Originally Posted by NutLoose (Post 10011078)

Which as one of the main players in the development costs etc, it makes you wonder why ours are so far off when the likes of Israel have theirs operational and in squadron use.

Originally Posted by NutLoose (Post 10011078)

Which as one of the main players in the development costs etc, it makes you wonder why ours are so far off when the likes of Israel have theirs operational and in squadron use.

Originally Posted by The National Interest 29 Oct 2017

...Israel first applied to buy the F-35 in September 2008, when it requested to purchase twenty-five jets with an option for another fifty. The F-35s would fill a void created by retiring early-model F-16s. According to Defense Industry Daily, the Israelis were quoted a sticker-shock-inducing $200 million per jet. While this number came down considerably within a year to a more concerning $100 million plus, it was clear the F-35 would be a very expensive purchase for the tiny Middle Eastern country. By October 2014, Israel agreed to double its F-35 fleet to fifty aircraft.

Unlike many of the Lockheed Martin’s F-35 customers, Israel pushed for and received permission to integrate a number of local technologies into their aircraft, which was locally named the F-35I, or Adir (“Mighty”). Israel made the case that it lived in a state of near-constant conflict and this required the country’s F-35 fleet to not only stand apart logistically but technologically.

One key technology is the integration of an Israeli-developed command, control, communications, computer and intelligence (C4I) system into the Adir. The stand-alone system draws sensor data from the aircraft but otherwise does not interact with the F-35’s computer system. From there, the C4I system pushes out the data to other Israeli military assets, particularly nearby fighters, via locally made data links to help detect, prioritize and attack enemy targets...

The F-35I will also carry Israeli-designed missiles. The jet will carry defense contractor Rafael’s SPICE 1000 precision-guided bomb instead of the GPS-guided JDAM bomb. SPICE (“Smart Precise Impact Cost Effective”) 1000 is an add-on package that bolts both satellite and an electro-optical guidance systems on an unguided Mk. 83 thousand-pound bomb. This allows SPICE 1000 to not only attack targets based on GPS coordinates, but to also insert a “man in the loop” who can manually place the bomb on target—or abort the strike if necessary. SPICE 1000 can glide up to sixty-two miles to target and is so accurate it can place half of all bombs within nine feet of their target.

The F-35 will also carry the Python-5 infrared air-to-air missile instead of the American AIM-9X Sidewinder. The missile’s ability to lock on after launch means the missile can be launched from the F-35’s internal weapons bay and lock onto enemy aircraft under its own power. Another IAF requirement was also to add a pair of 425-gallon fuel tanks to the Adir that extend the plane’s total fuel—and range—by approximately 36 percent. While the addition of an external fuel tank would compromise the F-35’s stealth, a source told Aviation Week & Space Technology the fuel tank could be used during early phases of an air operation where stealth was not necessary, and jettisoned after use.

The first F-35Is arrived in Israel in late 2016, with three more jets arriving in April 2017. According to Israeli Air Force officials quoted by the Times of Israel, the remaining forty-five planes will trickle out out every few months, and the first jets should become fully operational by October 2018. Israel plans to have two squadrons stood up and fully operational by 2021 or 2022. Given that the F-35I will replace literally hundreds of early model F-15s and F-16s, a second and even third order of planes seems likely, particularly when the price comes down to the projected goal of $85 million each for the -A model.

The F-35A might not be the only variant Israel purchases. In 2015, it was revealed the country was considering adding the F-35B, the vertical-takeoff-and-landing version of the jet, to the Israeli Air Force’s inventory...

The Israeli F-35, the Adir, already stands out from the rest of the international F-35 fleet. Real-world challenges could make it stand out in other ways: given Israel’s security situation the F-35I, like the F-15A forty years earlier, could very well be the first of its kind to enter combat.

Originally Posted by George K Lee (Post 10011146)

When there are aircraft for the UK carriers, we will. The Marine aircraft in the story are part of a small batch of Block 2B aircraft with the now-superseded TR1 processor, a configuration which was never available for anyone except the USMC and that has not undergone formal IOT&E. The UK and other partners have to wait for the Block 3F/TR2 to be tested...

Originally Posted by UK Defence Journal 29 Nov 2017

...The next phase between 2017 and 2020 will be critical to establishing carrier strike capability. The MoD must bring together the carriers, Lightning jets, and Crowsnest with trained crews and supporting infrastructure, logistics, communications and surveillance capabilities...

https://ukdjassets-b4d.kxcdn.com/2017/11/12342134.jpg

Originally Posted by George K Lee (Post 10011211)

...Interesting indeed that the schedule was slower pre-SDSR15. I recall that in public the people responsible for the carriers and UK F-35 were reticent about both the UK's timetable and the USMC participation; I don't think the two stories would have been received well at the time. I believe the current plan syncs with the rest of the "block buy".

