F-35 gun INOP until 2019

[KamenRiderBlade]

That turret would not function at trans-sonic speeds.. but yes, it's gorgeous.

Although I would have gone with a GAU-19 based system.

Although, I guess if the purpose is area suppression then a 7.62mm based system has a higher ROF and ammo capacity.

I agree, a triple barrel system would've been better IMO, lower the rate of fire so you can increase suppression time.

After a certain point, firing speed just doesn't seem worth it IMO for suppression purposes.

[arrow-nautics]

Apparently Dave is quite fond of citing anonymous officials "familiar with the matter"

Hey everyone, listen up - it's Grover!!!!

[bring_it_on]

Apparently Dave is quite fond of citing anonymous officials "familiar with the matter"

Hey everyone, listen up - it's Grover!!!!

He doesn't deal with one lonely source, he deals with " several".

[XanderCrews]

Majumdar has doubled down...

B.S trying to defend him:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/i ... #msg239655


(Guess they have to stick together- like Thelma and Louise. )

LOL at Bill.

Sweetman loved calling out posters involved in the F-35 program who dare refute him calling them biased and implying they had money to gain by advocating it... Hey doesn't bill write for that publication?

[Prinz_Eugn]

Yeah, let's quote Wheeler, Dave... is there a rule that after so many years of military aviation reporting you become a moron?

[arrow-nautics]

Bill is biased in so many ways. He'd call me a fanboy (which is too simplistic a term & juvenile) but I'm aware of legitimate problems with the JSF. I seem to be able to have a convo & admit to glass half full/half empty on many points of the JSF. Bill CANNOT seem to find one positive so here's my counterattack. If I'm a fanboy, he's a TRUE HATER.

And, what do haters do? Haters gonna hate!

GAME OVER!

Go back to bed & get up again! Doesn't pass the laugh or smell test

[bring_it_on]

Does anyone have a Pdf of this ?

http://books.google.com/books/about/JSF ... 1kHAAACAAJ

Could make for some interesting convo

Edit - Found it ,

http://www.filedropper.com/jsf-arevolution

Making a shibboleth out of airframe commonality may not be sensible. Internally, the JSF airframes are already quite different - although, granted, they can be built on the same production line - and while airframe commonality saves money in production, its impact is relatively small in service. The big savings in life-cycle cost, including operations, maintenance, logistics and upgrades, come from the engines, avionics and sub-systems. So far there is little argument that most of these components can be part- number common among all JSF variants.

Wasn't Bill criticizing the program for reducing the commonality between the three versions a few years ago?

[maus92]

The JSF PAO's response to the DB articles, as released to various news outlets.

VIA: Battle rages over F-35 gun issue
DAVID PUGLIESE | Ottawa Citizen | 10JAN15

"Greetings: Hope your year is starting off well. If you have a moment, I’d like to help clear the air on some nameless / sourceless / baseless reporting you may have seen over the holidays that focused on two issues – the F-35 gun and EOTS. The information below is a bit long, but it presents the facts and can be used on the record if you decide to write more informed articles.

F-35’s GAU-22 Gun System

Contrary to recent media misreporting, F-35 25mm gun system (also known as GAU-22) was established in 2005 as a Block 3F weapon for all F-35 variants and its capability will be delivered in 3F software in 2017 (on LRIP 9 aircraft).

The General Dynamics GAU-22 gun system completed its ground qualification testing in July 2008. Comprehensive flight test on the F-35A variant GAU-22 25mm gun system is scheduled to begin mid-year at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and will include ground fire tests, muzzle calibration, flight test integration and in-flight operational tests. The 25mm missionized gun pod carried externally, centerline mounted on the F-35B and F-35C also begins testing this year to deliver the 3F full warfighting capability software in 2017.

In December 2014 during computer lab tests of 3F software we identified a minor low-level issue with aircraft software that impacted the interface with the gun. This discovery was part of normal software development and testing and a plan is in place to resolve this issue by Spring 2015. There is no anticipated impact to scheduled gun testing or fielding.

The F-35 program remains in its developmental phase and as software and capabilities are tested and cleared through rigorous flight testing those capabilities are delivered to the warfighter.

