Australia delays delivery of 12 F-35 fighters

[Corsair1963]

Found this today and its worth a read. Not sure how close to the truth it is...

http://www.news.com.au/national/tony-ab ... 6851684344

Squadron Leader Harper was the first Australian to fly the fifth generation F-22 Raptor and Lieutenant Colonel Berke is the only pilot to fly both the F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “Stealth makes you unstoppable and reduces an adversaries situational awareness to almost zero,’’ Squadron Leader Harper said. “The jet provides an exponential increase in survivability, reduces mission risk and increases the probability of mission success.’’ Lieutenant Colonel Berke said the old mantra of “speed is life, more is better’’ had been replaced by “information is life, more is better’’.

Which, is why many claim the F-35 is more capable than the F-22 in many respects.

[spazsinbad]

The second article has the same info as the recent article above whilst the first indicates when the aircraft may be ordered and which batches.

AU to Make Most Expensive Military Purchase to Date 11 Mar 2014 Athena Yenko

"A submission to buy involving Australia's purchase of 86 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, worth $90 million each - the most expensive military purchase to date - is to be presented to Cabinet's National Security Committee for approval any day from March 12 until March 16....

...The planes will roll off the assembly line from 2018 until 2020...."

SOURCE: http://ca.ibtimes.com/articles/542876/2 ... e-jets.htm

JSF price sinks to US$80-85m 12 Mar 2014 Max Blenkin
"Australia looks like paying a less than expected $US80-$US85 million for each F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and that could drop if production ramps up.

That's much cheaper than recent indications of over $US100 million ($A111.73 million) per aircraft.

Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, who heads the JSF acquisition program for the US military, said the price included profit for JSF manufacturer Lockheed Martin and was in 2019 dollars, accounting for inflation....

...In an update on JSF progress, General Bogdan was less concerned about some technical problems.

The aircraft is close to certification to fly in vicinity of lightning storms. The pilot helmet, which displays flight and mission data on the inside of the visor, is mostly working as it should.

In JSF flight tests, live bombs and missiles have hit exactly what they were aimed at.

But General Bogdan remained concerned about JSF's complex software, particularly what's termed "multi-platform fusion".

Currently JSF can talk to other JSF but by 2016 the aim is to allow JSF to receive and disseminate data from and to satellites, airborne warning aircraft, ground radar and other aircraft.

"That is a really hard thing to do with software and there is some risk there," he said...."

SOURCE: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-na ... 34m91.html

[XanderCrews]

Go pop some champagne, Spaz!

[spazsinbad]

Not until official announcement and then I only drink coffee/tea these days. Get old and you'll know.

[meatshield]

Why do you think the numbr is 86 now? I've heard 72 or 100 for years now....

[spazsinbad]

These recent news reports are a bit muddled about the numbers (one reason why I did not post them myself earlier). Probably best to wait for the official announcement whenever soon. However the plan was to buy 100 eventually with the first being two (being built now) then twelve, which decision for the dozen was delayed by two years by the previous government. I suspect we will see an announcement for the next dozen soon and a promise for more (yyy-14=?) later. With the last tranche of XX still being undecided. I have deliberately made the numbers confusing. What probably is best is to go to earlier announcements in this thread to re-orientate ourselves rather than rely on the recent numbers. OK?

This quote is at bottom of first page of this thread: [11 May 2012]

""The RAAF could have an operational squadron of Joint Strike Fighters by 2019, despite a government decision to delay the purchase of the next 12 planes by two years, according to Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown.

This is only one year later than the schedule for JSF initial operating capacity - or combat readiness - Defence has been working towards for at least a decade....

....Air Marshal Brown told yesterday's Air Power conference in Canberra the RAAF needed at least 100 JSFs [which has been the grand total all along] and it would be a mistake to order more Super Hornets - that could eat into final JSF numbers - as a stopgap...."

____________________

Here is some recent speculation which 'jumps the gun' a little [First posted here when: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=20426&p=260572&hilit=MINNICK#p260572 ]

All Eyes on F-35 10 Feb 2014 WENDELL MINNICK
“...Australia
...A further 12 aircraft have been committed to [but not ordered yet - wait for it....], commencing with low-rate initial production lot 10 (LRIP-10) in mid-2015. But if the Hornet is to be retired on schedule, three squadrons and a training unit are required by the end of 2022. This will require purchasing 72 aircraft, with a further decision to be made sometime in the next decade on a final batch of 28 to replace Australia’s newer F/A-18F Super Hornets.

