F35B Airwing

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Lockheed: F-35 deliveries can’t resume until mishap investigation done

Extract: "The Navy’s investigation into the mishap, which is still ongoing, uncovered signs that a high-pressure fuel tube in the fighter’s Pratt & Whitney-made F135 engine had failed, a source familiar with the program told Defense News last month."

From - https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/01 ... tion-done/

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Video in this article at - https://loredaily.com/f-35-l%D1%96%C9%A ... riority-2/ - may be of interest.

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BAE Systems has achieved a significant milestone by delivering the 1,000th rear fuselage to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 fighter.

The Company’s facilities located in Samlesbury, Lancashire, supported by over 1,500 employees, manufacture the rear fuselage for every F-35 in the global fleet.
See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/bae-del ... kfQiuFekaw

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Former US Navy Operations Specialist explains how the F-35 coupled with the AGM-88E AARGM-ER will be able to effectively counter Russian S-400/S-500 SAMs

Thanks to its stealthiness, the F-35 will become the main platform for the SEAD/DEAD mission in the coming decade.
As already reported, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $26.7 million contract by the Pentagon to develop a structural modification for the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter to improve its Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses capability (SEAD/DEAD). The retrofit design will be applied to both US and foreign F-35s in Lots 14 and 15.

Continues at - https://theaviationgeekclub.com/former- ... -500-sams/ - LFT

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Lockheed Martin Signs Contract for F-35 UK Fleet Support

https://www.f35.com/f35/news-and-featur ... pport.html

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9 Reasons Why the F-35 Needs a New Engine

https://www.heritage.org/defense/commen ... new-engine

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UPDATE ON UK TOTAL F35Bs

031- 033 UK F35B LIGHTNINGS NOW FLYING - DELIVERY DUE SOON.
The UK's next batch of 3 new F35B Lightnings have all been post-production test flying in the last few weeks at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth Facility. We can expect delivery of these 3 aircraft soon and that will bring the UK F35B fleet up to 33 aircraft delivered - although only 32 are in service following the loss of ZM152 off R08 HMS Queen Elizabeth during CSG21 in 2021.
F35 production as a whole remains about 6 months behind the original LRIP annual schedule primarily as a result of earlier Covid closures but also ongoing delays in ramping up F35 production capacity to its target 165 aircraft per year. These UK F35Bs (plus one more) were all originally due to be delivered during late 2022, and are in part causing the delay to the stand-up of the UK's second operational Lightning unit, 809NAS.

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F35B LIGHTNING BF-01 IS RETIRED
(11/05/23)
Lockheed have announced that the very first production F35B Lightning BF-01 - which was specially instrumented and used for many of the STOVL variant's 'manufacturer's trials and flight envelope and weapon release tests has been officially stood down and retired. First flown in 2008, this aircraft has more than paid its dues over the last 15 years and flown at most if not all the extremes of what is possible with the F35B. No doubt it will be moved to a suitable museum such as the Smithsonian in due course.

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UK F-35 future procurement discussed at Defence Committee

Extracts:
The UK has successfully delivered 30 F-35 jets to date. By the end of 2025, the total number of F-35s is expected to reach 48, including the replacement for the aircraft lost last year.
The commitment has been made by the Department and the Government to raise the number to 74. The delivery of these additional aircraft, referred to as “tranche 2,” will commence before the end of the decade, with completion expected in the early 2030s.
Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton confirmed that “all 74 aircraft would be F-35Bs”.
“acknowledging the necessity of 74 aircraft for NATO commitments, rather than clinging to an unattainable target, would be more beneficial”.
“surpassing the 74 aircraft mark was unlikely”.

From - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-f-35 ... y_BwhLnb68

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2 freshly delivered UK F35B Lightnings BK-32 ZM166 & BK-33 ZM167 seen parked in their dispersal at Marham following their transatlantic flight from Fort Worth on 23/06/23