US military, technology, arms, tactics

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nits
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by nits »

drnayar wrote:
saip wrote:According to DoD there were THREE flights of balloons during the previous admin. So, the question is why was this given so much publicity? How many would have noticed something flying at 60k feet? Even if they have noticed, how many would have identified it? Did they use a missile without a warhead (like they did to kill Ayman al Zawahiri) so that they can recover it?
the F22 used a AIM 9x with an IIR seeker [helmet cued] to target the base of the balloon that fragmented on impact.

Biden saw this politically 'convenient" ..shooting down a Chinese ballon and cancelling the china trip of its envoy.. pure optics for its American audience. pure gimmick .

anyway the billion dollar stealth fighter had its first kill .. a balloon :mrgreen:
noob Q - it was a balloon - why to use a missile - they could have used mounted guns on the aircraft to destroy it. it would have also meant less damage to equipments
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Cyrano »

The first problem is altitude. These balloons float at 60,000 ft to 120,000 ft outside most fighters' flight envelopes, the air is too thin to provide required lift and flight controls can get dodgy. Second, I believe such balloons are made up of several compartments, cannon fire will not burst all of them at once. Third, Even missiles have difficulty detonating correctly on these balloons since they dont have expected IR or Radar signature and not solid enough to trigger an impact fuse. A particular type of AIM-9XM sidewinder has been used recently by USAF fired from an F22 flying at 58,000 ft as per reports, at the very edge of its flight envelope.

If they are UFOs all bets are off.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Aditya_V »

If push comes to shove ThAAD, Patriot et all can also be used .
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

Click on link below to read the entire thing....

Availability and Use of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fighter Aircraft
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58937
February 2023
Availability Rates by Fiscal Year Are Lower and Declined Faster for Both Types of Hornets Than for the Rest of the Department of the Navy’s Fleet. Availability rates of Super Hornets declined markedly between the mid-2000s and the mid-2010s; the older F/A-18C/D Hornets experienced a longer and steeper drop. Both types of Hornets experienced sharper and steeper drops in availability than the rest of the Department of the Navy’s fleet. Because the Super Hornet is a newer aircraft, it has a higher availability rate, on average, than F/A-18C/Ds, which were introduced in the late 1980s.

Super Hornets Have Aged More Adversely Than Their Predecessors. When compared with F/A-18C/Ds of the same age, the Super Hornet fleet has had lower availability rates. For example, Super Hornet availability at age 10 was about 18 percentage points lower than F/A-18C/D availability at age 10 and is comparable to F/A-18C/D availability at age 20. These findings suggest that age has had a more adverse effect on Super Hornets than it did on F/A-18C/Ds.

Flying Hours Cannot Explain Differing Availability. Are Super Hornets becoming less available faster than their predecessors because they are flying more and thus subject to greater wear and tear? The data CBO analyzed do not support this hypothesis. Monthly flying hours of Super Hornets modestly exceeded those of F/A-18C/Ds only in the initial years of operation of both fleets. By age 10, however, Super Hornets were flying four fewer hours per month than 10-year-old F/A-18C/Ds flew.

Availability Rates of Super Hornets May Stabilize or Continue to Decline. The experiences of the oldest Super Hornets suggest that their availability is likely to continue to decline as the fleet ages. A similar trend has been observed for many fighter and attack aircraft. But some fleets have had lengthy periods with stable availability rates. Because the Super Hornet is a relatively new aircraft, the Navy could take actions that might increase or stabilize the aircraft’s availability rate, such as increasing funding for maintenance.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

Rakesh wrote:Click on link below to read the entire thing....

Availability and Use of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fighter Aircraft
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58937
February 2023
From Haridas-ji....

https://twitter.com/HaridasKukkur/statu ... S5ukcSoURw ---> F-18 Super Hornet twin tail empennage breaking off is a familiar problem, the cause was identified by Georgia Tech Aero Engineering department 2 decades ago. US Navy prefers to wait for it to fatigue and just replace when it breaks or it's on verge.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

Click on link below for video....

https://twitter.com/dewszt/status/16248 ... S5ukcSoURw ---> US Army soldiers during exercises with the new Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular (ENVG-B).

