F35B Airwing

[Pelican]

Attached are the 3 35Bs departing Fort Worth enroute Gander. Currently they are over the N. Atlantic enroute Marham where they are expected to land later today.
6 more deliveries are expected in 2021 and 8 more in 2022 bringing total to 35, when 809 NAS will 'stand up.'
The remaining 13 of the 1st tranche of 48 will be delivered by 2025. Further orders to be announced after the next defence review in 2021.

Some videos and photos of The 3 landing at Gander here - https://twitter.com/briggs_aero?lang=en

[Pelican]

More F-35 jets being delivered to the UK

A Voyager tanker is currently crossing the Atlantic, bringing with it additional F-35B jets for the United Kingdom.
See:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/more-f- ... U-0RNDbWTo

[Pelican]

More F-35 jets being delivered to the UK

A Voyager tanker is currently crossing the Atlantic, bringing with it additional F-35B jets for the United Kingdom.
See:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/more-f- ... U-0RNDbWTo

ANOTHER SLANT ON NUMBERS AND COSTS

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/more-ne ... td_CD8Chb8

[Pelican]

The lastest 3 - https://www.facebook.com/thef35/videos/217380903108437

[Pelican]

CARRIERS’ F-35 JETS TO GET NEXT-GENERATION AIR-TO-GROUND MISSILE
06 January 2021
Strike fighters flying from Royal Navy aircraft carriers will be armed with the next-generation of lethal missiles following a £550m deal.

SPEAR3 will become the principal strike weapon of the F-35 Lightning jets operating from the decks of HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales.

Designed to knock out warships, tanks and armoured vehicles, missile launchers, bunkers, radar posts and air defence batteries, the new missile can be fired at such long range – more than 140 kilometres (nearly 90 miles) – it should keep the Navy and RAF pilots out of harm’s way from enemy ground defences.

Defence firm MBDA has been awarded £550m to equip the Lightning Force – based at RAF Marham – with the new weapon, which has been developed over the past decade and will be introduced to the front line over the next seven years.

Weighing under 90kg and just 1.8 metres long, SPEAR3 – Select Precision Effects At Range missile No.3 – is powered at high subsonic speeds by a turbojet engine, can operate across land and sea, day or night, and strike at moving and stationary targets.

It will support 700 jobs in the UK – 190 of them highly-skilled technology jobs in system design, guidance control and navigation and software engineering – at sites around the country including Bristol, Stevenage and Bolton.

Testing, simulation and trials will include controlled firings from a Typhoon aircraft before the missile is delivered to Marham and the Portsmouth-based carriers for front-line operations.

[Pelican]

BAE contracted for countermeasures for Lot 12 F-35s
February 2, 20210
BAE Systems has been awarded $81.3m for 1,512 radio frequency countermeasures for Lot 12 F-35 aircraft.

See:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/bae-con ... 3tg4ergznQ

And:
https://www.baesystems.com/en-us/produc ... ure-system

[Pelican]

Martin Baker awarded $8.7m for F-35 ejection seats
3 February 3, 2021
Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd has been awarded an $8.7m for the manufacture of 581 explosive cartridges kits and 1,116 explosive cartridges used in the Martin-Baker US16E ejection seat in F-35 aircraft.


The contract notice is displayed below:

“Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd., Uxbridge, United Kingdom, is awarded an $8,764,364 firm-fixed-price contract for the manufacture of 581 explosive cartridges kits and 1,116 each of different explosive cartridges used in the Martin-Baker US16E ejection seat in F-35 aircraft for the Joint Strike Fighter program. The contract does not contain a provision for an option quantity.

All work will be performed in Uxbridge, United Kingdom, and work is expected to be completed by October 2022. The total value of $8,764,364 will be obligated at the time of award.

