Australian lawmakers confident in F-35's future

[spazsinbad]

F-35A Joint Strike Fighter RAAF Public Relations Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cepFExsMcb0

[weasel1962]

10 F35A delivered to RAAF which completes the last of the order in lot 10.

http://australianaviation.com.au/2018/1 ... e-figures/

RAAF orders: Lot 6 - 2, Lot 10-11 -8 each, Lot 12-14 - 15 each, Lot 15 - 9 = 72 for delivery by 2023.

Interesting to see if the EA-18G/F-18Fs will be punted to Canada which will facilitate the remaining F-35A order.

[spazsinbad]

Growlers will be kept. NOT classed as 'F/A' but 'support' aircraft. These Growlers will be upgraded LOCK step with USN Growlers - especially for use with the NGJ Next Gen Jammer which Oz is helping formulate with US. Explained in forum.

[Corsair1963]

So, how likely that the RAAF will get the full 100 over todays 72???

[spazsinbad]

About as 'likely' as you can imagine?

[weasel1962]

102.

Lightning news from RAAF (Oct 2018)

http://www.defence.gov.au/casg/Multimed ... 9-9297.pdf

Understand 4th sqn will be at Amberley.

[spazsinbad]

From the same newspaper empire that spews crap around the English speaking world comes this nonsense (via e-mail).

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter no match for F-111s at low level [From Weekend Australian (behind paywall).]
02 Nov 2018 Byron Bailey

"The F-35 is known as the Joint Strike Fighter. Joint because it will be used by multiple branches of the military and the title suggests that it is a multi-role aircraft. The F-4 Phantom tried to be a multi-role fighter and became a jack of all trades and a master of none. The F-35 can only be a standoff air superiority fighter backed by AWACS (airborne warning and control system), as it cannot survive against older fourth-generation fighters in a manoeuvring contest. It relies heavily on technology and the quality of its pilots.

As a strike weapon it lacks the deterrence value of the “big stick” F-111 the Royal Australian Air Force once had. In its time the F-111 was the world’s best strike weapon that could not be stopped by any of the countries in our sphere of influence.

Supersonic penetration on a very low-level hard ride, and autopilot terrain-following profile at night and in bad weather, meant it was unstoppable. Radar ground clutter at very low levels destroyed active missile homing and its ECM (electronic counter measures) jammers and chaff could decoy active homing. Infra-red passive homers detected by threat warning missile launch could be beaten by automatic deployment of decoy flares. A colleague told me how he flew down the Grand Canyon on autopilot when he was training on the aircraft.

Just about the fastest ever aircraft at low level I flew in several exercises was the RAAF F-111. To make it fair, it was daytime exercises and we used multiple aircraft on Migcap-style defence of an airfield. We would have Mirages orbiting at 40 nautical miles at 20,000 feet and inner second chance Mirages at 20 nautical miles. GCI (ground-controlled interception) radar would warn us of “trade” in our segment and if we spotted the F-111 before it had passed us we could unload and accelerate downhill after it, otherwise we would tell our partner at the 20 nautical mile to wind up to be ready.

I had several daytime gun kills at 200m but the times I tried at night were just too risky as being supersonic at 200 feet on a dark night is not healthy.

The F-111 was big, long-ranging and powerful. The F-35 is small, lacks range and has to carry a much smaller weapons load internally if it is to remain stealthy.

In the CAS (close air support role) the F-35 lacks the survivability of the awesome heavily armoured A-10 or even the Russian Su-25. Its weapons delivery profile on manoeuvring targets such as tanks would expose it to a wall of lead by modern quick reaction radar- guided AAA 30mm-40mm chain guns and portable missiles.

The F-35 is just far too expensive an asset to risk in the close-in weapons systems (CIWS) sphere. Close air support should now be the realm of helicopter gunships that can hide behind a tree line or ridge yet picking out targets with the night vision periscope that they have on top of the rotor masts, then popping up snap firing its hellfire missiles and popping back down behind cover.

Typical of this modern breed is the US MH-60L direct action penetrator (DAP) gunship. On its stub wings it can carry M134 miniguns, M230 30mm chain guns, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and 19 shot pods.

