F-35 Block 4

Cockpit, radar, helmet-mounted display, and other avionics
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by aussiebloke » 18 Sep 2019, 12:02

Is it known what the first of the rolling updates for Block 4 will be? Has it already happened back in April or is it due to happen in October?

Block 4 comprises some 53 improvements to counter both air- and ground-based threats emerging from China and Russia. None of these upgrades will change the aircraft’s outer appearance, or “mold line.” Instead, they are primarily new or enhanced features executed in software, which will be rolled out in stages, with updates every April and October starting in 2019 and continuing through at least 2024.


http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArch ... -Guys.aspx


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by doge » 28 Feb 2020, 16:30

In ‏#AWS20, From Steve Trimble. 8)
What is Raytheon trying to make? :roll: (Raytheon's Ambition)
https://twitter.com/TheDEWLine/status/1 ... 4667079685
Steve Trimble@TheDEWLine
Raytheon is showing an F-35 model at #AWS20 with a centerline store I’ve never seen before and can’t really guess what it is. Still trying to figure out what it is. Doesn’t appear to be a munition. Maybe a semi-conformal fuel tank or new sensor.
Attachments
F-35 Raytheon Unknown Load.jpg


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by gideonic » 28 Feb 2020, 16:46

doge wrote:In ‏#AWS20, From Steve Trimble. 8)
What is Raytheon trying to make? :roll: (Raytheon's Ambition)
https://twitter.com/TheDEWLine/status/1 ... 4667079685

My first thought was a laser pod :D


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by zhangmdev » 28 Feb 2020, 16:47

The model is too inaccurate to make any sense. The shape of fuselage, wing and horizontal tail is quite wrong.


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by steve2267 » 29 Feb 2020, 03:03

I'll play: HVPW

To let the Lightning hit with a GBU-28 equivalent penetrating weapon.
Take an F-16, stir in A-7, dollop of F-117, gob of F-22, dash of F/A-18, sprinkle with AV-8B, stir well + bake. Whaddya get? F-35.


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by eagle3000 » 29 Feb 2020, 06:38

https://twitter.com/TheDEWLine/status/1 ... 1602126853

It's just an old concept for the gun pod.


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by spazsinbad » 27 Apr 2020, 10:01

Future F-35 Panoramic Cockpit Display System to Feature Better Processing, Memory
24 Apr 2020 Frank Wolfe

"A new Panoramic Cockpit Display – Electronics Unit (PCD-EU) for the Lockheed Martin F-35 is to feature significantly enhanced processing and memory. The PCD-EU "is considered a new development effort under the F-35 Technology Refresh 3 (TR3) effort and will provide improved processing capability and video formatting," Lt. Cmdr. Keith Goodsell, a representative for the F-35 Joint Program Office, wrote in an Apr. 24 email to Avionics International.

"The system is comprised of independently controlled display management computers for each half of the Panoramic Cockpit Display – Display Unit (PCD-DU), allowing for greater situational awareness as well as redundancy for flight critical displays," he wrote. "The PCD-EU also incorporates both safety and non-safety critical processors, allowing for approximately four times the processing capacity and 32 times increased memory capacity. Finally, the PCD-EU will enable Hardware Open Systems Technology (HOST) to address power distribution, signal traffic dynamics, module diagnostics, signaling protocols and module commonality."...

...Nearly $82 million was awarded to procure hardware and software elements for the forthcoming Block 4 capability upgrade. The Block 4 upgrades, to take place over this next decade, will include new information technology capabilities, particularly the TR3 package with an updated integrated core processor (ICP) by L3Harris and the PCD-EU. An open-architecture backbone is also expected to be integrated into the F-35 as part of the Block 4 capabilities.... [lots of stuff I don't understand then...]

...L3Harris has been developing the new, F-35 ICP, which, like the PCD-EU, is to go aboard F-35s starting with Lot 15 in 2023. Lockheed Martin built the legacy ICP at a facility in Eagan, Minn. which closed in 2012. Avionics work done there has moved to the company's Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) division in Owego, N.Y.

