Forum: General F-35 Forum

Hey,
My nation is going to buy the JSF we are a level 2 partner so we got some say-in. But anyway I don't know what I should expect of this plane. What is expected for its maximum speed, and will it have super-cruise? What's it's expected altitude and howmany air to air missles or bombs or air to ground missles can it carry. I know it has a 27MM mauser cannon but how many rounds p. second will it fire and and howmany rounds will it be able to cary. Another question is range how far can it go? And will it be capable to carry droptanks, what will the capacity of the dronptanks be (300 gal, 330 gal, 370 gal, 600 gal) and howmany can it have and what range will be added with each droptank? Will it be able to outperform and F-16AM with m4 upgrade, (you know dogfighting). And that stealth thingy whats the big deal, the same with the f-22, they're not invisible theyr less visible they wills till be seen on radar at all times (they saw f-117 at the vliehorse range with an old radar) but it'll be vauger and will be kinda blinky going on and off. but as soon as an rwr spots the signature of the radar it'll just have to concentrate all radarwaves in that direction meaning more radarwaves will hit it meaning more will come back to your radar antenna, (1% of 100=1 1% 10000= 100 same goes for radarwaves) see i'm a little concerned we fly the F-16AM soon with M4. As what im hearing from here and there it's slower it aint got super cruise the stealth is so little u can almost ignore the fact it has stealth, it cant turn like any modern plane or even the last generation planes (f-16 generation f-18 and blah blah blah), and it can carry only 2 bombs if it wants to keep what little stealth it has. and well u can say its 2 LGB/JDAM bombs and 1 LGB/JDAM is more effective then 12 mk82 bombs (at times) well thats true but the F-16AM M3 (and ofcourse M4) also has GBU capability and the capability to max. carry 6 times as many LGB's or JDAM's and then on the side carry 4 Amraams or 4 Aim-9s or a mixture of that. wich the JSF wont be able to do asmuch. So according to me (but what i think isn't always right Wink

) the only advantages over the F-16AM M4 is that we will have increased range and better censors (yes info is important these days but u need to be able to act on that). And the disadvantages are All of the above + that they're expensive as hell. and here comes my opinion again, i think its gonna be a WHOLE lot more expensive before 2010 just like the F-22 it was meant as a fighter that would cost around 30-60 million dollars and now she costs something between 100-200 million dollars.

Sorry for the long draggy boring post but i need info Sad

F-16.net Sponsor

oh yea and we're talking F-35A

Here are 2 IMO pretty good links regarding weapon carring capabilities & other stuff
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0163.shtml
http://www.jsf.mil/f35/f35_technology.htm

Thanks a LOT!

this has changed my opinion completely I now find we are better of with the F-35A as it is right now, and judging that it has alot of years to go it'll only get better, and judging that it has alot of room for upgrades IM actually loving it.

-How many threats do you expect to face over the life time of the F-16 replacement, that require the defensive advantage of stealth?

-Can future high threat targets that you would want a JSF for... be beat down by other means? ... UCAV.... standoff PGM... Storm Shadow/Scalp/JASSM?

Available money....

-Will future budgets accept a higher cost of ownership on combat aircraft ( example: Stealth skin ( of course the vendor will tell you it is low maintenance ).... ( lower maintenance stealth skin can also mean you are getting the Buick of stealth ) ( this would be a classified briefing by your engineers to the decision makers ).... what is the total value of the purchase?..... vs European budgets which as a broad brush statement ( no offense Smile

) are shrinking, not getting larger.

-Attrition rate. It is a single engine jet. Look at your current history. Do you want to lose a more expensive single engine jet or a less expensive one, each time one mishaps on you? This of course falls under total cost of ownership.

-Will this program be so expensive ( it shows no sign of not climbing in dollars to be spent ) that it will bleed other necessary military programs white?

-Is the possibility of getting an export version... attractive to you? ( The on-going issue of tech share ).

-Are you aware that, as a JSF partner, that... this has nothing to do with said country getting x amount of workshare as a gaurentee? Workshare is given out on proven best value, ( you want to keep the cost low... yes? ) not as a gaurentee of employment to JSF partner country on the sole basis of it being a "JSF Partner".

Just some thoughts.

"-Is the possibility of getting an export version... attractive to you? ( The on-going issue of tech share )." the uk and the dutch and some other nations have told bush and lockehad this: u give us a export version u dont get any orders, wich will result in a massive price rize and you dont want that do you?

"-Will future budgets accept a higher cost of ownership on combat aircraft ( example: Stealth skin ( of course the vendor will tell you it is low maintenance ).... ( lower maintenance stealth skin can also mean you are getting the Buick of stealth ) ( this would be a classified briefing by your engineers to the decision makers ).... what is the total value of the purchase?..... vs European budgets which as a broad brush statement ( no offense Smile ) are shrinking, not getting larger." well you're right there but you cant say us budget is rising well yea it is but not for a permanent stay only to fund the war not to buy and maintain new equipment, and the reason its shrinking is/was was the economic situation and right now its going up hill again for many EU nations and supprize all of a sudden the dutch and germans and some more are getting budget increases again.

Forum: General F-35 Forum

F-35 whats it all about?