Image

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Shameek »

US military's first shot at unknown octagonal object over Lake Huron missed, officials say.
The U.S. military jet that downed an unknown object in the Michigan sky on Sunday missed on its first attempt over Lake Huron, officials told Fox News.
The Air Force F-16 jet was using Sidewinder missiles to attack the target.
"The first Sidewinder heat-seeking missile missed the target," one official said.
Link
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

The subject matter starts at 23:40. Prior to that a Q/A session.

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Manish_P »

Cyrano wrote:The first problem is altitude. These balloons float at 60,000 ft to 120,000 ft outside most fighters' flight envelopes, the air is too thin to provide required lift and flight controls can get dodgy...
If they believe the threat to be severe and increasing, they might try repurposing the U2 as high altitude balloon interceptor.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by hgupta »

Manish_P wrote:
Cyrano wrote:The first problem is altitude. These balloons float at 60,000 ft to 120,000 ft outside most fighters' flight envelopes, the air is too thin to provide required lift and flight controls can get dodgy...
If they believe the threat to be severe and increasing, they might try repurposing the U2 as high altitude balloon interceptor.
Won't work. U2 is not combat capable at all. They made it as light as much possible in order to get the height.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Manish_P »

hgupta wrote:
Manish_P wrote:
If they believe the threat to be severe and increasing, they might try repurposing the U2 as high altitude balloon interceptor.
Won't work. U2 is not combat capable at all. They made it as light as much possible in order to get the height.
Yes, i know. However they are quite capable of re-engineering it. And unlike in the past, current tech exists where one platform can be the searcher/tracker, another can be the shooter.

Of course, they have other tools, one of which they did use.

Added later - The soviet attempts at creating high altitude balloon interceptors ...

The Soviets Built Bespoke Balloon-Killer Planes During The Cold War
Last edited by Manish_P on 17 Feb 2023 10:00, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

A must watch. 25 minutes long.q

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

A big step forward!!!!

Over a two-week span in December, a heavily modified F-16D Fighting Falcon took to the skies no fewer than a dozen times with an empty cockpit and an artificial intelligence (AI) pilot at the stick. But while pilot-less aircraft aren’t all that uncommon in the skies over warzones today, this Fighting Falcon was packing something different in its memory banks: AI algorithms complex enough to allow it to dogfight all on its own.

The AI fighter pilots came from two different efforts, DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Autonomous Air Combat Operations, or AACO, program.

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

40 minutes into the video starts the "Black Hawk Down" experience:

(live as I post)

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by uddu »

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

Investigation into 2022 F-35C crash aboard Carl Vinson complete
https://www.airpac.navy.mil/News/Articl ... -complete/
22 Feb 2023
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

Interesting. Running commentary by the pilot

[youtube][/youtube]
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by chetak »

Image

Image

Image
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

Feb 3, 2023.

2 minutes.

Sensor fusion, from AFRL

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by saip »

A wife and husband team, Majors Lauren and Mark Olme went flying two B1 bombers in formation recently. Nothing unusual in that. Except the wife is in second trimester of her pregnancy and she is allowed command the B1. There goes one of the reasons why women should not fly fighter jets.
Link
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

FYI. 5 hours old

America's race to field new air-to-air missiles

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

saip wrote:A wife and husband team, Majors Lauren and Mark Olme went flying two B1 bombers in formation recently. Nothing unusual in that. Except the wife is in second trimester of her pregnancy and she is allowed command the B1. There goes one of the reasons why women should not fly fighter jets.
Link
There are plenty of fighter pilots in the USAF, including a test pilot

Code: Select all

Female USAF Active Duty Officers with a Pilot Aeronautical Rating
2017	770 females	5.6 percent
2018	798 females	5.9 percent
2019	859 females	6.3 percent
2020	909 females	6.6 percent
2021	992 females	7.2 percent
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by saip »

Women fighter/bomber pilots are in many air forces (does India have any, not talking about heli and transports?) But how many are allowed to fly when they are pregnant and that too until 28 weeks?
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

saip wrote:Women fighter/bomber pilots are in many air forces (does India have any, not talking about heli and transports?) But how many are allowed to fly when they are pregnant and that too until 28 weeks?
During war, never.