The new, L3Harris ICP "is based on advanced open systems architecture and COTS technology, which pave the way for system upgrades to the F-35 well into the future," Bryant Henson, president of L3Harris Space and Airborne Systems' mission avionics sector, wrote in a recent email to Avionics. "Much of the F-35’s sensor and ISR capabilities will be made possible by the ICP. The new processor will increase by 25-times the collection of data from the aircraft’s sophisticated sensor suite to identify enemy radar and EW [electronic warfare] emissions that will provide the pilot with 360-degree situational awareness of threats and then prioritize and recommend to the pilot how to counter or negate the threat."..."

Source: https://www.aviationtoday.com/2020/04/2 ... ng-memory/


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by spazsinbad » 15 May 2020, 01:51

LM AutoGCAS F-35/F-16 Auto Ground Collision Avoidance Sys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdiI9nJcJX8



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by hornetfinn » 15 May 2020, 07:14

spazsinbad wrote:
The new, L3Harris ICP "is based on advanced open systems architecture and COTS technology, which pave the way for system upgrades to the F-35 well into the future," Bryant Henson, president of L3Harris Space and Airborne Systems' mission avionics sector, wrote in a recent email to Avionics. "Much of the F-35’s sensor and ISR capabilities will be made possible by the ICP. The new processor will increase by 25-times the collection of data from the aircraft’s sophisticated sensor suite to identify enemy radar and EW [electronic warfare] emissions that will provide the pilot with 360-degree situational awareness of threats and then prioritize and recommend to the pilot how to counter or negate the threat."..."


Thank you for that info, spazs! Now that is pretty impressive performance increase especially given how pilots have described the current performance levels with all kinds of superlatives. It seems that currently the performance bottleneck is the ICP and not the sensors themselves.


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by doge » 02 Dec 2020, 17:26

Video Data Link.
Components 8)
https://www.everythingrf.com/News/detai ... I-Aircraft
Elbit Systems to Supply Power Amplifiers for the F-35 Lightning II Aircraft
March 11, 2020
Elbit Systems of America has been selected by Cubic Mission Solutions to design and develop the Full Motion Video Data Link (FMVDL) amplifier module for the communications suite of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The amplifier module is a critical component of increasing the aircraft's advanced sensor suite by providing enhanced situational awareness to both airborne and ground forces. The F-35 FMVDL modules will be designed and manufactured at Elbit Systems of America in Fort Worth, Texas.
Joel Friederich, Vice President of C4I & Homeland Security Solutions at Elbit Systems of America commented that this selection demonstrates Elbit America's reputation as a leader in providing innovative airborne amplifiers for military tactical communications. The F-35 full-motion video amplifier modules provide the power behind the F-35's integrated communication/data link system and enable warfighters to have full situational awareness while boosting the 5th generation combat capability of the aircraft.
Building off its legacy of airborne amplifiers, Elbit Systems of America's solutions significantly boosts power for the F-35 communication suite, while reducing the unit's size. These aspects enhance the ability of the aircraft to send and receive critical information, thereby extending situational awareness from one aircraft to an entire network of warfighters, whether they're airborne or providing ground operations.
To date, Elbit Systems of America has supplied a variety of components for the F-35, from the UHF/VHF power amplifier, to the panoramic cockpit displays, to the unprecedented F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System.

Details 8)
https://sldinfo.com/whitepapers/cubic-a ... 35-system/
Cubic and Full Motion Video Link Within the CNI F-35 System
SAN DIEGO – June 11, 2019
Cubic Corporation today announced that its Cubic Mission Solutions business division was selected by Lockheed Martin as the Video Data Link (VDL) provider for the F-35 Lightning II Program. Cubic’s VDL capability for the F-35 will significantly increase the aircraft’s combat capability and is an essential capability to the overall F-35 follow-on modernization program.
“We are very pleased to partner with Lockheed Martin to provide a secure video data link capability for the F-35,” Mike Twyman, president, Cubic Mission Solutions. “Our team of protected communications experts have decades of experience supplying common data link systems and we look forward to partnering on this critical program.”
“With our proven track record of managing a program from development through fielding, along with the proven performance of our software-defined radio products including the Nano Multi-band Miniature Transceiver, we are confident in our ability to deliver a low-risk, cost-effective Video Data Link solution with built-in life cycle enhancements,” said James Parys, program director, Cubic Mission Solutions.
Cubic’s offering is a secure and mission-enhancing system that easily fits within the allocated Communications, Navigation and Identification (CNI) subsystem volume. The software-defined, radio-based VDL solution features high-performance processing that can support future live video enhancements, while minimizing size, weight, power and cooling (SWAP-C). Cubic’s solution enables the F-35 to transmit and receive sensor and metadata to and from multiple ground or airborne units.
And on March 1, 2020, it was announced that Elbit has been chosen to design, develop and manufacture the Full Motion Video Data Link (FMVDL) amplifier module for the communications suite of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

