Tag Archives: Lockheed Martin

Germany eyeballs the US F-35

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This is simultaneously good news and yet confusing.

From Janes.com:

Germany declares preference for F-35 to replace Tornado

by Gareth Jennings

The German Air Force has a shortlist of existing platforms to replace its Panavia Tornados from 2025 to 2030, but the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is the service’s “preferred choice”, a senior service official said on 8 November.

Speaking under the Chatham House Rule, the official said that the F-35 already fulfils most of the requirements that the Luftwaffe requires to replace its Tornados in the 2025 to 2030 timeframe, and that it offers a number of other benefits besides.

“The Tornado replacement needs to be fifth-generation aircraft that can be detected as late as possible, if at all. It must be able to identify targets from a long way off and to target them as soon as possible.

“The German Ministry of Defence [MoD] is looking at several aircraft today, including the F-35 – it is commercially available already, has been ordered by many nations and is being introduced into service today, and has most of the capabilities required.”

This is odd insofar as Angela Merkel absolutely despises Donald John Trump beyond despiction. Not only that, she would do most anything to ensure he succeeds in no portion of his agenda whatsoever.

That said, Germany is making indications that it favors the Lockheed-Martin F-35 as its replacement jet for the doddering Panavia Tornado.

The timelines involved of an anticipated retirement of the Tornado in about 2030 has caused the Luftwaffe to look instead at an already developed platform. 

An odd thing considering this from Medium.com in 2015:

Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Can’t Dogfight

by David Axe

New stealth fighter is dead meat in an air battle

A test pilot has some very, very bad news about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The pricey new stealth jet can’t turn or climb fast enough to hit an enemy plane during a dogfight or to dodge the enemy’s own gunfire, the pilot reported following a day of mock air battles back in January.

“The F-35 was at a distinct energy disadvantage,” the unnamed pilot wrote in a scathing five-page brief that War Is Boring has obtained. The brief is unclassified but is labeled “for official use only.”

The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35 — which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon.

The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — not to mention the air forces and navies of more than a dozen U.S. allies — are counting on the Lockheed Martin-made JSF to replace many if not most of their current fighter jets.

That was 2015. What has happened since then?

The overall experience of flying the F-35 in aerial combat is different from what I’m used to with the F-16. One obvious difference is that the F-35 shakes quite a bit at high g-loadings and at high angles of attack, while the F-16 hardly shakes at all. The professional terminology is «buffeting», which I also described in an earlier blog post (English version available).This buffeting serves as useful feedback, but it can also be a disadvantage. Because the buffeting only begins at moderate angles of attack, it provides me an intuitive feel for how much I am demanding from the aircraft; what is happening to my overall energy state? On the other hand, several pilots have had trouble reading the information which is displayed on the helmet visor, due to the buffeting. Most of the pilots here at Luke fly with the second-generation helmet. I fly with the third-generation helmet, and I have not found this to be a real issue.

What I initially found to a bit negative in visual combat was the cockpit view, which wasn’t as good as in the F-16. The cockpit view from the F-16 was good – better than in any other fighter I have flown. I could turn around and look at the opposite wingtip; turn to the right, look over the «back» of the airplane and see the left wingtip. That´s not quite possible in the F-35, because the headrest blocks some of the view. Therefore, I was a bit frustrated during my first few BFM-sorties. However, It turned out that practice was all it took to improve the situation. Now I compensate by moving forward in the seat and leaning slightly sideways, before turning my head and looking backwards. In this way I can look around the sides of the seat. I also use my hands to brace against the cockpit glass and the canopy frame. With regards to cockpit view alone, I had an advantage in the F-16, but I am still able to maintain visual contact with my opponent during aggressive maneuvering in the F-35. The cockpit view is not a limitation with regards to being effective in visual combat, and it would be a misunderstanding to present this as a genuine problem with the F-35.

Then from ScientificAmerican.com:

What Went Wrong with the F-35, Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter?

by Michael P. Hughes

The F-35 was billed as a fighter jet that could do almost everything the U.S. military desired but has turned out to be one of the greatest boondoggles in recent military purchasing history

The F-35 was billed as a fighter jet that could do almost everything the U.S. military desired, serving the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy – and even Britain’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy – all in one aircraft design. It’s supposed to replace and improve upon several current – and aging – aircraft types with widely different missions. It’s marketed as a cost-effective, powerful multi-role fighter airplane significantly better than anything potential adversaries could build in the next two decades. But it’s turned out to be none of those things.

Why? Because there is no one airframe that can “do it all.” And no one with half a brain tied behind their back could say that with honesty unless they were swayed by cash, power or influence.

Essentially, the Pentagon has declared the F-35 “too big to fail.” As a retired member of the U.S. Air Force and current university professor of finance who has been involved in and studied military aviation and acquisitions, I find the F-35 to be one of the greatest boondoggles in recent military purchasing history.

I think you see where I’m going with this. You need to read the rest of the article here.

