Platforms & Systems - Page 10

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program has drawn thousands of reader remarks on Aviation Week since the aircraft reached initial service. The most pointed thread this week grew out of a comment by retired Marine officer Don Bacon. He noted that “150 to 160

The F-35 promised reach without rival, yet its heart - Pratt & Whitney’s F135 - burns fuel like an older design. Thrust-specific fuel consumption (TSFC) shows why. The F100-PW-229 that powers late-model F-15s and F-16s clocks 0.726 lb/hr/lb. The F135 sits at

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is America’s most expensive weapons project. After fifteen years in development, the jet is still not ready for the fight the services expect. A confidential memorandum dated Aug 9 from Dr. Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s Director of Operational

The Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation has sent fresh shockwaves through the F-35 community. His memo to senior leaders says the Joint Strike Fighter remains far from its promised combat edge even though the U.S. Air Force just marked the

Early F-135 advocates promised a smooth learning curve. They said each production lot would cost less than the one before. Fresh data show the opposite. Unit prices still hover near $30 million, even though annual output has more than doubled since 2011. 

Foreign air forces that bought the F-35A woke up this week to a blunt statement from Major Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the U.S. Air Force officer who runs the program. He told Reuters on April 7 that engineers had started scoping a new

The latest annual report from the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) states that the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) claimed improved reliability by adjusting the way it records equipment failures rather than by delivering technical corrections.

Pilots walk to their jets before sunrise, climb the ladder, key the INS, and watch the route and target files flow in by Link 16. A typical launch leaves the chocks with the following kit: