Singapore F-35 selection

Program progress, politics, orders, and speculation
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by spazsinbad » 02 Jul 2018, 12:01

I did not say it could. Do not misconstrue what I write here. You make a song and dance about corrosion 'in your special environment'. It has been thought about and catered for as best as possible as indicated in the earlier PDFs (have not viewed the last one from 2011?). Get over it. Corrosion control on aircraft operating in different environments has been around since metal became corroded by same. IF Singapore wants to make a big deal about it then so be it. Frankly I don't give a damn. That PDF is Dec 2010 and has been cited several times in this forum:

viewtopic.php?f=60&t=20635&p=235899&hilit=d11171r#p235899
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viewtopic.php?f=60&t=19035&p=222226&hilit=d11171r#p222226
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viewtopic.php?f=22&t=15259&p=192818&hilit=d11171r#p192818 (first time - long post)


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by spazsinbad » 02 Jul 2018, 17:46

Singapore to announce F-16 fighter jet replacement plans in few months
30 Jun 2018 REUTERS

"Singapore will announce in the next few months plans to replace its ageing F-16 fighter jets, its defense minister said, listing a number of manufacturers that could be in the running for a deal potentially worth billions of dollars....

...Singapore’s F-16s first entered service in 1998. The country has typically used U.S.-made aircraft in the past, making the F35s - a variant of which appeared at the city-state’s airshow back in February - a likely successor.

The head of Lockheed’s international business said in February that Singapore was “seriously evaluating” a future purchase of F-35 jets - one of the world’s most advanced fighters which start at around $80 million (60.56 million pounds) each. He said initial talks with Singapore were centred on the F-35B short take-off and landing variant, which he described as “a nice fit for a smaller land-constrained environment”.

Media reports show that Singapore had intended to buy four F-35s by around 2022, with the option to purchase another eight, but held off taking a decision on this in 2016...."

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/30/singapo ... onths.html


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by spazsinbad » 02 Jul 2018, 18:16

Singapore Discusses a Future Fighter
02 Jul 2018 Chen Chuanren

"The Singapore Ministry of Defence will soon be ready to announce a decision on a replacement for the country’s fleet of 60 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D/D+ Fighting Falcons. In recent years, it has said that it was in no hurry to decide on the F-35. Singapore has been a security cooperative participant in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program since 2003....

...Singapore’s F-16C/D pilots have been training at Luke AFB since 1998, adjacent to the USAF F-35 training unit. The Minister and senior RSAF officials have been briefed numerous times on the training and capabilities of the F-35A and F-35B during their visits to Luke AFB.

The U.S. State Department had gone to great lengths to woo Singapore to further commit on the F-35 program. For the first time in recent years, early this year it sent foreign military sales diplomats to the Singapore Airshow to promote the sales of the American military products to Singapore and other Asia-Pacific armed forces, and two U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs made their debut...."

Source: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news ... re-fighter


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by Corsair1963 » 03 Jul 2018, 02:37

Only real question is F-35A or F-35B??? :?


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by spazsinbad » 08 Jul 2018, 01:49

Trawling thru me videos came across this F-35A Eglin AFB Bird Bath Water Spray classic.



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by spazsinbad » 09 Jul 2018, 03:13

Icing will be an issue in the tropics when at altitude, meanwhile the humidity & heat conditions were tested as per below.
F-35 Climatic Chamber Testing & System Verification
16 Apr 2018 Victorio J. Rodriguez, and Billie Flynn; Marc G. Thompson; Steven Brelage

"...II. F-35 vs. Previous Aircraft Climatic Testing
The program level, functional requirements for the F-35 Air System are defined in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Contract Specification (JCS). The JCS defines all aspects of the aircraft level requirements, which includes the capability to be parked outside of a hangar and operation in a multitude of extreme environments that naturally occur throughout the world. The environmental requirements are based upon the guidelines for design established in the MIL-HNBK-310 for Global Climatic Data for Developing Military Products. The requirements were tailored early in the program development for the anticipated F-35 aircraft customers and expected operational usage. These requirements served as the basis for the type and extent of testing required for the F-35 SDD program and included a range of ambient temperatures, humidity levels, rainfall, icing, and other environmental conditions. Nearly all new major military aircraft programs include some sort of climatic environment test and evaluation requirement. The testing to satisfy this requirement is traditionally performed at a dedicated facility, performed in naturally occurring environmental conditions, or a combination of both approaches. In legacy aircraft programs, test methods (including natural weather exposure) and facilities, often yielded unpredictable, unrepeatable, and unreliable test conditions and inconclusive results that would not have satisfied the rigorous performance specifications demanded for the F-35....

