USAF Denies To Acquire More Fourth Generation Fighters

The US Air Force has denied any plans to purchase another tranche of Lockheed Martin F-16 or Boeing F-15 combat jets following reports it could seek bids for up to 72 new aircraft.

According to comments attributed to a senior US Air Combat Command official at an international fighter conference in London last week, the current Lockheed F-35 procurement plan could prove unaffordable, and another fighter wing of F-15s, F-16s or perhaps even F/A-18s is being considered to supplement the current fleet – which will serve into the 2040s as F-35s are delivered.

The air force is seeking 1,763 F-35As through 2038, and in the interim it intends to modernise and upgrade its F-16s and F-15s with new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and electronic warfare systems.

Asked to categorically confirm or deny any new fighter purchase, a spokesman for the service’s acquisition office says: “At this time the air force has no plans to acquire 72 new F-15s or F-16s, although the air force is always looking at options to be prepared for a dynamic global security environment.”

In his final press engagement at the Pentagon on 24 November, outgoing air force acquisition chief Bill LaPlante was dismissive of suggestions that another F-15 or F-16 fighter wing is being sought, but he agrees that the F-35 is difficult to afford.

“That story was news to me,” he quipped. “We’re always struggling to get the production rate as high as we can get it on F-35. That’s as true as saying it’s cold outside. It’s always true.”

The conventional take-off and landing A-model costs just shy of $100 million per aircraft, but LaPlante says the F-35 joint programme office and the Lockheed industry team are trying to reduce that to $85 million as the manufacturing process matures.

The service stopped acquiring fourth-generation F-16s and F-15s many years ago to instead focus on developing and procuring stealthy F-22s and F-35s, but both acquisitions were far more expensive and lengthy than originally planned.

The opportunity to purchase more legacy jets, which have been kept in production through foreign military sales, is closing fast, with the Lockheed F-16 and Boeing F-15 and F/A-18 assembly lines potentially closing before the turn of the decade if no more domestic or foreign orders materialise.

The air force has budgeted for 44 F-35s in fiscal year 2016 and 48 in 2017, and is building toward a production cadence of 60 jets per year by 2018 and then 80 beyond 2020.

Northrop Grumman Delivers Center Fuselage for Italy's First F-35 Lightning I

Northrop Grumman delivered the center fuselage for Italy's first F-35 Lightning II to the newly commissioned Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility at Italy's Cameri Air Base July 12. This on-time delivery to Lockheed Martin enables the first assembly of an F-35 aircraft at the FACO facility and increases international participation on the F-35 program.

In early July 2013, Northrop Grumman prepared the center fuselage for Italy's first F-35 Lighting II for delivery to the newly commissioned Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility at Italy's Cameri Air Base. The delivery to Lockheed Martin supports the first assembly of an F-35 aircraft at the FACO facility and increases international participation on the F-35 program.

The center fuselage, AL-1, will be integrated into a conventional takeoff and landing variant of the F-35, and represents the first of 90 center fuselage sections that will be delivered to the Italian FACO facility for Italian aircraft.

"We started working on AL-1 in September 2012, when it was inducted into our Integrated Assembly Line [IAL] at our Palmdale facility," said Michelle Scarpella, vice president of the F-35 program for Northrop Grumman.

"It's the 115th center fuselage we've completed here in Palmdale, and marks another program milestone, as we continue to stand up and grow international F-35 participation."

The IAL maximizes robotics and automation, providing additional assembly capability while meeting engineering tolerances that are not easily achieved using manual methods. The IAL is central in producing the F-35's center fuselage as well as increasing the program's affordability, quality and efficiency.

Currently, there are 35 center fuselages in flow on the IAL, including some for Australia and additional ones for Italy; deliveries have already been made to Ft Worth for final assembly and delivery to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Set on 101 acres in Italy's Piedmont region, the FACO facility at Cameri will be one of a kind in Europe.

With 22 buildings, more than a million square feet of covered work space, 11 final assembly workstations - including four outfitted for electronic mate and assembly - and five maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade bays, the FACO at Cameri is positioned to serve as a new hub for the Italian aerospace industry.

As a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team, Northrop Grumman performs a significant share of the work required to develop and produce the aircraft.

In addition to manufacturing the F-35 center fuselage, Northrop Grumman designed and produces the aircraft's radar and other key avionics including electro-optical and communications, navigation and identification subsystems.

Northrop Grumman also develops mission systems and mission planning software, leads the team's development of pilot and maintenance training system courseware, and manages the team's use, support and maintenance of low-observable technologies. In 2012, the company delivered 32 center fuselages and is on track to exceed 2012 delivery quantities in 2013.

US reveals details of F-15SE, F-35A bids for South Korea

 

The US Department of Defense formally notified the US Congress of potential sales of the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to South Korea on 29 March. The two aircraft are on offer to the Asian nation as part of South Korea's F-X III fighter competition. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a third contender for the 60 aircraft tender. 

For the potential F-35 sale, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) says that South Korea could order 60 conventional A-model aircraft and associated support equipment for $10.8 billion. There would also be provisions for spares including nine additional Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofans. The package would also encompass training-including simulators. 

Lockheed Martin says that it is pleased that the formal Congressional notification process is now under way, but notes that the competing bids are still being evaluated by Korea and price discussions are "on-going". 

Lockheed Martin

Boeing's F-15SE Silent Eagle offering is a somewhat more complicated bid because it is a hybrid of a direct commercial sale and government-to-government US foreign military sale (FMS). As such the DSCA notification to Congress is only for certain equipment that would have to be sold to South Korea to support the Silent Eagle sale. 

Equipment that would be sold under the auspices of the US government FMS programme include 60 Raytheon-built active electronically scanned array radar (AESA) radars, but it is not specified if those are APG-63 (V)3 or APG-82 sets. Additionally, the F-15SE sale would include 60 digital electronic warfare systems (DEWS), 60 Lockheed AN/AAQ-33 Sniper targeting pods, 60 Lockheed AN/AAS-42 infrared search and track systems and other ancillary hardware. The estimated cost of the FMS portion of the sale would be $2.41 billion according the DSCA.

"We do feel we have the lower cost, better value bid here," a Boeing official says, but the company did not say how much the direct commercial sale portion of their bid would cost. In a written statement, Boeing adds: "We are confident our Silent Eagle offering is best suited to address F-X requirements."

While he does not rule out the possibility that South Korea will opt for the Typhoon, Raymond Jaworowski, an analyst with Forecast International, says the contest will most like come down to a battle between the F-35 and the Silent Eagle. "The F-15 and the F-35 are the frontrunners," he says. "South Korea has previously bought US fighter aircraft and it seems likely that's the way they'll go for this buy."

In the Silent Eagle's favour is the fact that South Korea already has the older F-15K Slam Eagle in service. "The commonality factor will come into play," Jaworowski says. "On the other hand, the F-35 is more and more becoming the dominant fighter on the market." Other factors that play in the F-35's favour are the fact that Japan has already ordered the stealthy fifth-generation jet and growing threats in the region. 

But given the state of the South Korean tender, "I think at this point it's too early to predict between the F-35 and the F-15," Jaworowski says.

Source: Flight Global