During peace, depends. Pregnancy + flying is related to cabin pressure.

Among all those military crafts the one that has a pressurized cabin is the B-1 !!!

Even in unpressurized crafts as long as they are below some level (6000 feet?) it is OK.

Above is for up to 2 trimesters. 3rd is depends.

I **think** civilian AC allows pretty late into the pregnancy - because modern crafts have better pressurization.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/space_osint/status/ ... 38498?s=20 ---> The U.S. Air Force released new photos of the B-21 Raider bomber, including one from a higher angle.

Image

Image
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

Here we go. People wondering things like what next after the F-18 production line closes, as an example.

BTW, there is companion F/A-XX too.

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Manish_P »

Rakesh wrote: https://twitter.com/space_osint/status/ ... 38498?s=20 ---> The U.S. Air Force released new photos of the B-21 Raider bomber, including one from a higher angle....
No critics pointing to the fit-and-finish yet? Well it is a Massa bird so it may be just the camera or the raincoat...

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

Pentagon UFO chief says alien mothership in our solar system possible
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/ ... -possible/
09 March 2023
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

GA-ASI Continues LongShot Support
https://www.ga-asi.com/ga-asi-continues ... ot-support
06 March 2023
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

USAF Testing ‘Mutant’ Missiles That Twist In Mid-Air To Hit Their Targets
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/u ... ir-targets
09 March 2023
The Air Force sees missiles with articulating noses as one way to take on increasingly maneuverable threats.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

USAF lays out plans for NGAD, loyal wingmen numbers
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/usaf ... en-numbers
08 March 2023

US Air Force eyes fleet of 1,000 drone wingmen as planning accelerates
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/03 ... celerates/
08 March 2023
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Manish_P »

Rakesh wrote:USAF lays out plans for NGAD, loyal wingmen numbers
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/usaf ... en-numbers
08 March 2023

US Air Force eyes fleet of 1,000 drone wingmen as planning accelerates
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023/03 ... celerates/
08 March 2023
When i joined BRF more than a decade ago, one question which i was always ranting (at myself) 'Why the target number of 42 squadrons is fixed'

Long and ardous has been our development but i am more positive now than i was at the time. Hopeful we are accelerating to critical momentum within the next decade.

Past couple of years the rant i trouble myself with is 'How many squadrons of UCAVs/UAVs - HALE, MALE, ....' is the IAF and MoD setting targets for.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Cyrano »

Because it's the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

Manish_P Ji,

Here is the Indian response to "6th Gen", from Wiki:
In an interview on 8 October 2020 to celebrate the 88th anniversary of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria was asked about plans for sixth-generation technologies and he responded that they have a clear roadmap for sixth-generation combat systems like directed energy weapons, smart wingman concept, optionally manned combat platforms, swarm drones, hypersonic weapons, and other equipment.[53][54]
Pretty much everything in there screams "A2/AD". Which is true. ("6th Gen", when it first came out, was defined pretty much as the ability to operate in A2/AD.)

Now, why would one plan on sending only/mostly humans into such an environment?

______________________________

WRT the US, 100% is far from their shores - I think it is the only nation to build such a (controversial granted) capability. Then, WRT "China", the entire "1st island chain" is considered A2/AD. So, both the USAF and USN absolutely need whatever this 6th gen capability is - Wingmen, UCAVs, HALEs, MALEs, etc. They are reducing the risks of humans getting into a fight.

The one US Service that **has to fight** in a very dense A2/AD and is not relying (yet?) on the 6th Gen (as we define it) is the USMC. Their evolution is very interesting, especially because they are actually part of the USN.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/elitepredatorss/sta ... 46880?s=20 ---> Since nukes and Russia is in the news, some independent journalists in British found out that US soldiers have leaked some super sensitive information about the nukes and their location in Europe. Even the pin point location of hangers, when they are stored, is out in public.

https://twitter.com/elitepredatorss/sta ... 85504?s=20 ---> Vice has covered it in detail in a documentary, it has many lessons for Indian Armed Forces too. You check the documentary here:

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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

