Germany eyeballs the US F-35

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

 

When the virtuous have fallen

People say that there is frequently an incredible bond between humans and animals.

That is true.

There is, I submit, no greater bond between animal and human but when service dogs are involved because life and death — for both — is the bottom line.

From FoxNewsInsider.com:

Soldier Lays Flag Over Military Dog After He’s Put Down

A heartbreaking photo shows the moment a U.S. airman said goodbye to his best friend, his 11-year-old military working dog.

According to Inside Edition, the 11-year-old German shepherd, Bodza, had to be put down last week due to health problems.

His owner, Air Force service member Kyle Smith, draped Old Glory over Bodza after he comforted the pup in his final moments.

“I held him in my arms the entire time. I’ve never cried that much my entire life,” said Smith.

Bodza served alongside Smith on his 2012 deployment to Kyrgyzstan. Smith’s superiors surprised him with the adoption papers a few years later when Bodza retired from service.

Please watch the video but, however, be prepared to be monumentally moved.

Animals embolden, inform and enrich our lives. But like fellow soldiers in foxholes, service dogs embody and enforce the unwritten rule that the fight is not necessarily for greater good but, instead, due to the unshakable bond between individual warriors.

This goes both ways as well. No one can forget moving photographs or videos of dogs laying prostrate for their military handlers who were killed in combat.

God bless America.

As a friend of mine says, it is past due time for America to bless God.

BZ

 

8 years on: my father passes

My father, Col Richard L Alley, passed away eight years ago today, at the age of 88. I clearly recall the one thing he said about his own father, who passed away in the front yard at the age of 80: “I just want to live longer than he did.”

And so it was.

My mother and father met in Sacramento when Dad was training at Mather Air Field. He ended up flying missions for the 8th AF in B-17s, made his missions in one piece and returned to the states, where he became an instructor in B-25s.

Here Dad is being trained to fly.

Dad’s father, Verto, served in World War I.

Verto and Kathleen married soon after. This photo got Verto through WW I.

My father, left, with his brother Jim in Kansas City, Missouri, 1925. All three brothers served in World War II. Dad chose the Air Force, Uncle Jim served in the army and Uncle Bill in the navy.

I miss my father every day and honor his service. Col Richard L. Alley, USAF, 1920 to 2009, WWII and Vietnam.

The same folded flag above is in a polished cherry walnut case no more than four feet from me as I write, with three of the brass casings fired at his salute.

BZ

 

America’s pilot Bob Hoover passes at 94

bob-hoover-wwiiFrom MPRNews.com::

Bob Hoover, one of history’s greatest pilots, dead at 94

by Bob Collins

One of the greatest pilots in the history of aviation died this morning, according to reports.

Bob Hoover, a World War II fighter pilot, a former Air Force test pilot, and the chase plane pilot for Chuck Yeager when he broke the sound barrier for the first time, was 94.

A lot of the greatest pilots who ever lived will tell you that Hoover was the greatest pilot who ever lived.

bob-hoover-aero-commanderAnd he was, if you were ever lucky enough to witness a Bob Hoover performance at an air show in the United States when he flew, for example, his Shrike Aero Commander. As destiny would have it, I was sufficiently lucky to have seen Bob Hoover a full five times.

As a German POW, Hoover escaped Germany by stealing an airplane. Balls of steel.

After being shot down in 1944, Hoover spent 16 months in a Stalag Luft I, a German prisoner of war camp on the northeastern coast of Germany, according to the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Hoover jumped a barbed wire fence while the guards were distracted by a staged fight. He stole a lightly-damaged Focke-Wulf Fw 190, flying it to freedom before ditching the plane in a field in the Netherlands.

bob_hoover_t28b_sm

Bob Hoover’s North American T-28 Trojan trainer.

AOPA.com writes:

The winner of hundreds of military and aviation awards, including the prestigious Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 2014, Hoover died Oct. 25 in Los Angeles at age 94. While frail in recent years, he lived at home and relatively pain free until the last few days, according to close friends.

Known for his ability to tell one engaging aviation story after another, Hoover loved interacting with pilots and prospective pilots, often going out of his way to speak to children, encouraging them to follow their dreams. “Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do it,” Hoover said during the presentation of the Wright Trophy. “You learn how to do it. You figure out how to do it. And you are the only one who can make it happen…. Don’t give up if that’s what you really wish to do.”

Let us look at Bob Hoover in action. In 1986, for example, when the below video was shot, Bob Hoover was 64 years old. That, ladies and gentlemen — to be  blunt — is a stud.

How many people customarily performed actual aerobatics in a two-engine plane? Yes. That would be one: Bob Hoover.

bob-hoover-young-pilotHe was called the “best stick and rudder man who ever lived.” Hoover lived and survived by his senses — not like the digital pilots of today whose human-to-metal contact is limited by electrons and joysticks and glass cockpit screens. You don’t truly “fly” a plane today — you mostly program it and wait for the autopilot to take charge. You are a human “course changer” and “altitude changer.” You are a backup. You are extraneous. The difference, say, between Airbus and Boeing. Joysticks vs actual yokes.

bob-hoover-shrike-aerocommanderBob Hoover — who had to fight and conquer air sickness — became the kind of human whose spatial consciousness, inner ear and sense of presence exceeded that of 99.9% of most mortals. Today’s cockpit occupiers are primarily programmers entering numbers. They know it and it makes them simultaneously sad and appreciative to have, truly, the very last jobs in aviation before fully autonomous aircraft take over.

bob-hoover-blue-skiesThey know it. And they all wish they’d been Bob Hoover.

CNN.com wrote:

A precise aviator, Hoover famously was able to pour a glass of iced tea in the middle of a barrel role. Hoover’s famous green and white stunt plane sits prominently under the wing of the Concorde supersonic airliner at the National Air and Space Museum Annex in Chantilly, Va.

God bless you, Robert Anderson “Bob” Hoover.

Just as UNBROKEN documents the life and times of WWII hero Louis Zamperini, Hoover’s book FOREVER FLYING documents the incredible life of Bob Hoover.

God bless you, R.A, “Bob” Hoover.

When a person gets to do what one actually loves to do, they are truly blessed.

Fair skies and following winds. Be forever flying, sir.

BZ

P.S.
I love you, dad.

dad-standing-propeller-a