JSF and A400M at risk?
SSSETOWTF -
Good rant but misses the main point: Flight testing has set an all-time slow record, and an unprecedented surge is essential to even hit the revised schedule.
LM and the JSFPO have been talking for years about how modelling and simulation and labs have reduced the risk and uncertainty in flight test, but that argument is rather undercut when in actual fact they can't successfully predict their own schedules three months ahead.
Mach 1.05. On one sortie. With an airplane with different vertical and horizontal stabilizers and flaperons.
And the last time I looked, Dr Gates didn't report to Bill Sweetman, so presumably he had his own reasons for booting the program director.
Good rant but misses the main point: Flight testing has set an all-time slow record, and an unprecedented surge is essential to even hit the revised schedule.
LM and the JSFPO have been talking for years about how modelling and simulation and labs have reduced the risk and uncertainty in flight test, but that argument is rather undercut when in actual fact they can't successfully predict their own schedules three months ahead.
Mach 1.05. On one sortie. With an airplane with different vertical and horizontal stabilizers and flaperons.
And the last time I looked, Dr Gates didn't report to Bill Sweetman, so presumably he had his own reasons for booting the program director.
Last edited by LowObservable; 4th Mar 2010 at 14:19.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Spain in bid to move Airbus jobs from UK -sources
PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - Spain and Britain are heading for a clash over the location of hundreds of aviation jobs as European governments complete a bailout for the delayed Airbus A400M military plane, people familiar with the matter said.
Spain is putting increasing pressure on the UK to surrender high-skilled production jobs if it fails to contribute its full share of a 3.5-billion-euro ($4.8 billion) aid package assembled by seven nations to rescue Europe's largest defence project. In a written proposal, Spain has suggested relocating jobs, tools and machinery from Filton, near Bristol, to Spain if the UK weakens its commitment to the troop plane, the sources said.
Technical problems have pushed the heavy airlifter billions of euros over budget and delayed delivery by about four years.
The proposal was put forward as Britain wavered in recent weeks over its share of a top-up package of loans to Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA), to be provided alongside international aid of 2 billion euros to combat cost overruns, the sources said. Britain is expected to take part in a bailout which buyer nations agreed in principle last week, but it has yet to agree on what form the extra financial boost should take.
"The (Spanish) suggestion is as a result of the British not wanting to join in the same type of solution that other buyers have selected," a person familiar with the matter said. The sources, who asked not to be identified, said Spain had aired options including shifting work on the plane's advanced composite wings to Spain if Britain blocked part of the deal.
Under the most sensitive option, Madrid would agree to pay for the cost of transferring the massive jigs, or cradles used to hold the wings in place during production, out of Britain.........
PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - Spain and Britain are heading for a clash over the location of hundreds of aviation jobs as European governments complete a bailout for the delayed Airbus A400M military plane, people familiar with the matter said.
Spain is putting increasing pressure on the UK to surrender high-skilled production jobs if it fails to contribute its full share of a 3.5-billion-euro ($4.8 billion) aid package assembled by seven nations to rescue Europe's largest defence project. In a written proposal, Spain has suggested relocating jobs, tools and machinery from Filton, near Bristol, to Spain if the UK weakens its commitment to the troop plane, the sources said.
Technical problems have pushed the heavy airlifter billions of euros over budget and delayed delivery by about four years.
The proposal was put forward as Britain wavered in recent weeks over its share of a top-up package of loans to Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA), to be provided alongside international aid of 2 billion euros to combat cost overruns, the sources said. Britain is expected to take part in a bailout which buyer nations agreed in principle last week, but it has yet to agree on what form the extra financial boost should take.
"The (Spanish) suggestion is as a result of the British not wanting to join in the same type of solution that other buyers have selected," a person familiar with the matter said. The sources, who asked not to be identified, said Spain had aired options including shifting work on the plane's advanced composite wings to Spain if Britain blocked part of the deal.
Under the most sensitive option, Madrid would agree to pay for the cost of transferring the massive jigs, or cradles used to hold the wings in place during production, out of Britain.........
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
AWST (Ares): JSF Full Rate Production Slips Again 
Pentagon acquisition boss Ashton Carter has just amended his acquisition decision memorandum (ADM) delaying the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, slipping the start of full-rate production by another six months. Milestone C approval to exit low rate initial production and start full-rate, multi-year buys is now planned for April 2016, if (unlike every comparable program in the last 30 years) nothing else goes wrong.