Originally Posted by UK Gov website 5 Feb 2016

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Carrier journey

And none of this journey and outcome happens by accident. SDSR 2015 was a huge team effort across the Royal Navy, and defence. Yet the seeds were sown many years ago, decades ago in fact. It’s down in no small part to the strategic foresight and steadiness under fire of the men who have stood in my place, and all those who supported them, many of whom are here tonight. And while there have been setbacks along that journey, too often the focus was on what was lost, when it should have been on what was retained. Because the navy of tomorrow is born out of the navy of today; and our case was reinforced, year-after-year, by our sailors and marines on operations, demonstrating what we offer the nation. Nothing is more reflective of this truth than our carrier journey.

This year, this month, marks the fiftieth anniversary of Denis Healy’s seminal 1966 defence white paper, which cancelled the CVA-01 carrier project. 50 years. Some thought, perhaps hoped, it would mark the end of British carrier based air power. Yet there followed in the 1970s perhaps some of the most imaginative staff work the Ministry of Defence has ever seen as 3 “through-deck cruisers” slowly, quietly, evolved into small aircraft carriers. And so began what Nick Childs aptly termed “the Age of Invincible”: 3 decades of carrier operations: in the Falklands, followed by Bosnia, the Gulf, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. Indeed, those who argue that the Queen Elizabeth class carriers are too big, fail to appreciate that their size was determined precisely because of experience gained through back-to-back operations in the 80s and 90s.

It’s now 18 years since George Robertson stood up in Parliament and set this project in train. It’s not been an easy journey since then. There were a few moments when it was frankly touch-and-go. Plenty of people predicted they wouldn’t be built, or that they would suck the rest of the navy dry. Even 5 years ago, we had commentators helpfully suggesting that the Libya intervention was evidence yet again that we could rely on land based air power for future operations. Not only had they forgotten the lessons of 1982, but they seemed not to notice when France and Italy deployed their carriers, despite having airfields within easy reach, or our own brilliant creative use of HMS Ocean for Apache strike, which once again showed that the navy does not let the nation down.

And just look at where we are today. In the United States, the first squadron of US Marine Corps F35Bs is operational, with UK personnel alongside them every step of the way. This summer you’ll see the F35 in UK skies. Get used to the sight because many more are coming our way. Meanwhile, in the Gulf, our frigates and destroyers have been working with US and French carriers. Our people have been integrated with theirs; in both cases honing the skills that will serve our own carrier centric future.

And then in Rosyth, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s diesel generators and gas turbines are up and running. Her radars are turning and burning. She is alive. Prince of Wales is catching up fast: now structurally complete; the first members of her Ship’s Company joined last month. HMS Queen Elizabeth’s sails from Rosyth later this year. It will be a great day for the Royal Navy. It’s the day when the ghosts of 1966, and 1981, are finally laid to rest. The 50 year circle will be closing. But as you will appreciate, to view these 2 ships as a mere replacement for the Invincible class, or a return to the halcyon days of fast jet carrier operations in the 60s and 70s, is to underestimate entirely what they represent in both practical and symbolic terms.

From the mid-2020s the UK, already one of only three nations to maintain a Continuous At Sea Deterrent, will become one of an equally select few to wield a Continuous Carrier Capability. Indeed, it was telling that it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer who announced that more jets would be ordered sooner than expected to “step up the carrier punch of the United Kingdom”. These ships symbolise our military strength, our engineering and technical ability, our global economic ambition and our international authority.

So thank you. Through the years we’ve stuck to our course. We’ve quietly and persistently made the case… well, perhaps not always quietly… There is now a huge amount of work in the years ahead. But the Royal Navy is heading forward at full steam to where we belong, back as a big deck carrier operator; back at the heart of our nation’s defence; back to the front rank of maritime powers.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Originally Posted by Heathrow Harry (Post 10011435)

"These ships symbolise our military strength, our engineering and technical ability, our global economic ambition and our international authority."

Any one like to place best on how many days at sea they'll be averaging in 2024?

Originally Posted by George K Lee (Post 10011617)

What do you know about the world situation in 2024 that no one else does and how will the carrier(s) need to be configured for it?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say "Probably at least as much as someone who thinks a CAS ingress gets flown at Mach 1.6".

Originally Posted by RedhillPhil (Post 10027464)

I spent most of the day at the F.A.A. museum at Yeovilton on Friday. Excellent if peoples are considering a visit. There are two models (amongst several others of different ships) of the new aircraft carriers there. I've obviously missed something in the discussion. One has a ski-jump, the other doesn't.
Eh?