Unfortunately the folk at Cambridge airport...sorry, 'Marshall Airport Cambridge UK' :hmm: (aka Arfur Daley International) have yet to get Snoopy airborne with the TP400 running.....

See EADS slows down A400M production due to engine flight-test delays for more information. about the latest A400M production delays.

No further news has been posted on the official Airbus Military website since 26 Jun 2008.......

Only trouble with buying the C-27 would be the number of crews needed to support a sensible number of aircraft - and your beancounters have emasculated the RAF training machine to such an extent that a surge increase in the number of trained pilots in the RAF is now impossible to achieve.........

C130M anyone??????

Slight thread creep but buy X-Plane [$39.00] and download this.........

And away we go.......

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture4-3.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture6-1.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture8-1.jpg

And this is about as far as anyone actually providing an interim solution to a pressing problem will act. :rolleyes:

Janes: Funding may delay UK's first JSF purchase
By Tim Ripley
4 November 2008

UK procurement officials are considering options to push back the first purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, amid growing speculation that funding shortfalls are threatening UK participation in the programme.

Jane's has learnt that UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials have raised the possibility of not buying three low-rate initial production (LRIP) aircraft over the next two years at a cost of some GBP450 million (USD742 million) and delaying purchases until production-standard aircraft are available in the middle of the next decade. A decision not to acquire LRIP JSFs was recently taken by Italy, Lockheed Martin announced on 10 October.

The ministry's highest procurement planning group, the Investment Appraisals Board (IAD), is due to make recommendations on the LRIP JSF purchase at its January meeting. However, some ministry sources suggest a delay might be used as a mechanism to save UK participation in the US-led programme by pushing back the JSF spending 'bow wave' until well into the next decade, easing the ministry's 'funding gap' in the near term.

The UK MoD was not able to respond to Jane's ahead of publication.

Aah! The 'bow wave' and 'funding gap' - of course.'

I'm surprised they didn't say '2011-12'. That seems to be the magic time when everything else is supposed to happen - Nimrod MRA4, FSTA, A400M, Project CATARA, BELVEDERE......and the lunacy of MFTS.

As I said before Beags - 2012 will be the perfect storm!!!!!

At least the JSF mock-up deployed onboard HMS Illustrious this weekend hasn't been cancelled!

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | History and Honour | 'Lusty' visits London for Remembrance events

stobbit! I laughed so hard a little bit of wee came out!

Ultimately there's no money for anything so me advocating C27J or Trukkie the C130M is all just utter pie in the sky anyway.

"At least the JSF mock-up deployed onboard HMS Illustrious this weekend hasn't been cancelled!"

I remember going to Farnborough many many years ago and seeing the FLA mock up...........................not much has changed I see :rolleyes:

Germany sees A400M first flight delay of over 12 mths

BERLIN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Germany's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it expects a delay of over 12 months to the first flight of European aerospace group EADS's A400M military transporter.

A spokesman for the ministry said until now it had expected a delay of around 12 months. "We have to expect that it will take longer," he said at a government news conference.

EADS plans to slow down production of the transporter as it battles a series of issues linked to the project and in September it postponed its first flight due to a row over engine development. No new date has been set.

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Airbus to slow work on A400M

Airbus has decided to slow work on its troubled A400M military transport aircraft programme in an effort to avoid a repetition of the debacle surrounding its A380 superjumbo project where the pace of production was kept up in spite of severe industrial problems.

“We are not suspending our production, just slowing it down,” Airbus said. “We will set out a new calendar when we have all the elements.”...........

Yet more trouble...
 

I read somewhere, recently, that Airbus has figured out that they definitely should lose money on each A400M made. I wonder if this has something to do with de-prioritising it?

... and so another nail in the F-35's coffin is firmly bashed-in...


Analysis: Reducing F-35 purchase could save UK up to USD5.8bn - Jane's Air Forces News

Apologies if this is hidden in the last 11 pages of discussion, but how many STOVL JSFs in total are on order today from UK and USMC?

Would a reduced UK buy affect the viability of the STOVL production programme? I.e. Is this just a, say -5/10% cut overall which makes the overall unit production cost more but is not particularly threatening, or is it a -30/40% cut which could make the overall economics more debateble?