The change reflects the fact that it's not enough to finish initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) before declaring Milestone C. There has to be an IOT&E report that details the fixes for any problems that turn up in testing.
It is not certain whether this change will mean yet another batch of LRIP aircraft. However, even before that, the latest restructuring has put the JSF program above the normal limit for LRIP - ten per cent of the total US production run. If the aircraft put on contract in 2016 are added to LRIP, well over 600 aircraft will be on order - making "low rate" something of a misnomer. Whether Congress will tolerate concurrency on that scale remains to be seen.
Pentagon acquisition boss Ashton Carter has just amended his acquisition decision memorandum (ADM) delaying the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, slipping the start of full-rate production by another six months. Milestone C approval to exit low rate initial production and start full-rate, multi-year buys is now planned for April 2016, if (unlike every comparable program in the last 30 years) nothing else goes wrong.
The change reflects the fact that it's not enough to finish initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) before declaring Milestone C. There has to be an IOT&E report that details the fixes for any problems that turn up in testing.
It is not certain whether this change will mean yet another batch of LRIP aircraft. However, even before that, the latest restructuring has put the JSF program above the normal limit for LRIP - ten per cent of the total US production run. If the aircraft put on contract in 2016 are added to LRIP, well over 600 aircraft will be on order - making "low rate" something of a misnomer. Whether Congress will tolerate concurrency on that scale remains to be seen.
From my experiance of the A400M project a lot of its problems stem from the enforced lack of iBritish involvement. In the early days the UK involement was greater than it is now and it was between the UK, German and the French that most productive work was done, the other nations were just other faces around the table.
This stopped when a new broom arrived at the MOD and insisted that the UK involvement was reduced to the 12% of the project we deserved because we were only buying 25 (I still fail to understand why Germany, other than getting more workshare that is, needs 60 of the things, as they don't go anywhere).
The real villans in all this though are EASA who will not certify a piece of equipment with capability above the civil requirement (ie military)
and Airbus management who would insist on continually taking engineering staff off the A400M and putting them on the A380F and A350 projects.
This stopped when a new broom arrived at the MOD and insisted that the UK involvement was reduced to the 12% of the project we deserved because we were only buying 25 (I still fail to understand why Germany, other than getting more workshare that is, needs 60 of the things, as they don't go anywhere).
The real villans in all this though are EASA who will not certify a piece of equipment with capability above the civil requirement (ie military)
and Airbus management who would insist on continually taking engineering staff off the A400M and putting them on the A380F and A350 projects.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Toulouse area, France
Age: 93
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Airbus staffing
For VX25
Surely it's possible that Airbus put "A400M" people on other projects while Europrop tried to sort out the problems with their enigine's software, rather than "let them go" ?
For ORAC
Sounds as if Britgov would like their bit to be financed "off balance sheet" - PPI system again anyone? (That is, if the Spanish report is what's going on).
Meanwhile the many sub-contractors in the south-west of France are reportd to be breathing again as a "definitive" agreement draws near, especially Ratier at Figeac in the Lot. They all stand to lose a lot if the whole project collapses, and not all of them are big enough to absorb such a blow, with a big increase in local unemployment. The Regional Authority is reported to be keeping a close watch on developments - not surprisingly, with Local Elections due on 12 and 19th March, with the Left well ahead in the polls
While the optimistic winds are blowing, local paper reports that MSN2 is due to start low-speed taxiing trials shortly, while MSN1 is expected to resume flight tests "next week", landing in Toulouse to start "Phase 2".
Surely it's possible that Airbus put "A400M" people on other projects while Europrop tried to sort out the problems with their enigine's software, rather than "let them go" ?
For ORAC
Sounds as if Britgov would like their bit to be financed "off balance sheet" - PPI system again anyone? (That is, if the Spanish report is what's going on).
Meanwhile the many sub-contractors in the south-west of France are reportd to be breathing again as a "definitive" agreement draws near, especially Ratier at Figeac in the Lot. They all stand to lose a lot if the whole project collapses, and not all of them are big enough to absorb such a blow, with a big increase in local unemployment. The Regional Authority is reported to be keeping a close watch on developments - not surprisingly, with Local Elections due on 12 and 19th March, with the Left well ahead in the polls
While the optimistic winds are blowing, local paper reports that MSN2 is due to start low-speed taxiing trials shortly, while MSN1 is expected to resume flight tests "next week", landing in Toulouse to start "Phase 2".
