Thanks, that's not the same as...
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US approves sale of... F-35s to Greece 28 Jan 2024
https://www.defensenews.com/global/e...35s-to-greece/
"...The State Department notified Congress of its approval of the... $8.6 billion sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Greece, late Friday. ...sale to Greece includes 40 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and related equipment...."

Is this a sale, or is this "loan guarantees" and the F-35's are being funded by the US taxpayer?
Yes, I am cynical.

LOAN not mentioned. https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...es-2024-01-26/
"...NATO member Greece spends more than 2% of its gross domestic product on defence spending. It has beefed up its military purchases in recent years as tensions with its neighbour, historic rival and NATO ally Turkey, had resurfaced...."
MOAR:
https://greekreporter.com/2024/01/26...-on-f-35-sale/
"...According to reports, the commitment that the sale of F-35s to Greece will proceed soon was given at the highest level in the meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Antony Blinken in Crete, Greece. The package also includes free military aid. Congress is then expected to approve the sale of the F-35 and negotiations will begin for the conclusion of the contract, which will include the schedules, the equipment, and the way of financing...."
________

26 Jan 2024: https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/maj...d-landing-ctol
"...The Government of Greece has requested to buy up to forty (40) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft; and forty-two (42) Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines (40 installed, 2 spares) [& lots of gubbins].... The estimated total cost is $8.6 billion.

Aegean Lightnings
 

The (potential / possible) deal with Athens

https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/maj...d-landing-ctol

as stated
,The Government of Greece has requested to buy up to forty (40) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft; and forty-two (42) Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines (40 installed, 2 spares).’

and the rest, , Greece is spending a wee bit more on defense, as with them ordering the Leonardo AW139M replacing their Airbus AS332m1 / AS532 in SAR role plus possible approval for UH-60M for army

cheers

Czech
 

Czech it out lol 24 x for them

https://www.f35.com/f35/news-and-fea...0ujvUhvGbDCTpA

cheers

As neither Mod nor Admir:
That's seven years from now.

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/01/...r-24-aircraft/
"...It will be a while before any are flying out of Czech hangers, however, as the first aircraft is not scheduled to be delivered until 2031 and won’t reach full operational capability until 2035. Until then, the Czech military will continue to fly Swedish-made Gripen fighters. The Czech defense ministry said there are “intensive negotiations underway with the Kingdom of Sweden on the operation of the Gripens in the given timeframe.”"

Which will be an astonishing 29 years after the prototype made its first flight.

The FOC is for the Czech F-35s. Transitioning pilots/maintainers from Gripen and building F-35 facilities and training is part of the four / five year delay from F-35 delivery to [Czech] FOC.

As opposed to the Turks receiving F-16s how many years after first flight? Or the Saudis with Typhoon, the USAF with F-15EX, and so on? I wouldn't call 29 years astonishing at all in the late 20th or 21st century tbh.

Actual planned F-35 FOC: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023...lawmakers-ire/
31 Mar 2023 "...The “F-35 is currently planning to achieve full operational capability status after the full TR-3 and block 4 capabilities of the aircraft are fielded in 2028 — 27 years after the program began,” Wittman said. “That is by any measure unacceptable.”..."

30 Jan 2024: https://alert5.com/2024/01/30/czechi...as/#more-98620
"...Delivery of the first F-35s is slated for 2031, with the eleven-year acquisition process [FROM 2024?] [quote from above: "The first of the 24 fighter jets should be delivered in 2031, with the rest by 2035.] meticulously planned. A comprehensive implementation plan ensures smooth integration into the Czech air force, encompassing personnel training, infrastructure development, and logistical support. Until then, the existing fleet of Swedish Gripens will remain in service...."

