Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak approved an order for 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in a deal valued at around $2.75 billion, according to Haaretz. The Israeli Air Force expects to take delivery of the first aircraft in 2015. The article quotes Barak saying the F-35 costs $96 million a copy. The entire deal will be funded by American military aid.
The F-35 deal had dragged for more than two years as the IAF wanted access to the plane’s hardware and software; they also wanted to install Israeli electronic warfare and configure it to carry Israeli-made missiles. The JSF program folks said no, that the deal was a “closed package.”
Although, if the Israelis place a larger order down the road, the JSF program said more Israeli-sourced components could be installed. To sweeten terms of the deal, Lockheed Martin agreed to buy more component parts for the JSF from Israeli firms; at a price of around $4 billion.
So, the IAF gets a squadron of F-35s, Israeli industry gets more orders for JSF components, and its all paid for by American taxpayers; certainly a win-win for the Israelis.
CSBA’s whip smart strategist Jim Thomas contends that as precision targeting and guided weapons proliferate, both high-end and low-end wars will unfold in far less “permissive” operating environments. Battlefield advantage has swung back in favor of the defender, he says, with the further maturation of reconnaissance-strike networks warfare may be entering the “post-power projection era.”
The weapons acquisition choice, Thomas said, is either to go cheap and disposable, with drones, long range missiles and robots that can be thrown at an enemy’s missile magazines without much regret, or ultra-costly, high-end and stealthy and try to slyly maneuver your way past an enemy’s defenses.
A good example of that debate is going on right now in Israel as it considers whether to spend $2.7 billion for the first 19 of a larger planned buy of the stealthy fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, or, to upgrade the current fleet of attack jets with better sensors and very-long range guided missiles. Not to say that Israel’s current fleet of modified F-15s and F-16s are cheap and disposable, but as Aviation Week’s David Fulgham reports, some in the Israeli brass think hanging newer and more standoff missiles on the jet’s wings is smarter than spending so much on the platform itself.
As frenetic stock-picking, carnival barker Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money, says: listen to company quarterly earnings reports, you can learn a lot. On Lockheed Martin’s 2nd quarter conference call yesterday, CEO Bob Stevens told Wall Street analysts (transcript here) the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program was at a “critical juncture” as it transitions from development into production.
The systems development and demonstration phase is about 80 percent complete, he said. Of the 19 planned test aircraft, 15 have been delivered; only 13 will actually fly, the others are for structural tests. Nine of the “flyers” have so far completed a total of 136 test flights: the F-35A has flown 56 times; the F-35B short-takeoff and landing version has flown 74 times: and the carrier variant F-35C has flown six times.
While the 74 test flights of the F-35B might look impressive, its actually behind schedule; it was supposed to have flown 95 times by now, Stevens said. “Higher than predicted” failure rates of component parts have grounded some F-35B test aircraft. Stevens described the failing parts as sub-components, not major parts such as the engine, which has been performing well.
“The components that are failing are more of the things that would appear either smaller or more ordinary like thermal cooling fans, door actuators, selected valves or switches or components of the power system.”
Yet, testers have had to pull the engines out to access those failed components and the follow-on maintenance has taken far longer than expected, Stevens said. Lockheed and its suppliers are trying to figure out whether the problems lie in botched manufacturing (Friday jobs), whether the design of the parts must be changed or whether the program needs to buy more spares. Stevens said the problem is fixable.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrives in Washington, D.C., next week. And he’s coming with a list of demands for U.S. defense officials. Topping that list: Israel wants money to build-out its multi-layered missile and rocket defense shield and it wants to get its hands on advanced technology from the Joint Strike Fighter program.
If it gets what it wants, Barak suggested Israel wouldn’t oppose the proposed U.S. sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia; although perhaps not in the numbers being discussed. In an interview with the Washington Post last week, Barak evoked Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME), suggesting that Saudi Arabia’s acquisition of dozens of brand new F-15 fighters could tilt the regional military balance.
“[W]e would appreciate it if we could be compensated and the qualitative edge will be assured as well as certain aspects of the quantity. Beyond certain point, quantity turns into quality especially when the planes themselves are extremely sophisticated one.”
Israel isn’t in a position to dictate who the U.S. sells advanced weaponry to, Barak said; although it really is. If Israel so desires, it can mobilize its powerful allies in Congress to hold up arms sales to Arab nations, especially when it’s something as big as the sale of 84 F-15s.
So what does Israel want for compensation? Barak said he wants money to erect a multi-layered rocket and missile defense shield over Israel, which has been his “vision from day one” in office. Hostile non-state actors such as Hezbollah and Hamas have turned to the poor man’s strategic bomber, the rocket, to menace Israeli cities.
Defense Tech friend and F-35 Joint Striker Fighter program watcher Bob Cox says a recent jump in the number of flight tests show that development of the combat jet may be back on track. By the end of last week, the test program had completed 146 flights this year compared to 128 planned.
If the program is able to continue flight tests at that pace, it should reach the year-end goal of 394 flights, says Cox, who has often been critical of the JSF. That would put the F-35 program about where it was supposed to be at the end of 2009. Lockheed has now flown nine of the initial 13 flight testing jets and is prepping the remaining four for flights, Cox reports.
