F-35 Lightning II developments

[Bjorn]

F-35B with serial 169292 is seen flying at NAS Fort Worth. This is obviously one of the LRIP VIII airframes (BF-50/BF-55). Anyone has a tie-up?

Greets,

[Melchior Timmers]

F-35B with serial 169292 is seen flying at NAS Fort Worth. This is obviously one of the LRIP VIII airframes (BF-50/BF-55). Anyone has a tie-up?

Greets,

This one has been reported as BF-50

[Bjorn]

OK, so BF-50 till BF-55 will be 169292 till 169297 then. Than it's just a wait untill the first C-model of LRIP VIII flies to catch that serial as well.

Greets,

[ngroot]

Are the serials known of the two F-35A's which participated in Green Flag 15-08? According to this site they are from the 31st TES. From one of the pictures (on the same site) 5021/OT is kinda readable, which would be 11-5021. Does anyone know the serial of the other F-35A?

[Melchior Timmers]

ZM139 BK-5 made its first flight at 6 May.
If it's buno is 169292 or 169302 is still to be confirmed.

[Melchior Timmers]

Than it's just a wait untill the first C-model of LRIP VIII flies to catch that serial as well.
Greets,

Apparently flew 5 May, but no serial known yet

[ngroot]

ZM139 BK-5 made its first flight at 6 May.
If it's buno is 169292 or 169302 is still to be confirmed.

Thanks for the info!

Do you perhaps mean 169298 instead of 169292? 169298 would mean BK-5 would come right after BF-55, following the same pattern as Lot 7. 169302 could be its BuNo if it comes after the last C-model in Lot 8 (CF-31 if I'm correct). This would follow the same pattern as Lot 4. I think 169298 is more likely, but we'll see.

[Melchior Timmers]

Do you perhaps mean 169298 instead of 169292? 169298 would mean BK-5 would come right after BF-55, following the same pattern as Lot 7. 169302 could be its BuNo if it comes after the last C-model in Lot 8 (CF-31 if I'm correct). This would follow the same pattern as Lot 4. I think 169298 is more likely, but we'll see.

Yes indeed 168298 instead of 168292 (which is BF-50).
I think it will be 168298 too.

[Melchior Timmers]

VMFA-211 just received their first two F-35Bs (169024/CF-06 and 169025/CF-09)

[Coati]

Contract awarded to LM to add 13 F-35s for the US forces to LRIP-10. The original arder for LRIP-10 was 44 F-35A USAF, 9 F-35B for the USMC and 2 F-35C for the USN. The LRIP contract already offered the option for two additional F-35C for the USN. This option is now finalized. On top of that, 6 F-35B (USMC), 2 extra F-35C for the USN and 3 F-35A are added.

Total sum of US F-35 for the US is now 68 for LRIP-10 (47 A, 15 B, 6 C), plus 39 aircraft for foreign customers makes 107 (!)

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/b ... parts.html

[Coati]

Aaaaand...we have a new F-35 operator! This time Denmark, opting for 27 aircraft for now. Denmark has been a long time partner in the F-35 partner as a level 3 partner. This leaves Canada as the only country of the participating countries to decide to purchase the F-35 or not.

http://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2016-05-1 ... ye-kampfly

More details here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/global-a ... SL5N1886EM

[Coati]

VFA-101 Passes Initial F-35C Weapons Inspection - 'Grim Reapers' Pending Safe for Flight Status

interesting piece, did not found an earlier statement about VFA-125 being transfered to the F-35C, nor VX-9:

Worth noting, VFA-101 started training their first official class of seven pilots who will transition to VFA-125 to become the second F-35C FRS, located at Naval Air Station Lemoore, and the Navy's Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 9 (VX-9) Detachment at Edwards Air Force Base.


http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=94650

[Coati]

Here the executive summary of the evaluation by the Danish expert panel. The F-35A beats the opponents (Super Hornet and Eurofighter) on every aspect (strategic, military, economic industrial).

http://www.fmn.dk/temaer/kampfly/Docume ... mmary5.pdf

Interesting piece:

Economic aspects
The economic evaluation compares the candidates’ estimated
life cycle costs on the basis of calculations in the
quantitative economic model. The life cycle costs cover
costs linked to procurement, ongoing operations and
sustainment as well as quantifiable risks over a period
of 30 years.
The estimated life cycle costs are lowest for the Joint
Strike Fighter, second-lowest for the Super Hornet and
the highest for the Eurofighter. The reason is primarily
that the airframe of the Joint Strike Fighter is designed
to be capable of flying 8,000 hours, whereas the Eurofighter
and the Super Hornet are both designed to fly
6,000 hours. In order to perform the required portfolio
of tasks over a period of 30 years, fewer Joint Strike
Fighter airframes are therefore required compared to
the Eurofighter or the Super Hornet. The calculations in
the economic model have identified a need for 28 Joint
Strike Fighter airframes, 34 Eurofighter airframes and 38
Super Hornet airframes, respectively, in order to perform
the same portfolio of tasks. Another reason is that
the Super Hornet is a two-seat aircraft, which implies a
greater need for flight instruction hours and training of
crews than the Eurofighter and the Joint Strike Fighter.
Furthermore, the Eurofighter has higher maintenance
costs per flight hour than the Joint Strike Fighter and the
Super Hornet. The procurement price per aircraft is the
highest for the Eurofighter.
Figure 0.2 shows the estimated life cycle costs broken
down by procurement, sustainment as well as risks. The
vertical line shows the degree of uncertainty of the estimate.
Sensitivity analyses show that the result of the economic
evaluation is in general robust with regards to changes to
key preconditions such as airframe lifespan.1

[Melchior Timmers]

if it comes after the last C-model in Lot 8 (CF-31 if I'm correct). This would follow the same pattern as Lot 4.

CF-28 is confirmed as 169302

[ngroot]

CF-28 is confirmed as 169302

Thanks! Then the BuNo's seem to be the following for Lot 8:

BF-50 169292
BF-51 169293
BF-52 169294
BF-53 169295
BF-54 169296
BF-55 169297
BK-5 169298 ZM139
BK-6 169299 ZM140
BK-7 169300 ZM141
BK-8 169301 ZM142
CF-28 169302
CF-29 169303
CF-30 169304
CF-31 169305