Last edited by Jig Peter; 5th Mar 2010 at 14:06. Reason: add election comment, correct undetected typos
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Toulouse area, France
Age: 93
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
All set to go?
Among the many reports about the latest EADS/Partner governments agreement is this from the Seattle Times dated Friday 5th March:
>> EADS and the German Defense Ministry said the two sides had reached basic agreement, with the idea of amending the original contract in the coming weeks << (my bold).
While this sounds like good news at last, I just hope that "Captain Tom" (aka Mr. Enders) will agree to Phase 2 of flight testing starting right away, rather than waiting for all the t-crossing and i-dotting to be finalised ("ASAP" leaves too much leeway as an expression of urgency, I feel). Otherwise even more weeks will be lost, which is something the programme can very much not afford ...
>> EADS and the German Defense Ministry said the two sides had reached basic agreement, with the idea of amending the original contract in the coming weeks << (my bold).
While this sounds like good news at last, I just hope that "Captain Tom" (aka Mr. Enders) will agree to Phase 2 of flight testing starting right away, rather than waiting for all the t-crossing and i-dotting to be finalised ("ASAP" leaves too much leeway as an expression of urgency, I feel). Otherwise even more weeks will be lost, which is something the programme can very much not afford ...
Last edited by Jig Peter; 7th Mar 2010 at 14:46. Reason: typo (again !)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Toulouse area, France
Age: 93
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For Algy
Glad to hear that MSN1's flying again ... With the continuous light to moderate snow covering the area between Tououse and the Pyrenees today, it'll be a big surprise if it lands anywhere but where you are !!!
Best wishes for the rest of the flight test programme ...
Best wishes for the rest of the flight test programme ...
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
A400M Cost Overrun Set at 10%
PARIS - An agreement by customer nations to provide 3.5 billion euros ($4.8 billion) of financial support for the A400M represents a 10 percent cost overrun on the airlifter program, with Britain expected to cancel two or three aircraft, French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said March 8.
The prospective cut in orders by London is smaller than expected, with previous estimates going to six fewer units than the original 25 planes purchased, because of the cost overrun. As part of the overall pact, Britain is expected to cancel "two or three aircraft," Morin told a press conference on the A400M agreement reached March 5. Those prospective cancellations came under the agreement which limits the maximum cancellations to 10, he said.
No other country has signaled an intention to cancel, he said.
A 10 percent overrun was "extremely reasonable," given that many arms programs run over budget, Morin said, citing the Eurofighter Typhoon and Joint Strike Fighter programs.
That 10 percent figure comprises the funding that each of the seven clients will contribute on a pro rata basis based on the number of aircraft ordered, he said. For France, the extra cost will be 550 million euros, based on the 5.5 billion euros budgeted for acquisition, he said. The overall base figure for France rises to 7 billion euros when the development costs are included, he said.
Under the agreement reached March 8, the countries will accept a 2 billion euro increase over the contract price and contribute 1.5 billion euros in export levy facilities. The 10 percent overrun funded by the customers compares with EADS' own estimate of around 25 percent excess on the program budget.
EADS had asked the customers to pay 24.39 billion euros, that is 5.2 billion extra on the original contract price of 19.19 billion agreed in 2003, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCooper prepared for the contract agency OCCAR. EADS is due to report a 2009 net and operating loss when it publishes results March 9.
Under the agreement reached, the customers waived 1.2 billion euros of penalties for delays and will speed up pre-delivery payments between 2010 and 2014 to ensure a "minimum treasury" for EADS. The exact amount of those payments remained to be negotiated, along with a clause covering cost inflation on materials for industry, said the procurement chief, Laurent Collet-Billon of the Direction Générale pour l'Armement (DGA).
France would contribute 400 million euros of the total 1.5 billion of export levy facilities, Morin said. The countries would be repaid from future export sales, which Morin estimated at 300 units over the next 20 years. The export levy facilities fall outside the contract terms.
EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois said last June before the Paris Airshow the company was making the A400M at a loss and would only make money on export orders.
The overall agreement also provides for a staged delivery of capabilities, with an initial operating capability of the basic transport mission, followed by air drop, aerial refuelling and finally low-level flight and automatic terrain following, with a year needed for each new capability.
