The F-35 is one of the deadliest fighters in the sky today, and a new $16.5 billion
upgrade has made this formidable 5th gen fighter even deadlier.
It's known as Block IV, a planned upgrade to the entire existing and future F-35 fleet
with one goal in mind: don't just beat anything Russia or China can put in the sky, but completely
outclass it in every way possible.
To that end, the Block IV upgrade is one of the most significant upgrade programs to any
fighter jet in history, and the exact details are buried under a mountain of classified
secrets.
But what we do know makes us grateful that we won’t be a Chinese or Russian fighter
pilot anytime soon.
Before we dive into the details we do know though, we need to put the scope of the upgrades
into perspective in the best way we know how: dollars.
With $16.5 billion dollars invested, Block Four upgrades alone are over twice what the
US Army has awarded Bell to develop it's brand new Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program,
which will deliver new helicopters to the Army.
That's right, the budget for upgrades alone is twice the budget allocated to develop an
entirely new helicopter.
Block IV introduces more than 75 significant upgrades to all F-35 variants, including those
used by the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps.
We're not updating your game drivers here, we're making the F-35 a significantly deadlier
predator by exploiting technological developments that have come to maturity since the first
F-35 rolled off the production line all the way back in 2006.
All aircraft receive continuous upgrades to everything form hardware to software, but
it can be difficult to implement significant new technologies onto old air frames.
You can triple this difficulty when the fighter you're talking about is a stealth aircraft,
where even one tiny physical change could send the entire program back to the drawing
board.
The F-35 enjoys the advantage of having been developed with the future in mind, but it
was originally developed before the US military's current focus on 'open architecture', a key
capability of the F-35's eventual replacement, the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter.
While the NGAD will be built from the ground up to be basically plug and play with future
technology, the F-35 needs some finessing to pack new hardware and software- although
it's significantly easier to upgrade than the F-22, which famously is being retired
because updating its core systems is simply too expensive.
The first and biggest change is known as Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3.
This will be a big upgrade to the F-35's electronic brain, as without it the aircraft simply cannot
cope with the full list of software updates coming with Block 4.
It's sort of like how many of you had to delete a bunch of games to fit Diablo 4 on your hardrive,
and now have deleted Diablo 4 so you could fit Starfield instead.
But there isn't much junk software like Diablo 4 to scrap from the F-35, and the plane simply
needs much more memory and brand new processors.
By the time Technology Refresh 3 is complete, it'll be running Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing
on overdrive mode, while also attacking and degrading enemy radar and electronic weapons.
What sort of benchmark can we expect from the F-35's new hardware?
Nobody knows and the US military isn't talking- but it's going to beat the absolute panties
off anything the Russians or Chinese have, specially after President Biden effectively
crippled China's ability to procure the most advanced semiconductors.
That matters a lot, because modern air combat is far more about brains than brawn- and thanks
to restrictions on exports to China, the ongoing trade war between the United States and China
has ensured that future Chinese planes are going to be flying with a 6th grade education
versus the F-35's graduate degree.
Critical to the $16.5 billion Block Four upgrade, Technology Refresh-3 has been called the information
technology backbone for Block Four and beyond- at least until computer technology advances
enough for brand new hardware.
Future upgrades will be even easier, thanks to TR-3 shifting to an open architecture design
which will make incorporating future hardware and software much easier.
Open architecture though also makes the F-35 more resilient to changes in the future market,
as it frees the aircraft from being completely reliant on any specific vendors.
Instead of being forced to rely on the same companies, the US will be able to invite new
companies on board to design future software or hardware upgrades- making the aircraft
resilient to market changes and hopefully decreasing its cost going forward.
All current production aircraft are being manufactured with TR-3 on board, and to catch
the rest of the fleet up to speed, Lockheed Martin field teams will be conducting ongoing
upgrades on-location around the world.
The upgrade is so dramatic though that it can't be incorporated on all aircraft, only
going back to Lot 10 which began deliveries around 2017.
This still means that most of the fleet, and all of the future fleet, will be included
in the Block 4 upgrades.
Just how powerful is TR-3 though?
We can tease out some clues from official promotional material.
Per Lockheed Martin and F-35 vendors, the new processor will increase the F-35's computing
power by thirty seven times.
That's like making the leap from playing Centipede on an Atari to playing Diablo 4 on a modern
gaming PC, and immediately going back to Centipede because Diablo 4 is boring.
With much greater software stability, F-35 pilots will fly into combat not having to
worry about rebooting their computers in the middle of a dog fight, and an improved ability
to self-diagnose problems will help maintenance personnel quickly identify and fix issues
at a lower cost.
The panoramic display of the F-35 is a significant upgrade from those used by legacy aircraft
like the F-15 and F-16- but it too is getting upgraded to help support Block Four upgrades.
Pilots are going to be dealing with more data at a greater speed, and need a better display
to handle these new capabilities.
The new display will have a five-fold increase in performance over the old, and feature two
independent processors for the left and right displays for redundancy.
Now even if one of the displays malfunctions or is damaged, the other will be able to keep
the pilot in the fight.