...The aircraft fuel system architecture delivers fuel from the feed tank(s) to the main engine. In that process, heat is rejected from the various aircraft system heat exchangers into the fuel supply which then is also used to cool the engine oil before being supplied to the engine gas generator to be combusted. In exceptionally hot environments, the summation of the heat sources has the potential to exceed the available fuel sink supply; resulting in an aircraft fluid (e.g. fuel or oil) temperature reaching a prescribed limit value. With the addition of the lift fan and subsequent reduction in fuel volume on board, the F-35B is the most challenged configuration. The F-35 contract specification requirements for the aircraft TMS performance was difficult to verify in a normal test environment because of the complex and multiple systems involved coupled with the rare nature of this exceptionally hot environment. As such, the requirements were verified using modelling and simulation methods. Calibration and validation of those models was key to providing final proof of system design and performance.

The hot day testing that was conducted at McKinley provided significant evidence towards the verification of the TMS requirement to operate to the required time and environmental conditions. During the CCT, elevated ambient temperature testing sequence, the main chamber was setup to simulate the maximum diurnal cycle (24-hour period, with ambient temperature and solar radiation effects included) as specified in the requirements. By the time the engine was started, fuel feed tank temperatures were 10 degrees F above the TMS specification ground rules and assumptions. Despite this elevated system temperature, the aircraft was still able to perform and complete the required time at engine ground idle, then successfully performed a conversion to powered lift mode and executed a simulated Short Takeoff maneuver before reaching the maximum allowable pre-flight fuel system temperature....

IX.F-35 Climatic Testing Results Summary and Lessons Learned
...Airframe and structural characteristics for water tightness, intrusion, and drainage were assessed to predictions and documented. Aircrew evaluation of environmental characteristics in the cockpit was noted for all the environmental conditions tested....

...X.Summary
The end result of all the testing performed was a very successful demonstration and confirmation of the F-35 capability to operate at all the required environmental conditions....

...“The proof is in the pudding” is an expression often used to state that the final results will provide the support and evidence that proper technique and due diligence was taken on the path to aircraft fielding. The increasing number of F-35 aircraft being fielded worldwide to the various services and customers will soon enough provide that proof and, in the end, the authors of this paper are confident that the time spent in the planning and the execution as well as the results and the actions taken from the F-35 CCT will in no small part, be a key factor in the F-35 program’s success sfor decades to come."

Source: F-35 Climatic Chamber Testing & System Verification.pdf (2.5Mb) download/file.php?id=27760


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by marsavian » 27 Oct 2018, 15:25

F-35: How the fifth-generation fighter jet might take RSAF to the next level

In a three-part series on the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, Channel NewsAsia’s Aqil Haziq Mahmud visited Lockheed Martin’s production facility for an in-depth look at the fighter jet and how it could be a battlefield game changer.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/si ... n-10815958
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/si ... e-10821506
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/si ... d-10836054



https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/si ... s-10485834


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by spazsinbad » 13 Nov 2018, 23:29

'marsavian' posted only the URLs in previous post above so here is a taste of ANOTHER one:
Commentary: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will change the rules of the air power game
03 Nov 2018 Mike Yeo

"...As far back as 2013, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) was known to be evaluating the F-35 among several other fighter types for its F-16 replacement, with reports since then suggesting that Singapore was particularly interested in the F-35B STOVL variant.... [perhaps a flat deck in 2020?]

...Singapore, with its limited strategic depth due to its small land area and number of airbases, will still be able to generate high-end air combat capability to defend itself in the event of its runways being disabled in times of conflict.
Previously, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has conducted exercises by turning a stretch of Lim Chu Kang Road adjacent to Tengah Airbase into an alternate runway where fighter jets can take off and land from....

A NIMBLE NODE FOR A NETWORKED FORCE
The F-35 is designed from the start to be more than just a fighter jet. Its ability to function as part of an integrated, networked force is a big plus for Singapore, given MINDEF’s efforts to transform the SAF into what it calls a “3rd-Generation fighting force” that is similarly networked and integrated....