Air Force will not develop new F-35 engine, keeping Pratt as sole contractor
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/03/air ... ontractor/
13 March 2023
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that if the development cost was lower, the Air Force may have found the space in its budget to fund the engine for its jets alone, “but at the level of several billion dollars to do that [engineering and manufacturing development], we couldn't get there.”
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by NRao »

THE F-35 IS GETTING A $15 BILLION UPGRADE THAT’LL MAKE IT A WHOLE NEW BEAST
Alex Hollings | March 8, 2023

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II, also commonly known as the Joint Strike Fighter, is about to undergo a largely classified upgrade that promises to turn the technologically advanced aircraft into a far more capable fighter. New improvements include 17 new weapon systems, powerful new radar, expanded electronic warfare capabilities, powerful propulsion upgrades, and more — much of which remains tucked nearly behind a veil of vast quantities of classified funding.


Throughout its service life, the F-35 has been plagued by technical setbacks and cost overruns so egregious that they often overshadow the platform itself, which has been touted by pilots and Defense officials alike as a revolution in tactical airpower. Now, with this new slew of enhancements cruising toward service, the F-35 program may finally produce a data-fusing aerial powerhouse that silences the platform’s most vocal critics… that is, if everything goes according to plan.

The F-35 is the most successful stealth fighter in the world

The F-35 program, now more than two decades old, has long been viewed through two very disparate lenses. For some, the boondoggle that has been the F-35’s acquisition process has come to define the aircraft itself, with repeated technical setbacks, budgetary overruns, and the immense costs associated with F-35 sustainment overshadowing any capability the aircraft might bring to the fight.

But the story from those who fly the F-35 is very different. They often tout the aircraft as nothing less than a revolution in airpower, and it would seem many national governments agree. With 16 nations now waiting in line for F-35 deliveries and more than 890 total airframes produced, there are more F-35s in service today than all other 5th-generation fighters — F-22s, J-20s, and Su-57s — combined.

Despite critics (rightly) highlighting the program’s fiscal failings, the aircraft the Joint Strike Fighter boondoggle produced is objectively the most advanced and broadly capable tactical fighter on the planet, capable of filling the roles of various military aircraft simultaneously, from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to electronic warfare to battlespace management, the F-35 is often referred to as a quarterback in the sky because it offers command-level awareness combined with incredible survivability right in the middle of a fight.

But as capable as today’s F-35s are, they are, nonetheless, built on a now twenty-plus-year-old system architecture that, advanced as it may be, won’t be enough to keep pace with the challenges set to emerge in the next twenty years.

So, while the F-35 may still be the most advanced fighter in the skies today, the F-35 program office is already planning for a day that it isn’t. And that’s where the F-35’s Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3) and Block 4 upgrades come in.

Technology Refresh-3: The F-35 gets a new brain

Image

Before the F-35 can receive the full brunt of the Block 4 upgrade, it needed a significant revamp of its core computing capabilities. Today, the F-35 remains the most technologically advanced fighter in service, but from a computing standpoint, the F-35’s onboard systems, some of which are more than two decades old, are far from top-of-the-line in 2023.

But while the Technology Refresh-3 effort could be seen as laying the foundation for massive upgrades to come, the truth is, this effort alone will result in a dramatic uptick in the fighter’s capability set.

In a way, the TR-3 effort could be seen as a brain transplant that will provide the fighter with a huge jump in computational power and memory storage, along with a new system architecture that will not only improve the function of practically every system onboard, but that was designed specifically to streamline the process of integrating further improvements down the road.
“Technology Refresh 3 modernizes the computational core of the F-35 air vehicle. Therefore, new TR-3 hardware and software affect nearly every aircraft feature,” Lt. Col. Christopher Campbell, 461st Flight Test Squadron commander and F-35 Integrated Test Force director, explained in January.
The new computing core included in the TR-3 effort offers a whopping 25 times the processing power currently found in the F-35, which, according to Defense contractor L3 Harris, will eventually be coupled with other improvements to increase that an even more astonishing “37-fold increase in computing power.” This processor upgrade will reportedly affect a vast array of onboard systems, including radar processing, its distributed aperture system, electronic warfare suite, communications, guidance, and more. In support of all this new power is a similarly impressive 20-fold increase in data storage.