France will get its first aircraft delivered in 2013, seven units by 2014, 35 in 2020 and the last in 2024. As a stop-gap measure, France will buy eight Casa CN235 light transport aircraft and extend the life of Transall planes to 2018. The cost of buying a mix of C-130Js and C-17s as interim solutions would have been 15 percent more costly than buying the A400M aircraft at the higher price, Morin said.
Belgium, Britain, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey ordered 180 of the A400M in 2003 under a fixed-price commercial contract with Airbus covering development and production.
PARIS - An agreement by customer nations to provide 3.5 billion euros ($4.8 billion) of financial support for the A400M represents a 10 percent cost overrun on the airlifter program, with Britain expected to cancel two or three aircraft, French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said March 8.
The prospective cut in orders by London is smaller than expected, with previous estimates going to six fewer units than the original 25 planes purchased, because of the cost overrun. As part of the overall pact, Britain is expected to cancel "two or three aircraft," Morin told a press conference on the A400M agreement reached March 5. Those prospective cancellations came under the agreement which limits the maximum cancellations to 10, he said.
No other country has signaled an intention to cancel, he said.
A 10 percent overrun was "extremely reasonable," given that many arms programs run over budget, Morin said, citing the Eurofighter Typhoon and Joint Strike Fighter programs.
That 10 percent figure comprises the funding that each of the seven clients will contribute on a pro rata basis based on the number of aircraft ordered, he said. For France, the extra cost will be 550 million euros, based on the 5.5 billion euros budgeted for acquisition, he said. The overall base figure for France rises to 7 billion euros when the development costs are included, he said.
Under the agreement reached March 8, the countries will accept a 2 billion euro increase over the contract price and contribute 1.5 billion euros in export levy facilities. The 10 percent overrun funded by the customers compares with EADS' own estimate of around 25 percent excess on the program budget.
EADS had asked the customers to pay 24.39 billion euros, that is 5.2 billion extra on the original contract price of 19.19 billion agreed in 2003, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCooper prepared for the contract agency OCCAR. EADS is due to report a 2009 net and operating loss when it publishes results March 9.
Under the agreement reached, the customers waived 1.2 billion euros of penalties for delays and will speed up pre-delivery payments between 2010 and 2014 to ensure a "minimum treasury" for EADS. The exact amount of those payments remained to be negotiated, along with a clause covering cost inflation on materials for industry, said the procurement chief, Laurent Collet-Billon of the Direction Générale pour l'Armement (DGA).
France would contribute 400 million euros of the total 1.5 billion of export levy facilities, Morin said. The countries would be repaid from future export sales, which Morin estimated at 300 units over the next 20 years. The export levy facilities fall outside the contract terms.
EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois said last June before the Paris Airshow the company was making the A400M at a loss and would only make money on export orders.
The overall agreement also provides for a staged delivery of capabilities, with an initial operating capability of the basic transport mission, followed by air drop, aerial refuelling and finally low-level flight and automatic terrain following, with a year needed for each new capability.
France will get its first aircraft delivered in 2013, seven units by 2014, 35 in 2020 and the last in 2024. As a stop-gap measure, France will buy eight Casa CN235 light transport aircraft and extend the life of Transall planes to 2018. The cost of buying a mix of C-130Js and C-17s as interim solutions would have been 15 percent more costly than buying the A400M aircraft at the higher price, Morin said.
Belgium, Britain, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey ordered 180 of the A400M in 2003 under a fixed-price commercial contract with Airbus covering development and production.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Toulouse area, France
Age: 93
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A400M to Toulouse 9th March
On a clear, sunny and snow-covered day, the A400M is scheduled to arrive at Toulouse at 1530 local time today 09.03, after a fly-past over the area. TV and video coverage, presumably to follow as Airbus releases it.
News from Airbus Military
9 March 2010
First A400M ferried from Seville to Toulouse
The first A400M is flying today from Seville to Toulouse following a test flight performed in the Seville area. This flight is the tenth performed by A400M MSN1 since its first flight on 11th December 2009. In total and until yesterday the aircraft has logged 39 hours of flight test. Very poor weather in Seville prevented the aircraft from performing more flights, as the sensors installed on the turboprop blades for the initial flight test campaigns, are sensitive to humidity.
During the initial testing, MSN1 has flown at the type’s maximum operating speed of 300kt (555km/hr), maximum Mach number of M0.72, down to the stall warning, and at an altitude of more than 30,000ft. It has operated extensively in both direct and normal control laws, and in different configurations.