...First, the demonstration of the F-35’s capability of being a network node means that its ability to unleash fire power at enemy targets is not limited by the weapons it can carry itself. Second, the F-35B is able to give friendly forces such as other, less stealthy fighter jets or ground-based rocket systems, the ability to engage those targets without using their own sensors (such as radars) to find targets – therefore lowering the risk of giving away either of their own positions....

ENABLING REGIONAL INTEROPERABILITY
There are several regional air forces already buying F-35s with Australia, an F-35 development partner country who has a close security relationship with Singapore, ordering 72 F-35As.

Australia is also building facilities and infrastructure to support its own F-35s, which includes threat emitter systems to simulate hostile radar and air defences in the same training areas RSAF fighters have used in the past as part of the training agreements Singapore has signed with Australia. These could potentially be used by the RSAF to train with in the future.

In northeast Asia, both Japan and South Korea have ordered F-35As for their own air forces and have reportedly looked into the possibility of operating F-35Bs from ships of their respective navies...."

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/co ... r-10873654


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by mixelflick » 14 Nov 2018, 15:08

Well this outta be interesting. F-35's (I suspect a mix of A's and B's) flying alongside thrust vectoring Flankers.

What'd you give to be a fly on the wall after DACT? :)


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by weasel1962 » 14 Nov 2018, 15:34

That's the purpose of exercise pitch black. The Indians bring their su-30mkis, everyone from the RAAF to USAF to rsaf gets a chance to fly against the suks. Just a matter of time before the RAAF fly their 35As at the exercise. Next year?


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by spazsinbad » 14 Nov 2018, 15:43

weasel1962 wrote:That's the purpose of exercise pitch black. The Indians bring their su-30mkis, everyone from the RAAF to USAF to rsaf gets a chance to fly against the suks. Just a matter of time before the RAAF fly their 35As at the exercise. Next year?

RAAF IOC Dec 2020 whilst next year only TWO will be in country for test purposes. Others for 3 Sqdn RAAF to follow later:
"...RAAF Initial Operational Capability with the F-35A is planned for December 2020." http://adbr.com.au/raaf-takes-delivery-of-ninth-f-35a/

"... "Our FOC is December 2023..." Australian Defence Business Review Magazine - March/April 2018 Vol.37 No.2


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by mixelflick » 17 Nov 2018, 15:56

I say they opt for A's and B's, a split order.

Man, LM has to really be stoked. After decades of bad publicity, the F-35 is cleaning up on the world market. More and more countries that weren't partner nations continue to sign up, seeing the aircraft for what it really is. F-35's are flying from almost every corner of the globe, and have already seen combat. This could be the quickest maturation process we've seen in a long time. I hope so, anyway.

I bought a fair amount of LM stock way back when. Boy do I wish I bought more, LOL. But I do re-invest the dividends... :)


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by Conan » 18 Nov 2018, 15:19

weasel1962 wrote:That's the purpose of exercise pitch black. The Indians bring their su-30mkis, everyone from the RAAF to USAF to rsaf gets a chance to fly against the suks. Just a matter of time before the RAAF fly their 35As at the exercise. Next year?


Pitch Black is only run every two years. Next one won’t be until mid-late 2020...


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by weasel1962 » 18 Jan 2019, 10:48

Singapore has officially confirmed F-35 as the F-16 replacement.

https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/mi ... 18jan19_nr

weasel's note: and in typical Singapore fashion, refused to state number and type.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) have completed their technical evaluation to select the next generation fighter to replace its F-16s. The F-16s will have to retire soon after 2030 and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has been identified as the most suitable replacement to maintain the RSAF's capabilities.

However, the technical evaluation also concluded that the RSAF should first purchase a small number of F-35 JSFs for a full evaluation of their capabilities and suitability before deciding on a full fleet. In the next phase, MINDEF will discuss details with relevant parties in the US before confirming its decision to acquire the F-35 JSFs for Singapore's defence capabilities.


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by spazsinbad » 18 Jan 2019, 10:57

:oops: More words here but no extra details however I do like the last paragraph... :twisted:
Singapore identifies F-35 fighter jet to replace F-16s, expects to buy ‘small number’ for full testing
18 Jan 2019 Aqil Haziq Mahmud

"...During testing, MINDEF will also work with other parties to take into account ongoing developments and ensure the F-35 is safe to operate." :twisted: [ahh NANNY MINDEF EH - SWEETness] :roll:

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/si ... d-11139654


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