That was exactly my point, that the gestation lengths, production times etc., of these 5th gen etc compared with the speed of development of yesteryears.
Probably not a great comparison but first flight to OSD of the Javelin was barely 17 years......but even the mighty F-4 Phantom, the last of the incredible 5,000+ run left the production line 21 years after first flight, and here we are just shy of 20 years after the F-35 first flight, and its effectively still the 'new kid on the block'.

I think the difference is possibly that a "today" not yet FOC F-35 (as an example) will knock the spots of basically every other fighter-sized aircraft on the planet for the military tasks it has been assigned (with the possible exception of the A-10 argument, but that discussion would hold equally true for any other airframe produced). Javelin as per your example was a) effectively keeping pace with the competition and b) fielded in a time where airframe/aerodynamic/engine development was key, not replaceable mission systems.

FOC is clearly a capability set that needs to be reached, but if it needed to be reached right now for operational reasons, a lot more people would be spending more time, effort and money making sure it happened.

It looks like the U.K. has now committed to the full F35 order originally planned.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-a...of-138-f-35bs/

I would ask Rachel Reeves and John Healey if I wanted a real answer.

In the 1970's the USN got in on the ground with the Spruance Class DD (Destroyer). Some of them were purchased by the Shah of Iran, and these eventually became the Kidd class DDGs as the revolution scuppered the deal somewhat.
The Spruance destroyers had a bunch of "ability to grow" but the big thing was to get the hulls out there (gas turbine engines) and let the modular improvemt process make the ships better.
And it did. LAMPS Mk III back fit took a while, but it arrived. VLS (tomahawk) took a while to be realized, but it arrived. Some of the Tails (the -18 and -19 towed array passive sonar) took a while to arrive ... but they did.
It was 15-20 years before what you might call a FOC Spruance Destroyer was up and running. (mind you, the interim capability wasn't bad).

I know that I am comparing apples to oranges here, but there are some similarities.

https://theaviationist.com/2024/02/1...-while-parked/

Exclusive: U.S. Marine Corps F-35C Suffers Nose Landing Gear Collapse While Parked

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35C Lightning II, assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 311 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, has suffered a nose landing gear collapse while parked shortly after a training mission, photos a reader shared with The Aviationist show.

According to the reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, the aircraft was at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, when the incident happened.The photos appear to be legit and not digitally altered; and based on the details we were able to collect, the mishap F-35C is the airframe CF-89/170109, coded “WL-04”.

The aircraft was parked under a sunshade after returning from an uneventful training flight on Jan. 26, 2024. According to the unverified report we were submitted, after shutting down the aircraft without problems, the pilot started climbing down the ladder when the nose landing gear began retracting slowly.

Upon reaching the halfway point, the nose landing gear fully collapsed. The photos show the aircraft resting on the Electro-Optical Targeting System’s glass fairing, without apparent damage. As far as we know, this should be the first time an F-35C nose landing gear “collapse” is reported, as similar incidents so far happened only on the A and B variants.

We reached out to NAS Fallon PAO for confirmation and further details but, at the time of writing, we haven’t received an answer yet, despite several attempts.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....48b59618ba.jpg

Good news, but in terms of eventual fleet size, remember the key words in the ministerial statement "over the life of the programme".

Tranche 2, which is apparently funded, would take the UK-based fleet to 70. We could then see (much) later orders, late in the production run (which I think is due to extend out to 2040 or so), for very late model airframes to replace the early examples and see the carriers through to the end of their lives. Details will vary but this could mean that the suggestion of a maximum fleet of 70 - 80 at any one time could be close to the mark. Or I could be completely wrong, but hey.

I don't see that statement meaning anything, if I'm honest. I'd love us to buy 138, but I just can't see it happening.

Flying Hrs
 

What level of flying hours per month are our F-35 pilots at ?