Memory upgrades features a 20 time increase in memory storage, which will enable the F-35
to gather much more data with on-board sensors.
The increase memory however is also critical for the capabilities of some of the new sensors
the F-35 is receiving, which remain a tightly guarded secret.
But from what we've heard, these sensors are going to serve far more than just a defensive
or reconnaissance role.
Air combat and electronic warfare are forever linked together, and the plane with the biggest
and fastest brains is going to have the advantage.
The new F-35 is coming stacked with brain power.
Lot 16 aircraft which will be arriving in 2024 and 2025 come stacked with an electronic
warfare processor that's three times more powerful than today's aircraft.
However, US defense industry believes that excess is a virtue- or at least the best way
to win wars- which is why Lot 17 fighters, coming to a flight line near you in 2026,
will incorporate this much more powerful processor to operate a stupendous 20 electronic warfare
receivers- 15 more than currently on board the F-35.
While in the past jets were specifically configured for electronic warfare duties, this will make
the bulk of the F-35 fleet both a fighter jet and a dedicated electronic warfare platform.
One of the biggest upgrades to the F-35's capabilities- or at least one of the biggest
unclassified upgrades- include the APG-85.
The revelation of the new radar went almost unnoticed, as it was only announced as a minor
disclosure in an unfunded priority list, mentioning that F-35s to be acquired in Lot 17 will include
this unknown radar.
The US had basically developed a brand new radar in total secrecy.
Currently the F-35 features the An/APG-81 active electronically scanned array- or AESA-
radar.
The APG-81 is basically the heart of the aircraft, and the very cornerstone for the many different
sensors the airplane uses.
So what improvements will this new, secret radar bring over the APG-81?
To be blunt: we don't know, and anything anyone tells you is pure speculation.
That's because we still largely don't know the full capabilities of the F-35's current
radar, and Northrop Grunman is keeping its cards real close to its chest.
It's believed though that the APG-85 will be able to simultaneously track targets while
jamming or degrading enemy radars, allowing the aircraft to engage targets while degrading
the enemy's ability to engage it back.
As if the F-35's stealth wasn't effective enough, now it's radar is going to make targeting
an F-35 you've finally managed to track even more difficult.
One detail we do know is that the APG-85 will almost certainly feature gallium nitride semiconductors,
following an industry-wide shift to gallium nitride hardware.
These new semiconductors have already been used in US Marine Corps F-18 aircraft, and
are said to dramatically increase detection range while staying at the same size, weight
and power as current hardware.
The Swedes are also switching to these new semiconductors, and already demonstrated the
capabilities of an AESA radar equipped with them on board a Gripen fighter.
Israel is also confirmed to be undertaking efforts to develop a gallium nitride AESA
radar of its own, and China is probably just doing what China does best and trying to steal
a copy.
Russia meanwhile is unlocking the secrets of protecting your aircraft from drones by
covering them in old tires.
It's unknown if gallium nitride semiconductors will find their way into current APG-81 radars
already on board F-35s, as it may be entirely too costly an effort to replace tens of thousands
of transmitter and receiver modules already installed- considering that each F-35 has
1,676 transmitter/receiver modules.
However, the APG-85 is sure to exploit this new technology.
New radar and sensors will dramatically enhance the F-35's survivability.
Using frequency hopping and waveform modulation, along with other classified techniques, advanced
AESA radars can be used in some situations without giving away a stealth fighter's location
to a weapon-quality targeting radar.
With 15 more electronic warfare receivers buried into the F-35's skin, a pilot will
have dramatically increased sensor fusion and situational awareness.
Because stealth aircraft cannot hide from all radars all the time, the more information
a pilot has the better he can decide on how to handle enemy air defenses- whether to engage
them with weapons such as the High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile, degrade them via electronic attack,
or bypass them altogether.
These increased capabilities are especially important when considering that the F-35 has
a significantly increased radar cross section when viewed from behind.
That tends to be a common problem with stealth aircraft, and with current propulsion technology
it's impossible to build an aircraft that's stealthy everywhere- at least until the US
reveals its UFO technology to the world.
In the past, attack aircraft would be escorted by dedicated electronic warfare aircraft such
as the E/A-6 or E/A-Growler, but now the F-35 can essentially escort itself.
And if all these features fail to protect the aircraft, it has a neat trick literally
hidden up its sleeve: a special buddy it can deploy in times of need.
At first, nobody believed that the F-35 was really packing the ALE-50 or electronic warfare-enabled
ALE-55 towed decoy.
Known as “little buddies”, these towed decoys are usually strapped onto the exterior
of an aircraft and deployed when threatened by enemy missiles.
Their use during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 saved many US pilot's lives, and in the last
20 years they've only gotten more sophisticated.
New decoys aren't just designed to make for an even juicier target for incoming missiles
than their mothership, but can actively attack enemy radars and emitters locked onto the
aircraft.
But these decoys are typically carried in small shelters known as “doghouses”, which
can carry between four and eight of them.
These are basically strapped onto the aircraft directly, while the F-16 has them built right
into the weapons pylons.