The army can supply its own close-air support so we can drop the joint from Joint Strike Fighter. Since we do not have an aircraft carrier, it looks as if only the RAAF can find a use for this fifth-generation wonder weapon.

Byron Bailey is a former RAAF fighter pilot and flew B777s as an airline captain."

[SpudmanWP]

Funny how he lists all of these single-role planes where the F-35 "cannot" do what they do (for a specific feature) but fails to state any multi-role fighter today that can do them. It's real easy to bitch about a perceived shortcoming but his lack of suggesting a solution speaks volumes.

On top of all of that is his complete lack of thinking in a 5th gen & networked mindset. This guy belongs with the likes of Pierre Sprey, Winslow Wheeler, etc.

[popcorn]

There's a reason why there aren't any dinosaurs today, they couldn't adapt...

[smsgtmac]

If this is the same guy, you'd think he'd feature his F-111 "experience" more. http://www.captainbyronbailey.com/about

[spazsinbad]

Heheh. I did not bother looking up ByronicBailOut Bio. He was on the last Vampire Course at RAAF Pearce No.69 - I was on the second last No.67 Pilot Course (we had same Winjeel / Vampire training) all of 1968. No.68 Course inbetween was the first Winjeel/Macchi course. IF BIRO is still flying LearJets on ADF exercises he would know at least one booster of F-35Bs on our LHDs (from former A4G pilot then SHAR pilot now also flying LeeryJets on ADF exercises). We are in a small world.

There will be a mugshot photo series meanwhile annotated pilots are RAN FAA.... These muggyshots are at beginning of flying training at Point Cook: http://www.radschool.org.au/Course%20Ph ... Pilots.htm Bailey is NOT in this series but maybe in a nearby one because often the muggles get muddled (probably long ago now). 'Interesting' that B Bailey does not appear in the name list here: http://www.radschool.org.au/Course%20Ph ... 0Names.pdf

Could be a WALTER MITTY? I'll keep looking, however "I learnt to fly on last RAAF Vampire pilot course...." is very specific but no info in his case? I give up. Perhaps there is info in No.77 Squadron website? No nothing I could find but still looking. Meanwhile here is an odd thing indeed because the RAAF have not flown HUNTER jets - so perhaps Byron started in the RAF but then transferring in those olden daze to the RAAF would not have been easy - curious indeed.

"...Starting his career in the RAAF, flying classic fighters like the Hawker Hunter, De Havilland Vampire and North American F-86 Sabre, Byron then transitioned to a civilian flying position as Captain for Emirates Airline...." https://www.navair.com.au/from-emirates ... on-bailey/

An ex-A4G pilot ex-EMIRATES pilot might know this chap - I'll ask. This is BiroBeerLoose claiming to have flown a HUNTER:

"In 1973 I even had a fly of a Hunter and was impressed with its smooth handling qualities but, without afterburner, it lacked the punch of our Mirage....
&
...(I was in the 1975 No. 77 Sqn Mirage aerobatic display team led by Sqn Ldr Geoff Warrener)…." http://www.captainbyronbailey.com/singl ... -Telegraph

[spazsinbad]

If this is the same guy, you'd think he'd feature his F-111 "experience" more. http://www.captainbyronbailey.com/about

Looks to me as though he had some joyrides in an F-111 or even just the sim. F-111 aircrew conversion photos here:

http://radschool.org.au/Course%20Photos ... ersion.htm

The RAAFieChappie KELLY Top Left in this photo went on to eject with navigator from a RAAF F-111 during takeoff at RNZAF OHAKEA NZ then went on to deck land a TWACKER aboard HMAS Melbourne July 1980 and be catapulted etc.

http://radschool.org.au/Course%20Photos ... 11F111.htm

[spazsinbad]

I think ADVERTISEMENTS are turning this forum in a 'SLOWLY DRYING WET CEMENT FREAK SHOW! But eventually I got here.

BAILEY mystery solved:

"I think your guy would be Ian Bailey (now "Byron" Bailey in the media). He was an officer on course (ex-NZ nav) [RNZAF Navigator] so he must have missed the 69 Cse photoshoot. I saw him at Avior in August, he was there for the 69Cse reunion, organised by "...". "Bails" was at BUT[terworth] (on 75SQN I think early-mid 70s), then at WLM on 77 - so the time does tie in. He left Mirages for the airlines."