The first A400M is equipped with heavy test instrumentation, as is the second aircraft which was handed over to Flight Test on 6th March and is due to fly in the next few weeks. MSN 3 is undergoing final production ground tests before engine installation. The aircraft is due to fly by the middle of this year. Sections for MSN 4 have arrived in Seville for final assembly, with the main fuselage due to leave Bremen and be flown to Seville at the end of this week. MSN 4 is to fly in the second half of this year.
While MSN 1 and 2 are fitted with heavy test instrumentation, MSN 3 and 4 will have medium test instrumentation. The fifth aircraft, MSN6, which is the first built to production standards, is going to be fitted with light test instrumentation only. The five aircraft will perform a planned 3,700 flight-hours before first delivery of the A400M in late 2012. Trials with MSN1, 3 and 6 will be performed in Toulouse, while those with MSN 2 and 4 will be done in Seville, providing greater flexibility and taking advantage of best weather conditions where available.
About the A400M
The A400M is an all-new military airlifter designed to meet the needs of the world’s Armed Forces in the 21st Century. Thanks to its most advanced technologies, it is able to fly higher, faster and further, while retaining high maneuverability, low speed, and short, soft and rough airfield capabilities. It combines both tactical and strategic/logistic missions. With its cargo hold specifically designed to carry the outsize equipment needed today for both military and humanitarian disaster relief missions, it can bring this material quickly and directly to where it is most needed. Conceived to be highly reliable, dependable, and with a great survivability, the multipurpose A400M can do more with less, implying smaller fleets and less investment from the operator. The A400M is the most cost efficient and versatile airlifter ever conceived and absolutely unique in its capabilities.
***
The first A400M is flying today from Seville to Toulouse following a test flight performed in the Seville area. This flight is the tenth performed by A400M MSN1 since its first flight on 11th December 2009. In total and until yesterday the aircraft has logged 39 hours of flight test. Very poor weather in Seville prevented the aircraft from performing more flights, as the sensors installed on the turboprop blades for the initial flight test campaigns, are sensitive to humidity.
During the initial testing, MSN1 has flown at the type’s maximum operating speed of 300kt (555km/hr), maximum Mach number of M0.72, down to the stall warning, and at an altitude of more than 30,000ft. It has operated extensively in both direct and normal control laws, and in different configurations.
The first A400M is equipped with heavy test instrumentation, as is the second aircraft which was handed over to Flight Test on 6th March and is due to fly in the next few weeks. MSN 3 is undergoing final production ground tests before engine installation. The aircraft is due to fly by the middle of this year. Sections for MSN 4 have arrived in Seville for final assembly, with the main fuselage due to leave Bremen and be flown to Seville at the end of this week. MSN 4 is to fly in the second half of this year.
While MSN 1 and 2 are fitted with heavy test instrumentation, MSN 3 and 4 will have medium test instrumentation. The fifth aircraft, MSN6, which is the first built to production standards, is going to be fitted with light test instrumentation only. The five aircraft will perform a planned 3,700 flight-hours before first delivery of the A400M in late 2012. Trials with MSN1, 3 and 6 will be performed in Toulouse, while those with MSN 2 and 4 will be done in Seville, providing greater flexibility and taking advantage of best weather conditions where available.
About the A400M
The A400M is an all-new military airlifter designed to meet the needs of the world’s Armed Forces in the 21st Century. Thanks to its most advanced technologies, it is able to fly higher, faster and further, while retaining high maneuverability, low speed, and short, soft and rough airfield capabilities. It combines both tactical and strategic/logistic missions. With its cargo hold specifically designed to carry the outsize equipment needed today for both military and humanitarian disaster relief missions, it can bring this material quickly and directly to where it is most needed. Conceived to be highly reliable, dependable, and with a great survivability, the multipurpose A400M can do more with less, implying smaller fleets and less investment from the operator. The A400M is the most cost efficient and versatile airlifter ever conceived and absolutely unique in its capabilities.
***
A400M MSN001 in Toulouse
MSN001 landed in Toulouse yesterday at about 1600 French time - I couldn,t be more precise as I was too busy watching. For you sceptics - the aircraft looks great and really does mean business. I am only sorry that I will not get a chance to fly it (anno domini preclude) but it will be a great day when it does arrive at Brize.
Because they haven't yet held the round of multinational meetings to decide who pays for the paint to cover it up. Then there will be all the meetings to decide who does the work. 
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
About That Austere-Base Thing...
In operations around Marjah in Afghanistan, the Marines have been using AV-8B Harriers as they were designed to be used, flying the jets from runways that are too short or ill-prepared to accommodate a conventional fighter. Kimberly Johnson is reporting on this for DTI's April issue.
The Marines say that the the AV-8B's replacement, the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, will be able to do the same: “The flexibility that the STOVL variant of the F-35 will add to the contemporary Marine Air Ground Task Force is amazing,” Marine commandant Gen James Conway said when the first F-35B was rolled out, more than two years ago. “This generational leap in technology will enable us to operate a fleet of fighter/attack aircraft from the decks of ships, existing runways or from unimproved surfaces at austere bases."
But a Navy report issued in January says that the F-35B, in fact, won't be able to use such forward bases. Indeed, unless it ditches its short take-off, vertical landing capability and touches down like a conventional fighter, it won't be able to use land bases at all without some major construction efforts.
The newly released document, hosted on a government building-design resource site, outlines what base-construction engineers need to do to ensure that the F-35B's exhaust does not turn the surface it lands on into an area-denial weapon. And it's not trivial. Vertical-landing "pads will be exposed to 1700 deg. F and high velocity (Mach 1) exhaust," the report says. The exhaust will melt asphalt and "is likely to spall the surface of standard airfield concrete pavements on the first VL." (The report leaves to the imagination what jagged chunks of spalled concrete will do in a supersonic blast field.)
Not only does the VL pad have to be made of heat-resistant concrete, but currently known sealants can't stand the heat either, so the pad has to be one continuous piece of concrete, with continuous reinforcement in all directions so that cracks and joints remain closed. The reinforced pad has to be 100 feet by 100 feet, with a 50-foot paved area around it.
By the way, any area where an F-35B may be stopped with the engine running - runway ends, hold-shorts on taxiways, and ramps - also has to be made of heat-resistant concrete to tolerate the exhaust from the Integrated Power Pack (IPP), which is acting as a small gas turbine whenever the aircraft is stopped.
This follows the revelation that the US Navy is worried about the exhaust damaging ship decks.
Lockheed Martin pooh-poohs the report, saying that it was based on "worst-case" data and that "extensive tests" conducted with prototype BF-3 in January (after the report was completed) showed that "the difference between F-35B main-engine exhaust temperature and that of the AV-8B is very small, and is not anticipated to require any significant CONOPS changes for F-35B."
What do "very small" and "significant" mean? In VL mode the main engine on the F-35B is producing some 15,700 pounds of thrust, while a Harrier's aft nozzles deliver about 12,000 pounds of thrust. (The fore-aft split is roughly equal.)
But the F135's overall pressure ratio is almost twice as high, which would point to a much higher jet velocity (which LockMart doesn't mention), the JSF nozzle is much closer to the ground, and the Harrier has two nozzles, several feet apart.
So maybe the F-35B is not shaping up to be the best anti-runway weapon since the RAF retired the JP233. However, it may still not be what the Marines got when they first acquired the Harrier in the early 1970s.
Having clung tenaciously to the WW2-era AU-1 Corsair until the late 1950s, because unlike early jets it could use minimally improved fields, the Marines had finally entered the jet age with the help of the Short Airfield for Tactical Support (SATS), an astonishing set of equipment that included a portable water-brake arrester system and (I am not making this up) a catapult powered by J79 jet engines.
The original Harrier allowed them to get rid of this kit. While the first justification for land-based STOVL - that it provided a dispersal alternative when air attacks shut down major bases - has a Cold War feel to it, the idea of using STOVL as a more expeditionary force has remained somewhat valid, and has been used by both the UK and the Marines: the RAF's Harriers were able to operate from Kandahar when other aircraft could not.
Again, the question is how well the F-35B will be able to do that, and what "significant " means. Worst case or not, there is a very big difference between a solid slab of high-grade concrete and the kind of surface you are apt to find anywhere ending in -stan.
In operations around Marjah in Afghanistan, the Marines have been using AV-8B Harriers as they were designed to be used, flying the jets from runways that are too short or ill-prepared to accommodate a conventional fighter. Kimberly Johnson is reporting on this for DTI's April issue.
