Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

Quote:

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – After ejecting a 500-pound bomb from F-35B test aircraft BF-3, the test team took a collective breath, and watched as it hurtled toward the concrete deck.

Coming to rest in the foam covering the pit floor, the March 29 “pit drop” marked the end of two weeks of testing nine different weapons combinations inside the Joint Strike Fighter’s two internal weapons bays.

http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fu ... mp;id=4976

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Can someone please photoshop Slim Pickins into that picture?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlSQAZEp3PA

Salute!

These ord drops are important to get outta the way.

Apparently, the ejector racks are pneumatic and are not the "cart" ejector racks many of us were used to.

I'll have to go back out and look in the bays and talk with the load crews, but there are no "trapeze" doofers or anything. The bombs and missiles just get ejected by the pneumatic pistons. Guess they are using AIM-9X, so no lock-on before launch like I was used to with the Lima version.

One really nice thing with the Lima and the Viper Hud was that display of the seeker position and the radar TD box and then the distinctive chirp. Made you feel real good that the missile was locked on when you pressed the button.

Hard for some to realize, but one press on the "uncage" button and then the "ling-ling-ling" chirp and the missile LOS inside the TD box and fire. All that within maybe 2 or 3 seconds from a lock-on. And this was 30 years ago!

Gums sends...

The -9X is intended for external carriage only, right?

Raytheon AIM-9X Block II Air/Air Missile September 20, 2011

http://defense-update.com/20110920_rayt ... ssile.html

"...The Block II version of the Sidewinder AIM-9X is the latest version of the missile, and the first short range guided missile adapted for the latest fifth generation fighters. Among the improvements implemented in the new version are improved seeker performance and addition of a two-way data-link facilitating ‘Lock On AFter Launch’ (LOAL) capability, enabling the missile to operate from internal carriage systems of the F-22A Raptor and F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters. Other improvements include infrared counter-countermeasures, enhanced kinematics. According to the U.S. Navy, the Block II Relying on homing on a thermal image of the target, the new missile has ability to operate with immunity against modern threat radar counter measures such as Digital RF Memory Jammers, Towed Decoys, and Stealth airframes."
____________________

Test pilot Wally Schirra “Wally Schirra was an early Sidewinder test pilot when he was stationed at NOTS between 1952 to 1954. During one flight, Schirra fired the Sidewinder missile and the missile "doubled back" and started to chase his jet. Schirra, through skillful flying, avoided the Sidewinder. He later went onto to join NASA Mercury program as one of the first seven astronauts to fly into space.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder

Spaz, are you aware of any official source or document that confirms internal,carriage for the -9X?
I know a couple of ASRAAMs are supposed to be carried internally as required by the UK.

Not official but interesting 'discussion' about weapons for UK along with this phrase here:

F35B, F35C, rethinks, weaponry, costs and the difficult choices March 21, 2012

http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot ... s-and.html

"...Problem is that the Air to Air station inside the weapon bay's door is also an ejector, not a rail. No problem for dropping a Meteor or AMRAAM, but no rail-launched weapon: the very reason why the US are not bothering trying to integrate Sidewinder for internal carriage...."

1st503rdsgt wrote:

Can someone please photoshop Slim Pickins into that picture?

Nice shooting 1stFiveOThird

Well, the lower internal missile mount, the one that swings down when that little door opens, does put whatever it's carrying outside the plane before launching, so you could carry a rail on it instead of an AMRAAM/Meteor.

But if we're talking about putting rail-launched missiles on the hardpoint that hangs from the ceiling, there are only a few options to choose from:

1. It is now or soon will be possible to drop these missiles and have them ignite after release, instead of sliding them off of a rail.

2. There is now or soon will be a special carriage to hang from that hardpoint, with a moving rail which extends outside the plane for missile launch and then retracts to close the doors after launch.

3. The missiles are planned to be carried on a rail which hangs from that hardpoint at a slight downward pitch so its nose is pointed toward the open air below the bay's front edge, allowing the missile to ignite while still inside the bay and immediately fly out of it; this avoids needing moving parts as in #2, but probably requires that the slanted rail and missile be enclosed in a sort of half-open box of blast-shield material to keep the missile's exhaust from frying those little wires and hoses that seem to cover the bay's inside walls.

Of those choices, although I've heard before that they're working on #2, the simplest solution seems to me to be to drop the idea of putting Sidewinders or ASRAAMs on the ceiling hardpoint at all, and just built a rail that can attach to the lower one where an AMRAAM/Meteor is usually expected. It uses less materials and is mechanically simpler, and leaves the main heavy-duty hardpoint free for whatever else you could want to add, including a pair of AMRAAMs/Meteors on the two-missile adapter that we already know they're doing.

* * *

Anyway, on the original subject: this was a 500-pounder, the lightest JDAM size. Does that mean tests with heavier weapons come later after they're happy with the results from the fairly light one? If that's the case, why didn't they do the first test on an even-lighter AMRAAM?

And I see orange wires attached to the bomb, which, in the picture, have gone sort of question-mark-shaped with the slack as the bomb moved downward. What are they for? If they're to transmit data from sensors on/in the bomb, what data could they be after from the bomb?

'delvo' to answer your question: "...this was a 500-pounder, the lightest JDAM size. Does that mean tests with heavier weapons come later after they're happy with the results from the fairly light one?..." from your 2nd last paragraph - perhaps you missed this from the original press release above?

"...Coming to rest in the foam covering the pit floor, the March 29 “pit drop” marked the end of two weeks of testing nine different weapons combinations inside the Joint Strike Fighter’s two internal weapons bays...."

spazsinbad wrote:

Not official but interesting 'discussion' about weapons for UK along with this phrase here:

F35B, F35C, rethinks, weaponry, costs and the difficult choices March 21, 2012

http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot ... s-and.html

"...Problem is that the Air to Air station inside the weapon bay's door is also an ejector, not a rail. No problem for dropping a Meteor or AMRAAM, but no rail-launched weapon: the very reason why the US are not bothering trying to integrate Sidewinder for internal carriage...."

Thanks Spaz, a lengthy read but an informative one.

From the new DEWline come these drops of more or less of same info in original press release above:

Wherefore art thou Lockheed Martin? By Dave Majumdar on April 19, 2012

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-d ... .html#more

Nor have the testers at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, been idle... On 29 March, F-35 developmental testers finished pit-drops of nine different types of weapons from the jet's internal bays, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) says. Trials were performed on inert GBU-12 Laser-Guided Bombs, the 1000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and other types.

The last test was performed on a 500 lbs bomb that was dropped from BF-3, the third short take-off vertical landing test jet.

According to NAVAIR, weapons pit-drop testing collects data to measure stresses on the airframe and adjacent stores, ensures proper weapon and suspension equipment function, and validates the separation models for the munitions' ejection characteristics, including trajectories and velocities...."

MORE at the JUMP!

archeman wrote:

1st503rdsgt wrote:

Can someone please photoshop Slim Pickins into that picture?

Nice shooting 1stFiveOThird

If you guys are lucky, I might have something tonight...

Interesting. I guess I was under the impression that the Air-to-air bay hard points would have Sidewinders on them. I hadn't realized that, because they are rail launched, they can only be used as external stores.
Dare I hope that someone is working on a dropped IR weapon?

There is work being done on an internal rail for the A2G station for ASRAAM and by default AIM-9x

Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

F35 drops GBU32 (pit test)