No 18 MIR[age] 20CU [Operational Conversion Unit] Crse - 15 Feb 71 Page 132 I.R. Bailey 'Bails' FLTLT

http://www.radschool.org.au/Books/the_r ... ry_opt.pdf (15.4Mb)

[spazsinbad]

BAILEY sits atop the course number 69 on the Winjeel cowl (directly above the annotated name Winjeel).

[knowan]

Older article from the same guy, also with The Australian, dated Feb 12 2016:

F35 already behind as Russia leads arms race

As a former RAAF fighter pilot I am concerned for the future of our fighter force. We may be on track to procuring a very expensive lemon, one that is too costly to commit to battle, let alone a battlefield close air-support role where it would be exposed to defensive ground fire.

When I attended a senior officers’ joint warfare course — albeit a long time ago — we war-gamed a scenario where a foreign power invading northwestern Australia had assets that included aircraft carriers and modern fleet defensive air superiority fighters. I assume the primary role of the F35 would therefore be to strike at the enemy’s carriers.

It has long been a maxim of aerial warfare that dedicated air superiority fighters are good for secondary ground attacks but dedicated strike aircraft do not have a good air combat capability. Multi-role typically means good at everything, but great at none.

Our delivery date of 14 F35s in 2020 appears to be slipping as does the remaining 58 in 2023. A $2.6 billion upgrade to software and new capability to handle hot weather conditions is a result of the long lead-in times from design to production.

Some argue we should have pushed for the fabulous F22. However, it proved so costly that of the original 750 intended for the US Army Air Forces, only 187 were built and 37 per cent of those are undergoing maintenance at any one time.

The F22 also requires 42 man hours per flying hour. Currently pilots are getting 10 to 12 hours a month at $58,000 per hour. So pilots are now spending most of their time in combat simulators.

Most of the ground time in readying these aircraft is spent on the radar-absorbing coating, which, along with the aircraft shape, allows it to operate in super stealth mode, making it invisible to X-band radars.

The F22 is designed to cruise supersonically above 60,000 feet where the air is too dry for contrails and where it does not require afterburners, which keeps its infra-red signature low.

Conventional air combat tactics are limited to an upper level where the onset of condensation trails (contrails) occur, usually around 38,000 feet. To contrail in a multi-combat engagement is death.

The F35 thrust to weight ratio is too low and the wing too small to permit tactics used with F22s.

The Russians have been developing L-band radar, which reports suggest can detect a stealth fighter up to 169km away. Stealth was the great technological leap in air combat: the F117 Night Hawk of 1983 made an impressive debut in Baghdad.

But advances in technology are eating into its advantages. The F35 is also supposed to be stealthy, except when it is carrying external weapons. Reports suggest the Russian infra-red search and track will detect a F35 at 32km.

The latest Sukhoi Flanker derivative Su35 — with its thrust-vectoring super manoeuvrability — renders obsolete conventional Western fourth-generation fighters that rely on aerodynamic manoeuvring.

Also, the larger even more powerful Sukhoi PAK FA 50 is close to production.

Simulations show an F22 can shoot down two Su35s. One Su35 can shoot down 2.4 F35s. And one Su35 can shoot down eight F18 Super Hornets.

In air combat, most missiles miss due to the high and near instantaneous turn rate that modern fighters are capable of. But the F35 performs poorly at such manoeuvres.

Once missiles miss, then the merge develops — known colloquially to fighter pilots as the dogfight or furball — where guns still reign and sustained turn rate is paramount. The F15 was the former top dog of this but thrust-vectoring is now the name of the game.

Unfortunately, our F35 is just too small, underpowered and too expensive.

The Russians have the ideal set-up: big, combat-capable Su34 Strike fighter bombers accompanied by big, powerful Su35 air superiority fighters.

In this game of war, size and numbers matter.

Byron Bailey, a veteran commercial pilot with more than 45 years’ experience and 26,000 flying hours, is a former RAAF fighter pilot and trainer and was a senior captain with Emirates for 15 years.