That will probably buff out. :}
I think it might be fun to go back to the F-35 original thread, posts around 2011 through 2012, and see how the sentiments have changed. There was a lot of "not loving this" sentiment to be had.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/po...025-fms-costs/

Potential F-35 Cuts in 2025 Won’t Be Made up by FMS, May Drive Costs Higher

Rumored cuts to the Pentagon’s F-35 buy in its fiscal year 2025 budget request would not be mitigated by recent Foreign Military Sales and are likely to drive prices higher, DOD and industry sources told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Department of Defense outlined plans to buy 83 F-35s in 2025 in its latest future years defense plan, but now the Air Force expects to cut six F-35As and the Navy eight F-35Cs, sources said.

If the proposed cuts go through, the Air Force would buy 42 F-35As; the Marine Corps would buy 16 F-35Bs, and the Navy would buy just 11 F-35Cs. However, sources cautioned that those numbers stem from leaked documents that may not be the final word on what the Pentagon will submit in its 2025 budget proposal next month.

Reuters previously reported on the possible cuts.……

I'm still surprised about the Navy's Reluctance with the F-35. Compared to F-18 it would give them a massively more survivable and superior Combat Aircraft in both A2G and A2A. Plus the Navy may in the first phase easily be on its own in a combat. And they heavily rely on Aircraft to project power. Whereas for the Marines who seem much happier to move to the F-35 the Aircraft are more 'Icing on the cake'.
Can anyone shed some light on this?

BREAKING: Singapore's defence minister says in Parliament that the Republic of Singapore AF will accelerate its F-35 program, and will acquire 8 F-35As in addition to 12 F-35Bs already on order, joining the US, Italy and Japan in operating both variants.

Good news, and quite the change of sentiment as compared to the tone 5-6 years ago.

EXCLUSIVE: F-35A officially certified to carry nuclear bomb 08 Mar 2024
"The designation marks the first time that a stealth fighter can carry a nuclear weapon, in this case the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb." & "...The F-35A is certified to only carry the newer B61-12 variant, which will replace the older models. The certification additionally does not extend to the stealth jet’s sister variants, the short takeoff and vertical landing F-35B and carrier-launched F-35C...." https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/...-nuclear-bomb/

F-35 Program Achieves Milestone C and Full Rate Production 12 Mar 2024
https://www.f35.com/f35/news-and-fea...roduction.html or
https://www.defense.gov/News/Release...te-production/
"Earlier today, the Milestone Decision Authority, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Dr. William A. LaPlante, approved the Milestone C / Full Rate Production (MSC/FRP) of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft with the signing of an Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) after a meeting with the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB)...." PHOTO: https://www.f35.com/content/dam/lock...-35BHeadOn.jpg
_________________

"...The decision came more than four years after the Pentagon originally planned, and followed multiple years of delays due to troubles setting up the necessary Joint Simulation Environment tests...."
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024...te-production/
_____________________

"...Although the designation is in some ways moot—the F-35 production enterprise is already operating at a rate close to its capacity—the designation means the Joint Program Office can now negotiate multiyear contracts for the fighter...." https://www.airandspaceforces.com/f-...te-production/
_____________________

"The Pentagon has finally approved the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for full rate production, five years later than originally anticipated...."
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/...-5-year-delay/

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....dd27118d3e.jpg

Actually, was originally planned for 2015, so 9 years later.

More on the F-35A + B61-12 here.

F-35A doesn't need TR3 to carry it.

F-35A Is Officially Certified For Nuclear Strike | The War Zone (twz.com)

Looks like the RNethAF will be the first to get FOC with it using the NATO Nuclear Sharing program stockpile as they have already passed the unit evaluation.

Johan van Deventer on X: "#ACC “Ready for Operations” was de uitslag van het 🇺🇸 team dat ons deze week inspecteerde. Hiermee hebben we onze initiële certificering voor de afschrikkingstaak met de F-35. Een belangrijke stap in de transitie.
Mogelijk gemaakt door Teamwerk 👊 🐯@VlbVolkel @F35_CFTT https://t.co/dlFDAUZWgd" / Twitter
“Ready for Operations” was the result of the us this week. This gives us our initial certification for the deterrence task with the F-35. An important step in the transition. Powered by Teamwork

70% Or More Of F-35s May Not Be Combat-Capable

A September 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the F-35 revealed some shocking statistics on just how unready hundreds of billions of dollars worth of F-35s are to provide actual combat power.