We can add the following to this Cubic White Paper based on interviews we have conducted with two members of the Cubic Mission systems team.
In an interview with Vice President and General Manager Bradford Powell, Cubic Corporation’s C2ISR Solutions business, he discussed FMV’s enhanced role within the evolving C2 and ISR infrastructure for the integrated distributed force.
According to Powell, the clear trend line is toward significantly expanding access to imagery and FMV while improving integration between the two:
“We are working to provide context within the full motion video feeds, which will enable the operational user to make tactical decisions more effectively.”
Powell described C2 as moving from a focus on maps to command and control operating from within full motion video. Such focus will require tools that provide context easily used by the tactical decision maker.
As a relatively simple example, Powell referred to how television networks superimpose yellow first-down markers over the video of a football game. Imagine, then, the various data clusters which could be laid down over the full motion video available to the tactical decision maker in his area of interest or the area where he is operating, and one can envision the coming future of video-driven context for C2 at the tactical edge.

The task is to insert relevant tactical data into the full motion video.
“The full motion video–focused C2 environment would thereby evolve to make a broader set of intelligence products discoverable in the video.”
The overall focus is to give the local decision maker much greater context for what he is looking at in the full motion video.
Cubic’s input into the CNI system will allow the F-35 to evolve along the lines suggested by Powell.
James Parys at CMS, the man responsible for the teams working the new CNI capability into the F-35, who is the Director of Platform Communications Programs for Cubic Mission Solutions, a business division of Cubic Corporation provided further details on the Cubic engagement in CNI. Mr. Parys has more than 25 years of experience in program management and business development in the defense, information technology, and computer science industries.
Parys began his career in the U.S. Navy and, after leaving the service, has worked in industry on a variety of C2 and ISR programs.
In his current role, he manages Cubic’s platform-focused communication system program organization, which includes the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and MQ-25 Unmanned Carrier-Launched UAS Video Data Link (VDL) programs for CMS.
As a combat system, the F-35 allows for significant upgrades over time, which is why some commentators’ notion about the F-35’s obsolescence makes little sense when one considers the aircraft’s built-in software and related hardware upgradability.

According to Parys, “We’re providing a set of cards that will integrate into our own segregated element of the CNI rack. It’s basically going to be, for lack of a better term, a rack inside a rack.
“We will take video feeds from other very complex sophisticated sensors onboard the aircraft and communicate informationto other users, whether they’re on other aircraft or on the ground, which they can leverage. Our data link’s primary CONOPSis to support close air support.”
Cubic has developed the ability to put into cards what once took up a lot of real estate and power generation to process the data and then communicate. Cubic is putting technology inside the F‑35 that is battle-tested and matured within other systems operating in the battlespace.
The data fusion on the aircraft is unique and also leverages proven technologies in step with modernization of the CNI function on the aircraft.
In other words, Cubic is harvesting their experience elsewhere and putting it on the F-35 as the aircraft matures and evolves.
They will be able to harvest some of those solutions to benefit universal enhanced capability for an ISR C2 integrated infrastructure, which is evolving for the overall force development of the integrated distributed force.
A key element of the new capabilities Cubic is providing for the F-35 is an ability to pass over the middleman, or to reduce the need to send the data to a processing center which, in turn, sorts through the data and then sends it out to the user.
Cubic is significantly reducing what one might call the tooth-to-tail relationship in the C2 and ISR infrastructure.

Parys said, “We are supplying data directly from the F-35 to the ground combat elements that have not had access to before.
“We will provide very-high-resolution information coming off the F-35sensors directlyto the ground forces.
“With our solution, we’re leveraging other capabilities, such as ISR Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (PED)–type capabilities to be able to clean up the video, and enable higher levels of resolution and higher contrast.
“By that I mean, being able to clear fog or see through smoke and share that view to the troops down on the ground, rather than the data having to be back-hauled to a PED station somewhere.
“The troops on the ground receive that data directly, which helps them make better, time-urgentdecisions.”
Effectively, this capability contributes to building an infrastructure that connects the ground combat element to the aircraft’s systems.
The modernized CNI takes abundant visual data and transforms it to shape a more usable data stream that supports combat operations.
Parys added, “We aregoing to reduce the whole timeline of the mission and what they need to do.