John Boyd could tell you what went wrong with the F-35. Gold plating. An attempt to make it be everything to everyone. The USAF, Boyd’s arm of service, hated him. The US Marines loved him. The problem with Boyd was that he told truth to power. It didn’t help his argument that he was not only a genius but a bedraggled one as well.

Here, a member of Boyd’s Fighter Mafia reveals the truth.

Bottom line?

I believe the F-35 program should be immediately cancelled; the technologies and systems developed for it should be used in more up-to-date and cost-effective aircraft designs. Specifically, the F-35 should be replaced with a series of new designs targeted toward the specific mission requirements of the individual branches of the armed forces, in lieu of a single aircraft design trying to be everything to everyone.

Making one jet fit all? That’s simply an impossible goal.

It’s costing the US billions to figure that out.

BZ

 

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Lockheed’s SR-91 Aurora

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Was there, could there, ever be a replacement for the Lockheed Skunk Works SR-71?

Temporarily, there is. Lockheed’s SR-91 Aurora. Or is there?

Probably one of the most incredible examples of the analog age, the technology behind the Lockheed SR-71 begs a post which I am, actually, in the process of writing. The entire SR-71 program, massively expensive, was taken down — in retrospect — way too early in consideration of the inefficiencies of satellites.

I would refer you, as I display here, to a LeWeb 2012 talk given by a “sled driver” named Brian Shul who lives in Chico, California, not far from Beale AFB where he was assigned as an SR-71 pilot.

An amazing individual with an amazing life, Shul was one of literally a handful of persons privileged and trained to fly the SR-71. After watching the video below about the SR-71 you’ll come to understand what an astounding accomplishment it was to even build the craft, much less make it as efficient and successful as it was.

The SR-71 became an analog aircraft in a digital world that succeeded beyond anyone’s and everyone’s expectations.

Finally, is the SR-91 Aurora a myth?

In 2006, renowned aviation writer Bill Sweetman had stated and derived to a conclusion that, “This evidence of 20 years of examining budget “holes”, unexplained sonic booms, plus the Gibson sighting , helps establish the program’s initial existence. My investigations continue to turn up evidence that suggests current activity. For example, having spent years sifting through military budgets, tracking untraceable dollars and code names, I learned how to sort out where money was going. This year, when I looked at the Air Force operations budget in detail, I found a $9-billion black hole that seems a perfect fit for a project like Aurora.”

You must decide for yourself.

BZ

 

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Unmasked: Area 51’s Biggest, Stealthiest Spy Drone Yet

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Northrop-Grumman RQ-180From ForeignPolicy.com:

by Zach Rosenberg

The drone that spied on bin Laden and on Iran’s nukes was just the start. Meet its bigger, higher-flying, stealthier cousin, the Northrop Grumman RQ-180. It’s probably been flying for a few years now, but you weren’t supposed to know that; the existence of this secret project, based out of Area 51, was revealed Friday by Aviation Week.

The RQ-180 is likely flying from the secret Air Force test facility at Groom Lake, Nevada, widely known as Area 51. Its exact specifications, including such crucial details as the number of engines, is unknown, but Aviation Week suggests a wingspan of over 130 feet, based on hangar construction at Northrop’s Palmdale, California facility. The number of aircraft built is also unknown; however, a flight test program, relatively quick entry into service and open budget documents suggest a small fleet are flying routinely.

The aircraft’s performance is said to be similar to Northrop’s white-world entry, the RQ-4 Global Hawk, which can fly for days and cover thousands of miles. Hopefully the RQ-180 performs better; Global Hawk has received mixed marks on its evaluations, and the aircraft it was meant to replace, the venerable Lockheed U-2, will continue to fly for decades to come.

I wrote this past Sunday about the emergence of the Skunk Works-designed Lockheed-Martin SR72.

Conclusion?

Groom Lake, Area 51 and Wonderland are up and not just running, but sprinting.

Good news.

BZ

P.S.
The source Aviation Week & Space Technology article is here.  And with a wingspan of a possible 130 feet?  Payloads and weapons could consist of — anything.

 

 

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Lockheed unveils SR-72 hypersonic Mach 6 scramjet spy plane

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From the minds of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson and Ben Rich came the original Skunk Works, a Lockheed conceptual project initiated in 1943.

Skunk Works Logo“Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, no contracts in place, no official submittal process.”

The Skunk Works — still alive and thriving today — resulted in ground-breaking aircraft, such as:

This is an impressive list of airframes from the minds of people unconstrained in their thoughts and willing to push the technological envelope of the times, from every angle.

I proffer that the SR-71 was the most enthralling and technologically advanced aircraft of the entire 20th century and into the 21st.  It was an airframe designed, literally, by white male geeks in short-sleeved dry-cleaned white shirts and thin dark ties, wearing brown plastic framed thick glasses, pocket protectors and utilizing wooden slide rules.  Computers simply did not exist en masse.  They sat at cheap pine tables and produced pages and pages of blue drafts, with hand-lettered notes and ennui enabled by T-squares.