In fact, the report indicated that only 15 to 30% of F-35s may be capable of combat…..

However, there is another metric that is more useful: “full mission capable.” It turns out that “full mission capable” F-35s are supposed to be able to perform all the missions for which they were contracted, including combat-oriented missions, surveillance, training, testing, show of force, etcetera.

This metric is not often publicized, but in the case of the F-35, the watchdog side of the GAO actually did a detailed report of the problems and issues with the F-35 that included how the F-35 fleet looked from the “full mission capable” perspective.

Even for someone who is an F-35 realist, the results are shocking. Not only is the F-35 fleet’s full mission capable rate in the neighborhood of 30 percent (see table on page 96 of the report), the full mission capable rate of the Marine Corps’ F-35B was a miserable 15.5 percent in March 2023….

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e169f5931f.png
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How F-35s Deployed To A Narrow Highway In California 14 Mar 2024
[USMC F-35Bs in EABO RVLs & STOs on US HiWay (get your kicks on route 66)]
https://www.twz.com/sea/how-f-35s-de...-in-california
"...In the new system in the software load of the jet, we've updated the software with some of these pilot relief modes that help you land in confined sites and execute slow landings. It made it substantially easier to do this in a controllable manner.”

“We have two that we are able to use. One is called Delta Flight Path [DFP] and the other is Auto Top Rudder [ATR]. So with Delta Flight Path, essentially you program into the performance state of the jet, the glide slope that you want to shoot. For the Rolling Vertical Landings [RVL] we did, we were doing a four-degree glide slope to land and that's a four-degree flight path all the way to touchdown at 75 knots ground speed. So I've programmed that in and then when you initiate Delta flight path, what will happen is the jet will automatically set a four-degree descend to land flight path, so that all you need to do a apply slight stick pressure to modulate up and down to be higher or lower to adjust your aim point but it sets the flight path for you.”

Capt. Mayberry decided not to use DFP on this landing since he often does a lot of flight path corrections on his own and every pilot has different ways they like to do RVLs. The newer way to do them is Auto Top Rudder (ATR). ATR continuously updates the jet’s flight control corrections for crosswind so that all you need to do is put your flight path marker (or a velocity vector in other aircraft) on your intended point of landing, and as you fly down it kicks the rudder and other flight controls back and forth to just keep you flying in that direction.

Mayberry explained “You don't have to do any manual crabbing [his words not mine :} ] of the aircraft one direction or the other. ATR updates that continuously as you come down to land which is a new update as of this software build. That allowed me to touchdown. I think they measured 18 inches right of centerline and then I was almost immediately on the brakes. We stopped at 1140 feet and it was very controllable all the way from the initial approach all the way to touchdown and then stopping on the centerline.”...

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8a81522487.jpg

All this so that the pilot can stop off to relieve himself?

Sorry :O

Hence Relief Landing Ground…..

Normal piece without context. when you take out the ones that aren't combat coded. It's a different story.
Schmidt Testimony.pdf (house.gov)
War on Readiness
The F-35 Enterprise is driving towards continued improvements to our sustainment system, with the objective to improve availability rates. As the FY22 Annual DOT&E Report indicates – the F-35 "combat coded fleet" achieved its 65% target for monthly average availability for the combined twelve months ending in September 2022. Still, readiness challenges remain, as indicated in multiple GAO findings.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024...me-in-4-years/

F-35A Lightning cleared to fly in lightning for first time in 4 years

The Air Force’s version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can fly in lightning and thunderstorms again after the service lifted a restriction that had been in place for four years.

