able to handle ECM missions.

[TaiidanTomcat]

I thought it was a bigger exercise ...

-Gregg

http://www.nellis.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=19524

[MarkW]

Will the F-35 platform eventually replace the EA-18G Growler?

IIRC; I read somewhere that the F-35 has an EW capability that will be able to handle ECM missions.

No. The F-35 EW capability is intended to keep the 4 ship alive so it can drop bombs. To do the sort of reach out and touch you EW the Growler does it would need a lot more pod horsepower, which is coming eventually.

[Check Six]

No. The F-35 EW capability is intended to keep the 4 ship alive so it can drop bombs. To do the sort of reach out and touch you EW the Growler does it would need a lot more pod horsepower, which is coming eventually.

Ah; O.K.

Do you mean in the form of an EF-35 platform to replace the growler?

Thanks for the reply.

[TaiidanTomcat]

[Check Six]

[11bee]

Cute pics. In other news, head of Air Combat Command sounds a bit concerned about a couple of key sensor upgrades:

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/sensor-upgrades-top-usaf-wish-list-for-f-35-block-4-413070/

Also admits curtailing the F-22 program was a bit of a mistake.

[TaiidanTomcat]

Also admits curtailing the F-22 program was a bit of a mistake.

It used to be you had to search far and wide to find people who thought curtailing the F-22 was a mistake

This is the first I'm hearing of it... :deadhorse1:

[11bee]

It used to be you had to search far and wide to find people who thought curtailing the F-22 was a mistake :deadhorse1:/>

This is the first I'm hearing of it... :deadhorse1:/> :deadhorse1:/>

Very easy to find folks who felt that this was a shortsighted mistake, however the majority of them aren't high level AF officials (or maybe I just never found their statements). I though the AF higher-ups typically held to the "party line" on this subject.