Useful, but incredibly unstealthy, for a long time nobody noticed that the F-35 was too
packing these little buddies- carrying them near its rear in carefully concealed panels.
With the ability to carry advanced electronic warfare-capable decoys, and its own robust
EW capabilities, the F-35 is one of the most survivable planes ever put to the sky- and
Block Four upgrades are increasing that survivability even further.
It's not just brains the F-35 is getting, but a brand new engine as well.
The US has long held the advantage over potential adversaries in engine design, with China struggling
to build a domestic engine for its own stealth fighters- and its naval strike fighters still
struggling with inefficient engines that significantly limit their capabilities.
Recent news has come in that China has at last developed a working engine that begins
to match US capabilities- just in time for the US to leapfrog it by developing a brand
new variant of its own.
Currently the F-35 uses the Pratt & Whittney F135 turbofan engine, generating 28,000 pounds
of thrust and up to 43,000 in afterburner mode.
Weighing in at nearly two tons, the engine can withstand up to 3600 degrees of heat.
Impressive as the F135 is, Block Four upgrades are entirely reliant on an engine that can
produce much more electric power than current engines can.
A new engine also has to better manage its thermal load, which the F135 is currently
struggling to do, limiting the capabilities of the aircraft.
Without a new engine, the Block Four upgrades simply won't be able to be utilized to their
greatest capabilities.
But nobody really knows what plan the military has for what will become the heart of Block
Four upgrades.
There is an ongoing debate over simply developing an updated version of the F135 versus developing
an entirely new type of engine altogether: an adaptive-cycle engine.
These engines are the holy grail of jet propulsion technology, physically reshaping themselves
mid-flight for optimal fuel efficiency or optimal thrust- depending on the situation.
In normal operations, adaptive cycle engines could dramatically increase an aircraft's
range by being far more fuel efficient, while in emergencies these engines could provide
increased thrust for better performance.
Adaptive cycle engines have been in development for years, and are planned to be standard
aboard the Next Generation Air Dominance vehicle.
However, as variable geometry winged aircraft have proven, making high performance machines
change shape mid-flight is a maintenance nightmare- even more so when it's the actual engine that's
briefly turning into a transformer while maintaining full operation.
Just imagine how hard it would be to physically reshape your car engine while it's still running
and you're cruising at 90 mph.
Pratt & Whittney argue that adaptive cycle engines are not a good fit for the F-35 and
should be reserved for the NGAD program.
Instead, they want to move forward with an updated version of the F135 that will offer
10 percent better thrust and 5 percent better fuel efficiency, increasing range by 7 percent.
Allegedly, maintenance costs will also be reduced by as much as 36 percent.
General Electric though has thrown its hat into the ring and told the Air Force that
the F135 is a dinosaur, and belongs in a museum.
They want the Air Force to move forward with their XA-100 adaptive cycle engine, as two
prototype engines successfully finished flight testing in 2022.
The XA-100 allegedly has 25 percent increased fuel efficiency and a 10 to 20 percent increase
in thrust, resulting in an increase of 30 to 35 percent in range, while absorbing double
the heat load.
Pratt & Whittney were quick to clap back though, claiming that developing a new F135 variant
would only cost $2.4 billion versus the $6.7 billion to develop the General Electric XA-100.
They also claimed that their updated engine would equal to $40 billion lower life-cycle
costs in maintenance and replacement.
Which engine the Air Force has decided on remains unknown- will it fall back on the
tried and true F135 or be lured in by the exotic technology of the XA-100?
One of the F-35's most noteworthy capabilities is its ability to network with other aircraft
and weapon systems.
Known as battle links, these networks are the secret to the US military's incredible
lethality- what one platform sees, a completely different one can shoot.
New upgrades included in Block Four are the ability for the aircraft to network together
with even more platforms, from ground and sea-based systems to drones and even weapons
fired by other platforms.
The US is building what it calls integrated, long-range “kill webs”, weaving together
the capabilities of many different platforms to cover multiple warfighting domains simultaneously.
This presents a complicated tactical problem to the enemy that it may not be well equipped
to unravel, as it faces attacks simultaneously from the air, space, land, sea, and cyberspace
domain.
You'd have better luck getting McDonalds to admit where McRibs come from than to get the
US military to give you details on planned improvements to the F-35's ability to network,
but we do know that these capabilities will be put into direct use fielding new types
of kinetic weapons such as long-range missiles.
These new weapons will fit snuggly into an improved weapons bay, which will increase
the F-35's internal missile store from four to six missiles.
This is a significant upgrade in capability for the F-35, and one of the biggest unclassified
physical changes that are part of Block Four.
Often criticized for its ability to only carry four long-range missiles, the F-35 will have
much improved combat performance with the ability to pack two extra missiles on every
mission.
Block Four upgrades could take as much as 12 years to fully mature, but the US government
has already made the investment and plans continue apace.
At the end of Block Four, the F-35 will likely be flying alongside the sixth-generation NGAD
fighter, but still be the all-important workhorse of American and allied air fleets.
Now go check out Why Putin Is Scared to Deploy the Su-57 Aircraft In Ukraine, or click this
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