The F-35 Joint Program Office confirmed in an email that the 2020 standoff restriction placed on the aircraft, officially called the Lightning II, was lifted on March 19…..

The military stopped F-35As from flying within 25 miles of lightning after a problem was discovered with its Onboard Inert Gas Generation System, or OBIGGS, which is meant to keep the jet safe from strikes. OBIGGS pumps nitrogen-enriched gas into the F-35′s fuel tank to render it inert, and keep the fuel tanks from exploding if struck by lightning.

In 2020, maintainers conducting depot maintenance on an F-35A at Hill Air Force Base in Utah found that one of the tubes that distributes the gas to the fuel tank was damaged. Subsequent inspections found problems with tubes in multiple other F-35s, and the military restricted it from flying near lightning until a fix could be developed.

F-35Bs and Cs were not affected by the lightning problem and did not have their flying restricted……

The JPO said the fix included “a more robust” design for the fighters’ OBIGGS hardware, as well as updates to its software. The modification was tested both in the lab and in flight…..

The JPO declined to further detail how the system was fixed, or how many F-35As have been modified, due to operational security concerns…..

Navy and Air Force fighters to train as a joint force in NAWCAD’s Joint Simulation Environment 02 Apr 2024
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/467560...on-environment
"...NAWCAD installed a division of four U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor cockpits into the Navy’s premier simulation test and training facility alongside its division of eight F-35 Lightning cockpits in January....

...The new addition of fifth-generation fighter simulators brings Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and allied partners into the hyper-realistic digital range that consists of cockpits, domed simulators with 4K projectors, and aircraft software to enable pilots to fly wartime scenarios in a near-exact virtual environment. Tactical groups training in NAWCAD’s JSE fly more sorties over one week than they do over a year on open-air ranges....

...The JSE was initially designed to support F-35 Lightning’s operational testing as there was no way to safely and adequately represent real-world conflict on an open-air range. Today, the DOD is scaling the Navy’s technology for additional digital range facilities supporting programs like F-35, F-22, and E-2D. In addition, the DOD has made training in the JSE a formal part of the Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program—commonly known as TOPGUN...."

Royal Netherlands Air Force participation in Ex RED FLAG 24-2.

They deployed 8 x F-35A from Leeuwarden + Volkel and also had students participate from the FTU (OCU) at Luke AFB, AZ who brought over another 5 x F-35A.

Article here - Google translate available Deelname Red Flag mijlpaal 5th Gen-transitie | 01 | de Vliegende Hollander (defensie.nl)

I also know they won Best Mission Commander and Best Intel Lead Awards.

Is the F-35 going to remain viable for much longer?

It's terribly bad form to blow one's own trumpet, but as the author of this piece, I was fascinated by what 'Smithy' says - he is probably Britain's leading fifth gen expert, having been an F-22 and F-35 pilot and an F-35 tactics development desk officer and capability manager, and now working on GCAP with Leonardo.

He says that by 2035 the F-35 will be where Typhoon is today. Still relevant, but not the 'apex predator'. Still useful, but as an adjunct to the next generation, and not as the ‘star’ of the show.

The LO configuration makes it hard to upgrade in any meaningful way (you can’t add new antennas or apaerures, as does the avionics infrastructure. TR3 and Block 4 are already proving difficult, while it's hard to see the kind of agile iteration of mission data that we already see on Typhoon ever becoming a reality on the F-35.

And the F-35A lacks the range and the combat persistence for tomorrow's peer-, or near-peer, conflicts. Nor can new weapons be easily or quickly integrated, and they can't be integrated on a sovereign or national basis at all.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c97c8a1162.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0d70da3851.png
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....37513ce277.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b7c7f5cbcc.jpg
It's no coincidence that the US, Britain, Italy, Japan and Korea are all already looking beyond F-35A - developing new sixth gen platforms and systems of systems is not easy, or cheap, and were F-35 adequate, no-one would be spending money doing so.