Good news for the F-35 program which has been taking a bit of a beating lately for delays and cost overruns. Yet, as our own Colin Clark reported last week, the F-35 won’t be making the trip to next week’s massive Farnborough Air Show; nobody from the program office will be there either. Is that a big deal? It means a lot more flight testing is needed before the F-35 is ready for such a prime time venue; as they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Colin writes:
“The first time a new military aircraft appears at an air show is always a major news event and is a palpable demonstration to the world that the plane is ready to demonstrate its stuff in front of a potential audience of millions. The F-22 made its first appearance at Farnborough in 2008 and it was the talk of the show.”
President Obama has threatened to veto the defense authorization bill if congress includes money for an alternate engine to power the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. At a press roundtable this morning, Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he doesn’t believe the White House threats:
[Levin] said he “can’t imagine” President Obama would veto the defense policy bill over the F136 engine. He strongly rebutted Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ recent claim that the F136 had been competed and the winner — Pratt & Whitney — won. “By the way, there’s never been a competition on that engine,” Levin said. “Did he [Gates] say there has been competition? Then he’s wrong.”
In totally expected news, Levin said the Senate will confirm Gen David Petraeus as Afghan commander (Petraeus will appear in front of the SASC tomorrow).
A couple of weeks back, Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, head of naval aviation programs, told reporters that the F-35C carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter would make its first flight in a “couple of weeks.” Yesterday, CF-1 flew for the first time and Lockheed Martin posted some video for our viewing pleasure. “It should be in [Patuxent River] by the end of the summer and actively participating in flight tests” Manazir said.
F-35B engine maker Pratt & Whitney put this video up yesterday of the new jet making a short landing. You can see the downward-swiveling tailpipe and the big open panel behind the cockpit that allows air into the central lift fan.
This Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) version of the JSF is the one the Marines are hoping they’ll get soon to replace their Harrier jumpjets. Yesterday, Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Conway told lawmakers on the Hill that continued delays in the F-35 program are having a “serious” impact on Marine readiness since the Corps hasn’t bought any new attack jets in years in anticipation of the F-35B coming on line.
Our good friend Bob Cox who writes on the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Sky Talk blog recognized the irony yesterday in the brutal flogging of the JSF program by SecDef Gates and yet another JSF test plane taking to the sky at virtually the same moment.
One day after being publicly chastised, if you will, by the secretary of defense for its lack of performance on the F-35 joint strike fighter, Lockheed Martin got its fifth F-35 test airplane in the air Tuesday for the first time.
First flight of the F-35B model (BF-3) short-takeoff and vertical landing jet had been held up for several days by the recent spate of cold, overcast weather.
I betcha MGEN Heinz wishes he could blame his troubles on the weather.
Read the rest of Bob’s post here. And all you JSF addicts, be sure to keep tabs on his blog…he’s like the Rainman of all things JSF.
I realize this video is making the rounds, but there’s some context to it worth discussing.
The F-35B STOVL test plane down at Pax has been busy since the new year, spooling up its lift fan and thrusting its nozzle in near-hover tests that engage the one of the most complex propulsion systems since the Yak-38.
We wish Lockheed Martin the best of luck in its tests, but as they go on, Defense Tech and it’s sister sites are starting to wonder if all this effort will be worth it. In a brilliant stroke, the Marine Corps maneuvered to get the B-version of the Lightning tested before the C model. In their quest for an “all STOVL force,” the Corps insists it needs the jump jet F-35. We understand the rational in the abstract, but practically, it makes no sense and sucks resources away from other efforts that could pay off much bigger.
And, ironically, the Navy was smart to shoe horn in their Super Hornet as a hedge against delays in the JSF program back in 1999. And now, as our boys over at DoD Buzz report, the Navy is getting soft on the carrier Lightning as the technical delays mount and the costs soar.
“I’m growing more and more convinced that the Navy variant of the F-35 might not be worth buying. The program is sliding further and further to the right, as costs increase. When we have an 80 percent solution in active production, and significantly cheaper, the F-35C looks like a great candidate for cancellation,” said one congressional aide. “Gates has talked about choosing 75 percent solutions over expensive ‘exquisite’ systems and this is a perfect candidate.”
As big a fan as we are of the MV-22, the analogy of an expensive, technically complex experiment being used for run-of-the mill operations has merit and can be transferred to the JSF as well. Why not replace Harriers with Super Hornets? Really, the Corps rarely operates its jets in true STOVL mode except for flights off an amphib. But that lack of jet capability can be worked around for ARGs (or whatever they’re called now).
Anyway, as the F-35B program progresses and the money people start to take notice of its complexity and cost, there’s going to be a fierce debate over whether giving the Corps its hovering toy is worth it. The Navy might have to abandon its F-35C ambitions (to the extent that they actually wantedthat version of the Lightning) and go straight to the UCAS…?
PS– Defense Tech and Military.com are closely following the terrible events surrounding the 7.0 Mag earth quake in Haiti. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of that impoverished neighbor. If you would like to help, officials are recommending contacting the Red Cross for donations.