In 2015, for its Initial Operational Capability (IOC), the U.S. Marine Corps will receive initial warfighting capability software (known as 2B) that will provide basic close air support and interdiction and initial air-to-air and enhanced data-link capability for weapons including AMRAAM / JDAM / GBU-12, all internally carried. The U.S. Air Force will attain its IOC in 2016 with the 3i software and same weapons capability. At the end of the development program, we will deliver full warfighting capability software (known as 3F). The U.S. Navy will attain IOC in 2018 with 3F software. This will provide all warfighters with multi-ship destruction of enemy air defense capability, advance air-to-ground and air-to-air capability, and have full complement of internal and external ordnance — including use of the GAU-22 25mm gun. Delivering the gun capability in 3F software is well-known to the military services, International Partners and our Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. That has always been the stated requirement and plan and it hasn’t varied since the technical baseline review in 2010.

F-35’s Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS)

Regarding the F-35’s Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), it is the world’s first sensor to combine both air-to-ground and air-to-air infrared search and targeting capability in a very low observable (VLO) platform. EOTS allows the F-35 to conduct air-to-air and air-to-surface targeting missions while maintaining the F-35’s VLO profile – a capability that external podded systems cannot provide.

The F-35 will field with the capability to conduct Close Air Support (CAS) in both uncontested and contested environments.

The U.S. Services, led by the U.S. Marine Corps, have held several virtual Close Air Support (CAS) exercises, and by all accounts, the total system including the Radar, Electronic Warfare, and Communication capabilities that will be delivered at the time of Marine Corps Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in July 2015 supports the execution of required CAS missions, particularly in contested environments.

Specifically, for the CAS mission area, this includes transmitting and receiving EOTS (and air to surface radar) still images via Link-16 and Variable Message Format (VMF) data links to and from other entities including Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC).

As with all development programs, the F-35 baseline requirements define the starting place for capabilities that will be evolved and upgraded over the life of the program. There are a range of potential upgrades and enhancements for EOTS that will be implemented by the Services and International Partners for inclusion in future Block upgrades. Some of the additional capabilities for consideration include items such as Higher Definition Video, longer range target detection and identification, Video Data Link, and Infrared (IR) Marker and Pointer."

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/ ... -gun-issue

[sferrin]

Not seeing anything in there that supports, "HUURRR the wheels have come off the F-35 program and it's gun won't even work until 2019".

[XanderCrews]

I love how the media thinks this is come kind of "battle" or "fight" . The F-35 is built to win on the battlefield, not the internet or media. I'm sure this will blow over soon until the next ZOMG emergency that will be forgotten about in a month.

[KamenRiderBlade]

I love how the media thinks this is come kind of "battle" or "fight" . The F-35 is built to win on the battlefield, not the internet or media. I'm sure this will blow over soon until the next ZOMG emergency that will be forgotten about in a month.

You know the common dullards that can't understand complex problems won't be wowed till the F-35 does amazing maneuvers at an airshow.

Look at all the fanboys that are obsessed with Russian aircraft and their fancy vector thrust enabled maneuvers.

I bet you that the 6th gen aircraft will have full 2D planar thrust vectoring to enhance maneuverability and help sell the aircraft to the public.

=D

[spazsinbad]

Well you have read all the texts - NOW FOR THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND... IT REPEATS ITSELF? TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF? NO WAIT.... 3.5 times ALMOST>>>>>>>>>

Russian and Ukraine daily news channel 03 Jan 2015

[vilters]

Writing a HMD gun aiming software.
Now that is gonna take some doing.

Head moving in all directions.
Head and helm moving (sometimes individually) under "G" load, now that's what I call a challenge.
With twist, side-side and individual bend loads?

My hats's off to the first bullet on target.
(Well to the software engineer that can pull this one off. LOL.)

[eskodas]

It's really not, they'll just add it into the existing HUD flight information anchor.

[sferrin]

:mrgreen: Well you have read all the texts - NOW FOR THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND... IT REPEATS ITSELF? TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF? NO WAIT.... 3.5 times ALMOST>>>>>>>>>

Russian and Ukraine daily news channel 03 Jan 2015

Who's working Bernie's puppet strings there?