The SR-71 served with the USAF from 1964 to 1998, and a total of 32 aircraft were built.  12 were lost in accidents, but none were lost to enemy action.[3][4]

The SR-71 is an aircraft, completely analog, that was allowed to perish due to age and expense.  It was, arguably, the costliest aircraft to have ever existed in the USAF inventory.

Since its demise there has been much speculation as to its replacement.  Was it Aurora?  And what would an Aurora aircraft look like?  Would it even be manned, considering the ubiquitous nature of drones today?

And, further, why would you not want a replacement?  There exist times of crisis when moving geosynchronous satellites simply won’t do, for two very important reasons: 1) it is too slow, and 2) you can only move a satellite ____ times before you deplete its finite fuel capacity.  America had the capability to hustle an SR-71 from Kadena or Beale and be over a trouble spot in as little as an hour or two.

With all that in mind, however, it appears the successor to the incredible SR-71 has been “outed,” if you will, by an article from ExtremeTech.com.

It has been designated the SR-72.

by Sebastian Anthony

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has confirmed that it is developing the SR-72 spy plane. The successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, which was capable of Mach 3.5, the SR-72 will be a hypersonic unmanned aircraft capable of Mach 6, or just over 4,500 mph. At hypersonic speeds, the SR-72 will be able to traverse any continent in around an hour — meaning, if they’re strategically positioned around the world on aircraft carriers, the US military can strike or surveil any location on Earth in about an hour. It is also suspected that the SR-72′s hypersonic engine tech — some kind of hybrid scramjet — will find its way into the US military’s High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW), a missile that can theoretically strike anywhere on Earth in just a few minutes.

Lockheed SR-72The SR-72, despite the similar name, is a completely new plane. At the moment, the SR-72 is still only a concept, though Lockheed has now confirmed that the plane is in active development. An optionally piloted scale version of the plane with a single engine will be built in 2018, with test flights scheduled for 2023. If all goes to plan (funding hasn’t yet been secured by Lockheed Martin), a full-size SR-72 (about 100 feet long) will be built and tested by 2030. As it stands, the current plan is for the SR-72 to be unmanned. It will be a very, very large drone. It will probably be unarmed, too, and outfitted entirely for intelligence gathering, though it’s too early to say for sure.

While the SR-72 will undoubtedly be a paragon of stealth and fashioned from monolithic crystals of titanium wrapped in carbon fiber, its defining feature is its operational speed of Mach 6 — or 4,567 mph (7,350 kph). At this speed, the SR-72 can cross the Atlantic (or Europe or China or…) in about an hour — or circumnavigate the planet in six hours. At an operational altitude of around 80,000 feet (24,300 meters) and Mach 6, the SR-72 will be almost impossible to shoot down.

Groom Lake and Area 51: Wonderland all over again.

BZ

 

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The US’s stealth fighter is too heavy and slow, so the Pentagon made its performance tests easier

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F-35 Digital Image Leaving CarrierFrom Vice.com:

The Pentagon’s pursuit of the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jet has been a heartbreaking one. If you’re a taxpayer, the program’s estimated $1 trillion price tag probably breaks your heart a little bit. If you’re an aviation enthusiast, the constant whittling away of the do-it-all aircraft’s features, which in many cases actually amounts to adding weight and taking away maneuverability, must hurt a little bit too.

If you’re just an everyday American, though, you should be downright shattered that after a decade and a fortune spent, the F-35 will actually be more vulnerable than the aircraft it’s replacing. At this point, the Pentagon is literally rewriting its rule book so that the dumbed-down superjet will pass muster.

Shocked and astounded are you?  You shouldn’t be.  Many of America’s aircraft have, historically, started out as one thing and become another, bloated, too multi-tasked, too technical, and gold-plated beyond belief.  Some of these airframes would be, for example, any swing-wing model (think of the F-111, the F-14 and the B-1).  Too heavy, too slow, too costly, too unmaneuverable.

The Defense Department’s annual weapons-testing report reveals that the military actually adjusted the performance specifications for the consistently underperforming line of F-35 fighter jets. In other words, they couldn’t get the jets to do what they were supposed to do, so they just changed what they were supposed to do.

Another massive waste of money was the C-5 Galaxy program, which has been and is currently the most maintenance-intensive aircraft ever to inhabit the USAF arsenal.  For every hour of flight time, the C-5 requires another 100 hours of maintenance/monitoring and/or parts replacement scheduling due to its size and stress factors.  It still possess the highest flight-to-maintenance ratio in the current USAF arsenal today.

They did it via a scheme that the amazing USAF Colonel John Boyd called “gold plating.”  Or also: “when in doubt of an aircraft passing the bar, lower the bar.”

Does that concept sound familiar?

John Boyd was a USAF military genius, eccentric, brilliant, who created amongst other things the OODA Loop.  An excellent book about Mr Boyd here, by Robert Coram, entitled “Boyd, the fighter pilot who changed the Art of War.”

BZ

 

 

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