U.S Air Force will get 450 new F-35s.
This has been made possible after a record $34 billion deal between Lockheed Martin and
the Department of Defense was reached.
The multi-year contract has laid out plans for the jets to be delivered in ‘lots',
the first of which will be of 157 jets The contract will reduce the price of F-35A
to around $80 million per jet.
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Ellen Lord said in a statement,
“This is a historic milestone for the F-35 enterprise, and marks the largest procurement
in the history of the department.”
He added, “I am proud to state that this agreement has achieved an estimated 8.8% savings
from Lot 11 to Lot 12 F-35As”
Greg Ulmer, Lockheed's vice president, and general manager for the F-35 said in a statement
the F-35’s procurement costs are equal to or less than that of a fourth generation aircraft.
“The handshake agreement, once finalized, will represent the largest F-35 production
contract and the lowest aircraft prices in program history,” he said.
The exact details of the upgrade are kept a secret, but the new jet will have Small
Diameter Bomb II integrated as well as will have several upgrades in components like electronic
warfare, networking, navigation upgrades, and radar suite.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why with F 35s U.S Air Force will remain way more
powerful than Russian & Chinese Air Force?
Let’s get into the details.
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The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II which is a single-seat, single-engine, all-weather
stealth multirole fighters is undergoing final development and testing by the United States.
The Pentagon began the F 35 program in 2001 with an aim to develop a cost-effective replacement
for the U.S. military’s F15 fighters, F 16 and F18 fighter bombers and reconnaissance
aircraft and A10 close in support warplanes.
The F-35 has three main models: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A (CTOL), the short
take-off and vertical-landing F-35B (STOVL), and the catapult-assisted take-off but arrested
recovery, carrier-based F-35C (CATOBAR)
Apart from the United States, the primary customer and financial backer, the United
Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Norway, and Denmark are also part
of the program.
Many other nations like Japan and Israel are also deploying the fighters.
The nine major partner nations, including the U.S, plan to acquire over 2,000 F-35s
through 2035, which, if delivered will make the F-35 one of the most numerous jet fighters.
On 2 August 2016, the U.S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35A fighters combat-ready.
The fighter aircraft is expected to remain in service till 2050.
The program has been struggling but it now seems to have slowly matured.
Let us now understand how the Russian & Chinese 5th generation fighter programs are going.
Russian president Mr. Putin revealed that a procurement plan is being laid out for acquiring
76 Su-57.
The announcement was made during a meeting on May 15, 2019.
These jets are expected to be deployed by 2028.
The Kremlin previously planned to have 150 of these aircraft in service by 2020.
Interestingly this disclosure comes a day after 6 of these jets had escorted the Russian
President as he flew to visit the Russian Air Force’s 929th Chkalov State Flight-Test
Center.
Russian currently has 12 of these in flying condition.
Kremlin has been struggling to fulfill many defense acquisitions due to fund crunch and
this has come as surprise to many analysts.
Viewers may note that the Su 57 program had the backing of India.
India was looking for a customized variant of Su 57 for its air force and had put in
significant funding.
India wanted to acquire around 150 jets.
In April 2018, India pulled out of the project.
The main reasons were engine issue and unconvincing stealth characteristics.
Su 57 is currently suffering due to engine problems.
Sukhoi originally planned to use an advanced derivative of the Saturn AL-31F engine, found
on its Flankers, for the Su-57.
Su 57 was supposed to have new AL-41F-1 engine.
But the AL-41F-1 engine ran into technical difficulty and didn’t match the required
performance criteria.
Saturn, the manufacturer is working on a new and more powerful design, known as the Izdeliye
30 or Product 30.
But even this has been facing developmental challenges and may be available for testing
at some time in the 2020s.
Russia is also facing issues with the stealth characteristic of the aircraft, which is in
an important aspect of any proper 5th generation fighter.
As reported in Indian media, Indian experts were of the view that the aircraft’s stealth
characteristics could not be improved significantly even with future modifications since it was
flawed at many basic levels.
Though exact details regarding this are not available, but 2 basic observations have been
pointed out by some military analysts.
1. Su 57 is not precision engineered like F 22 Raptor &. F 35.
For example, there is a lot of gap between flaps as well as between the rear vertical
tail and the fuselage.
This is probably because Russia doesn't have the machining technology to engineer seamless
surfaces.
This heavily compromises stealth.
2. Su 57 also has rivets on the outer surface.
For example, the nose is bolted on the main body with rivets sticking out.
This kind of unevenness drastically affects the stealth profile.
China currently has only 28 J-20 of which 8 are initial prototypes.
Just like Su 57, the Chengdu J-20 is having engine problems.
China has not perfected its indigenous WS-10 which is used for its Flanker clones; Shenyang
J-11 & J 15, let alone come close to finishing development of the next-generation WS-15 it
would need for the J-20.
Viewers may know J 11 & J 15 are illegal copies of Russian Su 27 & Su 33 respectively.
The WS 10 engine is underpowered and has been a major headache for China.
The WS-15 is currently thought to be in a ground-testing phase, though some reports
state that it has entered limited production.
Without the WS-15 engine, the J-20 can't cruise at supersonic speeds.
In fact, China has not demonstrated it can build any reliable jet engine even with designs
that it basically stole from Russia.
Building engines with indigenous design remains even more distant.
The Chengdu J-20 is thought to be powered by twin Russian-built Saturn AL-31F engines
found on the Sukhoi Su-27 and its Chinese knockoffs.
China has recently bought Su 35 which may thing was to get access to its engine
The addition of the Russian-built AL-41F1S series engines that power Su 35 might have
provided a solution to Beijing’s engine issues.
According to multiple sources, China initially wanted to get the AL-41F1S as a stand-alone
product.
But as noted earlier the AL-41 series engine is not suitable for a 5th gen fighter and
Russian itself is looking for a solution.
The Chengdu J-20 also seem to have issues with ‘stealth’ like its Russian counterpart.
Reports have emerged that a Sukhoi Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force managed to detect
the Chinese Chengdu J-20 jet fighter.
The disclosure didn’t come from any independent analysts but from an official source.
Indian Air Force commander Arup Shaha said, "The Sukhoi's radar can see them.
The new Chinese jets are not so invisible after all.
No special technology is required to detect the J-20, as it can be detected by ordinary
radar stations.”
This has ignited debates that the J 20 is nothing more than a decorated 4++ generation fighter.
It is to be noted that F 35 is the second 5th generation fighter jet that the U.S has
developed.
The first one the F 22 Raptor which is currently considered to the most potent fighter jet
in the world.
It is to be noted that even today F 22 can’t be exported to any country as per Federal
Law which is a stark contrast to F 35 program.
U.S has more than 185 of F 22.
There is already a significant number of F 35 deployed with the U.S Air Force and the
latest lot of 450 will boost the number dramatically.
So when America’s main rival Russia & China are struggling to deploy 5th generation aircraft
both in terms of quality as well as quality.
In all probability, the U.S Air Force will continue to dominate the skies.