Current Events in the Americas

http://www.flightglobal.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/11619

From Air Force Times Joint missile program called back on track By Erik Holmes - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Sep 18, 2008 8:09:09 EDT The future of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM, seemed in doubt last year due to severe cost overruns and four failed flight tests in a span of a few days. But the Air Force and Lockheed Martin say the program is back on target, with a batch of the stealthy cruise missiles delivered in July and a contract for an additional 111 awarded in June. And the reliability issues have been solved, according to Air Force and Lockheed officials. The development team flew 16 flight tests in four days in February, …

From Flight Global USAF sets 2013 entry for extended-range JASSM By John Croft The US Air Force says it will be ready to deploy the extended-range version of its Lockheed Martin-built AGM-158 joint air-to-surface stand-off missile (JASSM) in the second half of 2013. Using larger fuel tanks and a more efficient Williams International F107-WR-105 turbofan engine, rather than the Teledyne CAE J402-CA-100 turbojet, the JASSM ER (AGM-158B) will have a range of more than 926km (500nm), up from 370km for the original missile. The AGM-158 entered service in 1999 and has not been used in combat to date. Lockheed in April rolled out the 1,000th JASSM round from its…

Seems JASSM is back from the brink and is proving itself ... maybe? From ARES Blog Sue Payton's "Kick Ass Missile" Posted by Amy Butler at 8/1/2008 10:49 AM CDT Take a look at the slick new video made by Lockheed Martin and showing its new cruise missile's recent successes. Company officials say the video has not been doctored in any way, and the images were captured from test video. After dipping to an all-time low reliability last year of 58% and experiencing a major cost overrun, the Air Force now reports the fixes to the stealthy cruise missile have boosted reliability to 88%. Good thing, since the weapon costs nearly $1 million per copy. Sue Paty…

From Aviation Week Pentagon Revives Standoff Missile May 2, 2008 Bettina H. Chavanne The Pentagon certified a critical need for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) program May 2, following the program's breach of Nunn-McCurdy acquisition law. John Young, Pentagon acquisition chief, certified a restructured JASSM program in four categories, affirming that the program is essential to national security; there are no alternatives to the program that would provide "equal or greater military capability" for less money; new estimates for procurement are "reasonable" and the management structure for JASSM acquisition is "adequate" to manage and control…

From Army Times Report: JCAs cut from Army budget By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Apr 29, 2009 11:51:28 EDT The Joint Cargo Aircraft is no longer joint. Army funding for the C-27 Spartan — the small tactical airlifter intended for both the Army and the Air Force — has been stripped from the budget, a defense official familiar with the decision said Monday. The Air Force will retain its 38 planes under the revised plan, but the Army, which wanted 40 C-27s to replace its aging C-23 Sherpas, will receive none. The 40 Army planes were to be assigned to the Army National Guard, many to districts at risk of losing their Guard missions due …

JFK Overhaul Work Stopped By WILLIAM H. MCMICHAEL Defense News The Navy has canceled a scheduled $335 million overhaul of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, a move that likely cements plans to inactivate or decommission the flattop and reduce the Navy’s formidable carrier fleet from 12 to 11. The Navy emphasized it has not firmed up its ultimate plans for the Mayport, Fla.-based Kennedy, to the disappointment of Florida’s congressional delegation and proponents of a 12-carrier Navy. “The final decision on the ship’s decommissioning and inactivation status is still pending,” said Lt. Chris Servello, a Navy spokesman. The Navy, however, had long plann…

JLENS loose and lose, how not?: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/10/28/the-army-lost-control-of-a-giant-unmanned-surveillance-blimp/

From http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/09/21/4281857/us-army-navy-demonstrate-jlens.html [excerpt] Hat tip to Brains.

From Aviation Week & Space Technology And so the real troubles of the JSF development begin. IMHO, the US has much to lose if this very important program goes belly up. What do you think ?