Funding sources include fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (O&M) (International Partner Funding) funds (31%); fiscal 2021 O&M (Air Force) funds (22%); fiscal 2021 procurement (Air Force) funds (18%); fiscal 2021 procurement (Marine Corps) funds (8%); fiscal 2021 procurement (Navy) funds (5%); fiscal 2021 O&M (Marine Corps) funds (5%); fiscal 2021 O&M (Navy) funds (3%); Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Japan funds (3%); FMS Israel funds (3%); FMS Belgium funds (1%); and FMS Korea funds (1%). Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

One source was solicited for this non-competitive requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c) (1), with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00104-21-C-K014).”

Source UKDJ

[Pelican]

For nearly 80 years, the United Kingdom and United States have shared a “special relationship” – a partnership rooted in shared values, shared history, and shared interests. No programme better exemplifies this relationship than the F-35, say Lockheed in a news release on their website.For nearly 80 years, the United Kingdom and United States have shared a “special relationship” – a partnership rooted in shared values, shared history, and shared interests. No programme better exemplifies this relationship than the F-35, say Lockheed in a news release on their website.

“In 2020, Lockheed Martin commissioned KPMG to conduct a study to understand better just how large the economic impact of the F-35 programme is in the U.K. Findings from the study estimate £40.6 billion in gross value added (GVA) for the U.K. economy and more than 20,000 jobs over the time period from 2007 to 2038. For every £1 of GVA generated from activity through the programme, an additional £326 is generated through wider economic activity. The study also found that the jobs created by the programme are more productive than others – they have an average GVA of £88,049, which is more than the averages for both the defence sector and national full-time employment."

See:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/f-35-ex ... r-jbu3Q-xE

[Pelican]

No, the U.S Air Force did not say that the F-35 had failed
March 5, 20214
Senior U.S. Air Force leaders recently reemphasised their support for the F-35, calling the fighter the “cornerstone” of the U.S Air Force’s tactical capability.

The remarks were intended to clarify “recent erroneous media coverage” incorrectly claiming that the ‘U.S. Air Force has admitted the F-35 program has failed’.

During a February 25th news conference at the U.S. Air Force Association’s Aerospace Warfare Symposium, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, debunked this claim, stating that “the F-35 is the cornerstone of the U.S. Air Force fighter fleet” today and in the future.

Brown, the U.S. Air Force’s top uniformed officer, confirmed that the programme of record is 1,763 F-35As, and clarified that the U.S Air Force is “not going to take money from the F-35” to fund the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) plans.

On February the 26th, Acting Secretary of the U.S Air Force John Roth added that the F-35 is “the core airplane going forward”.

Continues at:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-the- ... r0aZpFeWM0

[Pelican]

UK reportedly to cut F-35B order by 65 percent
March 7, 202135
The Sunday Times has reported that the UK is likely only to purchase 48 F-35B jets, down from 138.

An excerpt from this article states.
“An order for 90 more F-35 Lightning combat jets is to be cancelled in favour of the Tempest fighter, built in Lancashire, while 24 older Typhoon fighters will be retired early. Whole fleets of aircraft will be taken out of service as drones become ever more common.”
You can read more by visiting the original source here.
You can also read more about Tempest by visting the link below.

This reported F-35B order isn’t entirely unexpected, whilst speaking to the Public Accounts Committee,the MoD’s Permanent Secretary Sir Stephen Lovegrove said:

“Things change in the course of these very long-term programmes. Different capabilities come along that render things that you have yet to buy possibly obsolete or perhaps you need fewer of them or the threats change.”
The final details of this will be revealed on March the 16th in the Integrated Review.
The ‘Integrated Review’, to give it its full title the ‘Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy’ is effectively a defence review.

According to a Ministry of Defence announcement: “General Sir Nick Carter has been central to setting the vision for our future armed forces. The Prime Minister has asked General Carter to remain in post to ensure continuity and stability while the conclusions of the Integrated Review are implemented following the £24.1-billion settlement for defence announced last year.
The Integrated Review will be published on 16 of March and the Defence Command Paper will be published on 22 of March. The selection of General Carter’s successor as Chief of the Defence Staff will begin in the autumn.”
The review was previously described by Boris Johnson as the largest review of its kind since the Cold War and will be published later this month.

For complete article go to:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-repo ... aDGLfiNRzI