“This information can be sent to other aircraft; it can also be sent to other ground units.
“It means taking this advanced sensor in the sky and making its information available for whoever needs to leverage it and use it, whatever their mission is.
“The information will be available at an enterprise level rather than be limited to the traditional single stakeholder to single stakeholder process.”
I have argued elsewhere that one advantage of the F-35 global enterprise for defense companies, and not just the prime contractor, is to provide global users with the experience of working with a variety of companies they might not have experienced before.
This certainly is the case with Kongsberg and its F-35 Joint Strike Missile (JSM), which additionally has led to broader understanding of what their technology can provide to other combat elements.
This was demonstrated when the U.S. Navy adopted a Kongsberg strike missile being coproduced with Raytheon.
A similar positive outcome is predictable for Cubic and its engagement on the F-35.
As users become familiar with innovative processes of incorporating full motion video into a decision-making flow, we will see a demand to replicate such experiences elsewhere for other combat forces.
Parys highlighted: “We’re taking what we’re putting on the F-35 and we’re making it even smaller; fully packaged, but even smaller, and we’re putting it in the hands of users on the ground as well.”


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by spazsinbad » 16 Aug 2022, 03:20

461st Flight Test Squadron receives brand new F-35A
15 Aug 2022 Giancarlo Casem 412th Test Wing Public Affairs

"EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The newest F-35A, straight out of the factory, found its new home here at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 1.

The aircraft, Air Force serial number 338, is the first of six F-35s the 461st Flight Test Squadron and F-35 Lightning II Integrated Test Force will receive in the next few years. The upgraded fleet will be used to test the Technical Refresh 3 and Block 4 configurations of the Air Force’s newest fighter that will create tactical and operational advantages over peer competitors.

“The 461st needs airplanes; our complex test missions require a 4-ship of instrumented test jets to fully evaluate F-35 warfighting systems,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Bearce, an Air Force Reservist with the 370th Flight Test Squadron currently flying for the 461st “Deadly Jesters.”

The 461 FLTS is the Department of Defense’s lead developmental flight test unit for sensors, weapons, and software on all three variants of the F-35. The team has been behind every previous test project that has fielded new capabilities to operational F-35 units around the world.

The F-35 is modernizing from a Tech Refresh 2 configuration to a Tech Refresh 3 configuration. But we are still developing capabilities for both configurations for the next few years. Developmental testers need to evaluate those capabilities using 4-ship formations in each configuration, which drives an increase to our total fleet size,” Bearce explained.

The software and hardware upgrades are aimed at increases the Lightning II’s capabilities and survivability in contested combat environments. “Your iPhone gets upgraded all the time, this is kind of the same thing for the F-35,” Bearce said. “The F-35 is getting more computing power so it can host new capabilities as well as future weapons as we need them.”

These future upgrades will benefit the 826 fielded F-35 aircraft in the US Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy as well as the eight partner nations in the F-35 program and the 15 total nations participating in the F-35 program. Brand-new Tech Refresh 3 aircraft will be rolling off the assembly line starting in the summer of 2023. The Deadly Jesters’ will use their bigger test fleet to ensure those jets are combat-ready from the outset."

Source: https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article ... new-f-35a/


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by optimist » 14 Sep 2022, 23:18

UK is saying "If the UK decides it can afford to retrofit Block IV capability for its entire tranche 1 fleet, at an estimated cost of around £22M ($25m) per aircraft"
This is the first time I have seen a cost estimate for a block 4 retrofit. It's a F-35b and the UK bought early models. So there would be frame alterations in some.