The F-35’s panoramic cockpit display will also see a significant upgrade, with a five-fold increase in display processing power and two independent “critical display processors” for left and right cockpit displays that offer redundant capabilities in the event of any kind of system failure.

As Steve Trimble reported for Aviation Week last month, these new systems are already rolling off assembly lines in the Block 15 F-35s being produced today, but starting next year in Block 16, the TR-3 upgrades will also come with an improved electronic warfare processer offering three times the power of the F-35’s current system. And starting in 2025, Block 17 F-35s will come equipped with no fewer than 20 electronic warfare receivers capable of detecting and triangulating the location of enemy radar and other signal transmissions — a 75% increase over today’s F-35s that carry just five such receivers.

But as impressive as these upgrades may be… they’re actually all just groundwork for even more substantive upgrades to come.

The Super Lightning II?

Image

The TR-3 update is widely described by insiders as the “IT Backbone” of the Block 4 F-35, which includes some 75 major upgrades over today’s Joint Strike Fighters. While these upgrades will all be incorporated into the same F-35 A/B/C airframes we’ve come to know over the years, the system improvements and added capabilities promise to be so dramatic, it might even warrant a new designation of some sort to differentiate these advanced new fighters from their less-capable siblings.

But unsurprisingly, much of what Block 4 entails remains shrouded in a bit of mystery. Contractors involved in the effort are quick to offer generalized statements about what systems will be improved, but are reluctant to share any specifics. We know for sure that these 75+ upgrades will be rolled out in increments listed as Block 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and so forth, and that many of these increments will really be based around software adjustments meant to broaden the capability set of the hardware that already exists or that is added in the early stages of the upgrade.

We also know that Block 4 has been described by those in the Joint Program Office as the most ambitious round of upgrades the fighter has received since its inception. Here’s the rundown on what else we can say for sure:

Block 4 F-35s will carry 17 new kinetic and “non-kinetic” weapons

Image

A significant part of the Block 4 upgrade will come in the form of newly integrated weapons, which according to some reports, include the Joint Strike Missile, the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Extended Range (AARGM-ER) for hunting enemy air defenses at standoff ranges, and the highly capable European Meteor air-to-air missile. Not all of these new weapons are “kinetic,” or traditional munitions, however — suggesting that the F-35 Block 4 upgrade also incorporates a number of new electronic warfare capabilities that had yet to be disclosed.

Perhaps most important of all, Block 4 reportedly includes an expansion of the F-35’s internal weapons carriage capacity. Today’s F-35s fly with a maximum of just four weapons stored internally while maintaining a stealth profile, but Block 4 will increase that to six (depending on loadout), allowing the fighter to carry more ordnance into the fight than ever before.

The F-35 will get an even more powerful onboard radar array and Distributed Aperture System

Image
AN/APG-81 AESA Radar systems (Northrop Grumman)

Today’s F-35s fly with the Northrop Grumman-sourced AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar onboard, widely touted as the most powerful and capable radar system ever to fly in a tactical fighter. This system is so powerful that it can be leveraged not just for identifying and tracking targets on the surface and in the air, but it can even do so while also serving as an electronic warfare asset, jamming enemy radar arrays as it flies. But capable as this system may be, it’s slated to be replaced by an even more powerful radar array, dubbed the AN/APG-85.

Image

For its part, Northrop Grumman has said only that this new radar system “will incorporate some of the latest technologies available and help ensure air superiority.” This has led many to speculate that this new radar will leverage GaN (Gallium Nitride)-based TRMs (Transmit/Receive Modules). These new TRMs offer a significant increase in power transmission and clarity, even when contending with electronic countermeasures, and also offer better thermal management, which allows you to pump more power through them for both target acquisition and electronic warfare duties.

As Aviation Week’s Steve Trimble reported, this new design has the potential to double the F-35’s target detection range with the same power output and the same size array, giving the F-35 a distinctive edge against other fighters in beyond-visual-range engagements.