Jet Noise - the Sound of Freedom...
 

AW&ST (abridged):

....The USAF final report on the environmental impact of locating the JSF initial joint flight training site at Eglin AFB in Florida, released in October, concluded that there will be an unavoidable noise impact from the number and tpe of aircraft when Eglin transitions to the F-35.....

Annual airfield operations at Eglin would increase from 29,000 for F-15 training to almost 240,000 for the F-35 at Eglin and two satellite airfields...

a military-power takeoff is about twice as loud - 9dB higher - for an F-35 compared with an F-15. estimated sound exposure level 1000ft away is 121dB, for the F-35A and 112dB for the F-15C, on approach it is 108dB for the F-35A and 89dB for the F-15C........

Size of JSF reduced to fit budget!
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph...0_1109012c.jpg

The Telegraph - 6 Nov 08

The new RN plan to save money raises eyebrows during trials!

:ok:

Future competition for A400
 

US Army wants a four engine tiltrotor about the size of an A400, big enough to carry a Stryker vehicle inside -- and maybe hover too, please.

USAF wants an etreme STOL fixed wing transport of about the same size, takeoff and landing roll to be no more than 500 ft. and a steep climbout barrier clearance spec.


Service Squabble Holds Up JFTL Concept
Nov 6, 2008
By Bettina H. Chavanne


WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Ongoing arguments between the U.S. Air Force and Army over the value of mounted vertical maneuver are putting the brakes on the Joint Future Theater Lift Concept (JFTL), delaying the initial capabilities document (ICD) for a year and endangering budget planning.
“Efforts are still ongoing to create a single ICD for JROC [Joint Requirements Oversight Council] approval,” according to Bruce Tenney, associate director for technology at the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD). “The latest version is not likely to achieve resolution,” he said, calling progress on the JFTL ICD “abysmal.” Tenney said the argument is due to “fundamental differences between land components and the Air Force on the importance of austere, unimproved access” to the battlefield.
The focus is now on approving the ICD in spring 2009, with an analysis of alternatives following in time to inform the service’s Program Objective Memorandum 2012-2017 budget decision. “All future timelines are dependent on completion of approval of the JTFL ICD,” Tenney said.
Tenney, a proponent of vertical lift, said the airlift community does not see itself operating in the manner to which the Army is accustomed. “Why do we care about vertical? It’s all about access,” he said. “It’s the ability to put yourself where you want to be when you want to be there.”
Tenney spoke to an industry and military group last week at the Army Aviation Association of America’s (Quad A) 13th Helicopter Military Operations Technology Specialists’ Meeting, or Helmot.
...
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aerospacedaily&id=news/JFTL110608.xml&headline=Service%20Squabble%20Holds%20Up%20JF TL%20Concept
Image: Bell Boeing

Air Force Times: JSF breaks sound barrier for first time
Sunday Nov 16, 2008 8:56:33 EST

The F-35 Lightning II broke the sound barrier for the first time during a test flight Thursday over northern Texas. The jet, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, accelerated to Mach 1.05, or about 680 miles per hour, builder Lockheed Martin said in Nov. 14 press release.

“The F-35 transitioned from subsonic to supersonic just as our engineers and our computer modeling had predicted,” said Jon Beesley, Lockheed Martin’s chief F-35 test pilot. Beesley said it was also a significant achievement for a test aircraft to fly supersonic for the first time with the weight of a full 5,400-pound internal load of inert weapons.

Beesley guided the jet to 30,000 feet and accelerated to Mach 1.05. The F-35 accomplished four transitions through the sound barrier, spending eight minutes in supersonic flight.

Future testing will expand the flight envelope to the aircraft’s top speed of Mach 1.6. The milestone was achieved on the 69th flight of F-35 aircraft AA-1.

Meanwhile, Sir Kevin admits that no money has been located down the back of any MoD sofas:
MoD orders spending clampdown - FT

Bump...

...and latest news on the unproven turbo-prop that we are rather dependent upon.

Airbus: A400M flight debut could slip until second half of 2009