“The next lots deliver in LRIP-10 [eight aircraft for delivery in 2018] and LRIP-11 [four aircraft for delivery in 2019],” [Lockheed's] Schnaible said. “The Australian government reaffirmed its commitment to procuring up to 100 aircraft.” The Royal Australian Air Force will submit its recommended purchase profile for government consideration early this year, with a decision expected around April. Options include a single tranche of 72 aircraft or a phased approach, which will require a series of government approvals...."

SOURCE: http://www.defensenews.com/article/2014 ... nav%7Chead

[gtx]

Why do you think the numbr is 86 now? I've heard 72 or 100 for years now....

The number 86 is incorrect. The number is 14 (already approved - 2 already in build with first scheduled to rollout 24 Jul 14) + 58 (next batch will be formalised very shortly - also the subject of the stories today) = 72. A third batch is tentatively planned posts 2020 and will round out the number to 100 (this third lot will replace the Super Hornets).

This was confirmed by those involved during meetings with Gen. Bogdan this week.

BTW, I believe the 86 number is a result of the reporter getting their numbers wrong and doing 14 + 72.

[gtx]

Poor old Eric Palmer, Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon must be going nuts with all this Australian pro-F-35 reporting today.

[XanderCrews]

Poor old Eric Palmer, Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon must be going nuts with all this Australian pro-F-35 reporting today.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't go have a look a see over on ELPs blog

He hasn't mentioned it yet. he has a story about how the US Army needs more ships and that its Abrams, Bradleys, and Strykers are all useless.

^ no really, thats not a joke

This guy totally knows what he is talking about

[spazsinbad]

SNAFU has Gen. Bogdan on drugs? Briganti just calls him a liar (my interpretation). That is the only way to face reality these days. Doan get me started on Don Bacon.

[XanderCrews]

SNAFU has Gen. Bogdan on drugs? Briganti just calls him a liar (my interpretation). That is the only way to face reality these days. Doan get me started on Don Bacon.

I refuse to visit SNAFU, I am waiting on that-- best served cold and all. Besides, in a year or two he will probably be back to being an ardent JSF nut, who insults anyone who disagrees with him again. He loves to delete comments where you post his old material advocating the JSF LOL, especially under stories where he rants that anyone who ever thought JSF was good idea is an idiot

There is nothing more bizarre than a person who takes things to extremes and then combining it with indecisiveness. Funny to watch though.

APA has an "ethics" section I never noticed!! complete with psychology and a list of reading material including this:

Why People Fail to Recognize Their Own Incompetence

http://www.ausairpower.net/ethics-culture.html

I think I just fell through an irony vortex!! but no news of he proposed order

[spazsinbad]

At APA I was repelled by the incomprehensible technobabble about 'future' all singing all dancing Russian Tech. Way back before the internet (perhaps in BBS days) Kopp wrote briefly for an OzAv Magn. Thankfully not for long. There is good in everything and everyone though but I do not bother to read every damn thing these days. One gets jaded.

[gtx]

This one says a lot of what has also been discussed behind closed doors this week:

F35 Joint Strike Fighters: Pentagon says jets getting cheaper, Australia could become regional service hub

[gtx]

I'd be lying if I said I didn't go have a look a see over on ELPs blog

Yeah, me too…I have noted in the past though that whenever there is something positive said about the F-35 and which he can't throw his usual crap at, he just goes quiet and acts like it didn't happen. For instance he did that with the Sth Korean announcement.

[rotosequence]

Poor old Eric Palmer, Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon must be going nuts with all this Australian pro-F-35 reporting today.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't go have a look a see over on ELPs blog

He hasn't mentioned it yet. he has a story about how the US Army needs more ships and that its Abrams, Bradleys, and Strykers are all useless.

^ no really, thats not a joke

This guy totally knows what he is talking about

The Abrams is often too heavy for regional infrastructure, limiting where it can go, and consumes so much fuel that a massive supply line is needed to keep them topped up. The Bradleys and Strykers are thin skinned vehicles that do not do well on the receiving end of an ambush. I don't know if I'd call either set of vehicles useless, but they do have definite flaws to overcome with future designs and upgrades.

Since the US Navy is instrumental to US power projection around the globe, the boats do have a role to play, and the US' frigate fleet has basically evaporated. The US does seem to need a small and inexpensive hull class to replace the Oliver Hazard Perry, and the Littoral Combat Ship isn't quite the boat for the job.