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Adding to the massive uptick in data available via onboard radar will be a “next generation” distributed aperture system that the Pentagon says will increase performance and reliability with a “larger pixel focal plane array” and higher operating temperatures. This upgrade hasn’t gotten as much attention as the radar, but could be seen as just as important.

The F-35’s existing AN/AAQ-37 Electro-optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) not only allows the pilot to keep tabs on everything going on around the aircraft via six infrared cameras mounted around the fighter’s body, but also serves as an advanced form of infrared search and track (IRST) capability for identifying and targeting stealth opponents at long distances via their heat signatures. While details are scant about this “next generation” iteration of the F-35’s already increased DAS, it will almost certainly make the fighter a more potent air-to-air opponent against even the most advanced adversaries.

More power, more range, more thrust

In order to power all of these new systems, the F-35 will need an engine upgrade — a topic that’s led to a battle between engine providers at General Electric and the F-35’s current engine producer, Pratt & Whitney. Just last week, the Pentagon finalized a deal with Pratt & Whitney to continue to provide engines through Lot 17, which extends through the remainder of Tech Refresh 3 and may suggest they’re the frontrunner to continue supplying improved engines for Block 4.

Pratt’s proposal for Block 4 F-35s is cheaper and offers more modest improvements over today’s jets, while GE is pitching new adaptive cycle engines designed primarily for the next generation of fighters that would offer a significant leap in range, thrust, and power production, but at a higher premium.

Pratt & Whitney propose what they call an evolutionary Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) that would increase the jet’s existing F135 engine’s thrust by 10% while improving fuel efficiency by 5%, resulting in what they claim is a 7% increase in range. GE, on the other hand, propose integrating their XA100 adaptive cycle engines that offer a 25% increase in fuel efficiency, a 20% increase in thrust, twice the heat management, and as much as 35% more range.

As exciting as these adaptive cycle engines would be in the F-35, going with GE’s proposal could extend timelines and costs associated with fielding Block 4, which may be enough to sway officials toward the more budget-friendly and modest improvements offered by Pratt & Whitney.

And a whole lot more…

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A list of some F-35 upgrades expected in Block 4.

The Block 4 upgrade to the F-35, now estimated to cost some $15 billion over the span of a decade or more, includes a long list of secretive or even classified improvements that those of us on the outside looking in may never know about. In some cases, there are tantalizing clues, like reports of an advanced new form of chaff, commonly deployed to confuse inbound radar-guided missiles, that is so different from previous forms that it’s got a unique designation unlike any before it.

The Block 4 F-35 upgrade also includes a significant improvement in the aircraft’s ability to actively network with other assets, whether sensors or weapon systems, to produce what the Pentagon is now calling a “kill web.” This will include making the F-35’s Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL) compatible with Link 16 datalinks in use by a wide variety of NATO fighters, as well as satellites overhead, while also adding the capability to directly stream live video to friendly forces in the region.

The list, which is admittedly hard to assess because it’s been made intentionally vague, goes on and on — with just about every facet of the aircraft’s capability set seeing some sort of tweak, adjustment, and improvement. These improvements are so expansive that they’ve been reportedly valued at approximately $25 million per aircraft — some 25% of the average per-unit price of the fighter to begin with.

But with this substantial investment comes a dramatic leap in the F-35’s air-to-air and air-to-surface combat capabilities, a massive increase in electronic warfare and sensor fusion power, and more. Once completed, the Block 4 F-35s flying will be so much more capable than their predecessors, that even this platform’s most vehement critics may have to take a step back and re-evaluate their positions.
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Re: US military, technology, arms, tactics

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/ValerieInsinna/stat ... 78432?s=20 ---> Some interesting Boeing defense news: After reducing its planned F-15EX buy to 80 aircraft in FY23, the Air Force is now saying it will buy 104 aircraft (buying 24 aircraft in FY24 and presumably FY25 as well):

Air Force’s FY24 request seeks to retire 310 older planes to invest in its future
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/03/air ... ts-future/
13 March 2023
Building off trends established by the fiscal 2023 budget, the service is asking for even more retirements in FY24 while seeking to launch new efforts like a program to field autonomous wingmen. “We've built a budget that we think has a reasonable balance between current-, midterm- and longer-term investments, if you will, or capabilities,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.
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