From Defense Aerospace Another Significant Milestone For Joint Strike Fighter Program (Source: Australian Department of Defence; issued April 23, 2007) The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program has achieved another significant milestone with the approval of funding for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP). As of 23 April 2007, the first JSF test aircraft has completed 14 test flights. Test pilots have been impressed by the aircraft’s maturity so early in the test program and its excellent handling qualities. The aircraft has already been flown to 30,000 feet, 0.8 Mach, and 16 degrees Angle of Attack with all systems working as designed, including: - the Pr…

Ouchie! From Defense Aerospace Program Official Offers Cash Rebate on JSF (Source: defense-aerospace.com; published March 24, 2009) By Giovanni de Briganti PARIS --- Pricing of the Joint Strike Fighter has always seemed to be firmly rooted in fantasy, and the outgoing head of the JSF Program Office has again demonstrated just how divorced this program is from reality. The “official” unit price quoted by Lockheed Martin for the JSF remains pegged at about $65 million, although even Lockheed recently admitted that it won’t know the exact price until 2012. JSF Program Office (JPO) director Major General Charles Davis now tells Jane’s Defence Review t…

From Defense Aerospace U.S. Government Report Shows Decreased Costs for F-35 Program (Source: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company; issued April 8, 2008) FORT WORTH, Texas --- A newly released report from the U.S. Department of Defense shows that estimated acquisition costs dropped by nearly $1 billion from 2006 to 2007 for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II program. The Selected Acquisition Reports estimate that F-35 program costs over the aircraft's three-decade production run decreased by $981 million (-0.3 percent), from $299.8 billion to $298.8 billion. The F-35 cost reduction was attributed in part to lower material costs related to agreements made …

New analysis of the F-35 JSF from Carlo Kopp and the APA gang ... Assessing JSF Defence Penetration Capabilities

From Aviation Week JSF Juggling Engine, Cost, Schedule and Weight Issues Apr 1, 2007 By Amy Butler and Robert Wall The Joint Strike Fighter's price is expected to increase 4% due to Pentagon funding cuts. And if Congress reinstates development of a second engine for the stealthy aircraft, the cost could rise further. The increase could amount to more than $6 billion over the life of the massive, 3,000-aircraft program. But cost is only one of a flurry of issues ahead as development work moves into high gear. All three F-35 JSF versions will face key hurdles in the coming months, with program officials trying to keep the Lockheed Martin-led industrial team fr…

From Air Force Times July 07, 2006 JSF named ‘Lightning II’ By Laura M. Colarusso Times staff writer With a nod to Air Force history, the service’s chief of staff has dubbed the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter “Lightning II.” Gen. T. Michael Moseley announced the decision Friday at the Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas, where the stealthy multi-role fighter is made. He based the decision on input received from airmen as well as the other services and coalition partners involved in the JSF program, said Maj. Glen Roberts, a spokesman for the general. The P-38 Lightning, the JSF’s namesake, was designed in the late 1930s and was used during World W…

From ARES Blog JSF News You Might Have Missed Posted by Bill Sweetman at 9/8/2008 8:15 AM CDT The Joint Strike Fighter program is so vast that a week can hardly go by without some JSF-related news. Air Force Magazine secured an interview with ousted Air Force secretary Michael Wynne, including this comment about the JSF: He argues that it is too early to halt F-22 production and rely on the F-35 as the sole fifth-generation fighter in production, mainly because "I’m afraid the F-35 will fail a test." [CV32: Emphasis mine.] If that line doesn't appear in every third Gripen PowerPoint for the next several months - if the USAF doesn't want to bet its fu…

JSF program faces steep cost overruns [Me: eek! and even more delays] By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer Posted : Saturday Mar 15, 2008 7:49:23 EDT The Joint Strike Fighter program is facing $38 billion in cost overruns and could be delayed by more than two years, according to a government report urging defense planners to re-evaluate the program. The delays could affect the Navy’s schedule for the carrier variant of the plane. The service is already facing a fighter-jet gap with F/A-18 Hornets projected to die out before they’re replaced by the JSF. Service officials say they plan on buying more F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets to bridge the gap. The almost $1 t…

From Flight International DATE: 14/07/08 SOURCE: Flight International A giant leap: F-35 readies for production ramp-up By Stephen Trimble Production activity for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is entering the start of an intense phase that will dominate the programme's energies for the next 18 months. Since November 2006, getting the first weight-optimised and short take-off vertical landing prototype aircraft in the air on time was the programme's primary focus, even as the first AA-1 conventional aircraft began flight tests in December 2006. The path to realising the STOVL milestone was obstructed by the discovery earlier this year …

From Flight International DATE:11/05/07 SOURCE:Flight International Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter recovers from in-flight power failure By Craig Hoyle Lockheed Martin has launched a planned software modification to its lone F-35 test asset, after suffering an unexpected power failure during the aircraft’s 19th and most recent test flight on 3 May. “We had some very unusual electrical transient through the airplane,” says Joint Strike Fighter programme executive officer US Air Force Brig Gen Charles Davis. “All the electrics dropped offline and came back after a few milliseconds.” Lockheed confirms: “The test pilot observed a partial fai…