The Marines say that the the AV-8B's replacement, the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, will be able to do the same: “The flexibility that the STOVL variant of the F-35 will add to the contemporary Marine Air Ground Task Force is amazing,” Marine commandant Gen James Conway said when the first F-35B was rolled out, more than two years ago. “This generational leap in technology will enable us to operate a fleet of fighter/attack aircraft from the decks of ships, existing runways or from unimproved surfaces at austere bases."
But a Navy report issued in January says that the F-35B, in fact, won't be able to use such forward bases. Indeed, unless it ditches its short take-off, vertical landing capability and touches down like a conventional fighter, it won't be able to use land bases at all without some major construction efforts.
The newly released document, hosted on a government building-design resource site, outlines what base-construction engineers need to do to ensure that the F-35B's exhaust does not turn the surface it lands on into an area-denial weapon. And it's not trivial. Vertical-landing "pads will be exposed to 1700 deg. F and high velocity (Mach 1) exhaust," the report says. The exhaust will melt asphalt and "is likely to spall the surface of standard airfield concrete pavements on the first VL." (The report leaves to the imagination what jagged chunks of spalled concrete will do in a supersonic blast field.)
Not only does the VL pad have to be made of heat-resistant concrete, but currently known sealants can't stand the heat either, so the pad has to be one continuous piece of concrete, with continuous reinforcement in all directions so that cracks and joints remain closed. The reinforced pad has to be 100 feet by 100 feet, with a 50-foot paved area around it.
By the way, any area where an F-35B may be stopped with the engine running - runway ends, hold-shorts on taxiways, and ramps - also has to be made of heat-resistant concrete to tolerate the exhaust from the Integrated Power Pack (IPP), which is acting as a small gas turbine whenever the aircraft is stopped.
This follows the revelation that the US Navy is worried about the exhaust damaging ship decks.
Lockheed Martin pooh-poohs the report, saying that it was based on "worst-case" data and that "extensive tests" conducted with prototype BF-3 in January (after the report was completed) showed that "the difference between F-35B main-engine exhaust temperature and that of the AV-8B is very small, and is not anticipated to require any significant CONOPS changes for F-35B."
What do "very small" and "significant" mean? In VL mode the main engine on the F-35B is producing some 15,700 pounds of thrust, while a Harrier's aft nozzles deliver about 12,000 pounds of thrust. (The fore-aft split is roughly equal.)
But the F135's overall pressure ratio is almost twice as high, which would point to a much higher jet velocity (which LockMart doesn't mention), the JSF nozzle is much closer to the ground, and the Harrier has two nozzles, several feet apart.
So maybe the F-35B is not shaping up to be the best anti-runway weapon since the RAF retired the JP233. However, it may still not be what the Marines got when they first acquired the Harrier in the early 1970s.
Having clung tenaciously to the WW2-era AU-1 Corsair until the late 1950s, because unlike early jets it could use minimally improved fields, the Marines had finally entered the jet age with the help of the Short Airfield for Tactical Support (SATS), an astonishing set of equipment that included a portable water-brake arrester system and (I am not making this up) a catapult powered by J79 jet engines.
The original Harrier allowed them to get rid of this kit. While the first justification for land-based STOVL - that it provided a dispersal alternative when air attacks shut down major bases - has a Cold War feel to it, the idea of using STOVL as a more expeditionary force has remained somewhat valid, and has been used by both the UK and the Marines: the RAF's Harriers were able to operate from Kandahar when other aircraft could not.
Again, the question is how well the F-35B will be able to do that, and what "significant " means. Worst case or not, there is a very big difference between a solid slab of high-grade concrete and the kind of surface you are apt to find anywhere ending in -stan.
About That Austere-Base Thing...
Do a Hover - it avoids G
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Chichester West Sussex UK
Age: 91
Posts: 2,206
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I offer for the consideration of those who choose to think two simple facts:
The Harrier has rubber tyres
The JSF B version has rubber tyres.
The Harrier has rubber tyres
The JSF B version has rubber tyres.
And for further edification:
Remove right shoe.
Take running start, kick tyre.
Take second running start, kick equal-sized piece of concrete.
While hopping around on one leg and screaming, contemplate elasticity and brittleness.
Remove right shoe.
Take running start, kick tyre.
Take second running start, kick equal-sized piece of concrete.
While hopping around on one leg and screaming, contemplate elasticity and brittleness.