I found this in the comments, so it is opinion only. "The £22m figure to upgrade is only for BK-03, the oldest UK Combat capable F-35B. BK-03 will be15 years old when its time to upgrade. She is 5 years older than any other UK combat capable F-35B. The remainder of the fleet will not cost £22m per aircraft, so to be polite….. the speculated figure of £1bn is total bollocks…
Every aircraft pre Lot 15 will need the TR3 upgrade. But we do not at present know what standard the fleet will be upgraded to. The hope must be that, like the USMC, we upgrade to Lot 17 standard across the board, which is Block IV with additional EW enhancements including more aerials."

https://www.navylookout.com/building-up ... f-35-jets/
Europe's fighters been decided. Not a Eurocanard, it's the F-35 (or insert derogatory term) Count the European countries with it.


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by spazsinbad » 15 Sep 2022, 06:01

Back in the MoD in a MUDdle thread there is this:
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15969&p=441462&hilit=block+upgrade#p441462 24 Jun 2020

...“The F-35 Block 4 upgrade has been included in the UK F-35 programme budget since its inception. Decisions on the number of aircraft to be upgraded will be made on the basis of military capability requirements. The costs of the Block 4 upgrade are managed through the F-35 Joint Programme Office and, as one partner in the multinational F-35 programme, the UK is not in a position to share detailed cost information,” the minister said."...


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by hornetfinn » 06 Oct 2023, 06:23

Lockheed Boss: F-35 Tech Refresh-3 Coming in Mid-2024, Will Be ‘Worth The Wait’


https://www.airandspaceforces.com/lockheed-ceo-f-35-tech-refresh-3/

Have to quote the whole article as it's short but highly informative:

Lockheed Martin believes it is “manageable” to complete testing of the F-35 Technology Refresh-3 and start delivering new jets with the system by mid-2024, company chairman and CEO Jim Taiclet said Oct. 4—and he promised the resulting product will be “worth the wait.”

“We and the Joint Program Office, which manages the F-35 program, we do feel that it’s a manageable risk to get to second quarter of next year deliveries with the TR-3 program, [with] test flights completed,” Taiclet said in a discussion hosted by the Hudson Institute.

The JPO agrees that mid-2024 is a possibility, but there are risks, the program director has said.

Taiclet explained that the TR-3 is “a cutting-edge technology insertion, on a very complex platform that has to do … anti-spoofing, formation flying, counter-jamming” in a “serious” electronic warfare environment, he said.

The upgrade will be worth the wait, he said, because the F-35 will do edge computing, a complex technical capability “very similar” to autonomous drones or driverless cars, he said.


“We want to make sure this works, and the reason this is important is because the F-35 TR-2 version has the best attributes of the three areas you need to have effective edge computing node: that’s data storage [of the] size that you need; data processing capability and a robust server, how robust is your cloud; and multi-path connection to the cloud,” Taiclet said.

The capability resident in TR-3 will be an order of magnitude greater than in TR-2, he said, and with it, the F-35 will have a digital capability “unlike any other” in the world.

Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the program executive officer for the F-35 JPO, told Air & Space Forces Magazine last month that he still sees risk in Lockheed getting TR-3 flight testing accomplished in the first half of 2024. The original estimate for delivery was by the end of 2023.

Schmidt said the TR-3 delays generally had to do with supply chain disruptions, behind-schedule software, and a late start of flight testing.

Many assumptions about getting TR-3 tested and delivered were too optimistic, Schmidt said, adding there still may be insufficient manpower and software laboratory capacity to hit the upgrade program’s timeline. The number of flight test aircraft available is also too small for the program’s needs, and the flight test infrastructure generally is “really old,” he said.

Schmidt said the TR-3—and the F-35 Block 4 upgrade, which requires the TR-3—suffered from insufficient planning and workarounds in case of delays.

“The consequences of it not being ready on time” weren’t sufficiently appreciated when the Block 4 was laid out, Schmidt said, explaining there was “no backup plan.” However, Schmidt did say the hardware “is doing pretty well right now.”

The centerpiece of TR-3 is a super-high-power computer/processor/memory upgrade, which will run the 85 or so improvements in Block 4, including new data fusion, new sensor suites, additional long-range precision weapons, upgraded electronic warfare capabilities, and interoperability with more platforms.


I don't think people really understand how huge this will be when it comes to combat and especially ISTAR and EW capability. Especially as F-35 is already a monster when it comes to these capabilties.

But what really is "new data fusion"?


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by Corsair1963 » 06 Oct 2023, 11:34

We can only hope a future Block V won't take as long to develop and field as todays Block IV... :|


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