Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning and F-22 'Raptor' : News & Discussion

Oups :
https://news.sky.com/story/uk-has-m...ilots-to-fly-them-ben-wallace-admits-12735825
UK has more F-35 fast jets than pilots to fly them, Ben Wallace admits
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says "our pilot pipeline is not in a place I would want it to be".
Deborah Haynes

The UK has more state-of-the-art F-35 fast jets than pilots because of problems with flying training, the defence secretary has revealed.
The Ministry of Defence only has just over 20 of the next-generation £100m warplanes but cannot even man all of them, Ben Wallace confirmed.
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"It's a shambles," a former Royal Air Force officer said.
Speaking to a committee of Peers, the defence secretary described the situation as "quite a challenge", claiming that the deficit in pilots was also because the F-35 Lightning aircraft is new.
However, the Ministry of Defence formally announced its intention to buy the jets - a programme led by the United States and the US defence giant Lockheed Martin - back in 2006, and the first British pilot flew one in 2010.


The defence secretary conceded that the military's flying training - beset by delays, with pilots waiting up to eight years to qualify instead of the target time of between two-to-three years - was a key factor.
"Our pilot pipeline is not in a place I would want it to be," Mr Wallace said.

He had instructed Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the head of the Royal Air Force, to sort out flying training as his only priority more than three years ago. Yet - as revealed by Sky News over the summer - it is still in crisis.
The F-35 is one of the UK's most expensive and coveted equipment programmes, with the jets seen as bringing a new level of capability to the armed forces because of their sophisticated radars, sensors and other pieces of covert equipment.


Analysis: RAF's three simultaneous crises put Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston under pressure
Britain originally intended to buy 138 of the F-35 jets over time.
However, at present it has only bought 27 of the aircraft.
One of them is out of use after crashing into the sea off one of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers last year, three more are in the US, leaving just 23 in the UK to be used by Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm pilots.
The pains a country goes through, to introduce new aircraft. I'm sure that isn't the only issue.
Where the poor French don't have enough planes ready to fly. What you won't hear the frog trolls say. Is that their Rafale pilots will only fly 147 hours next year. Far short of the required NATO minimum of 180. From what I have seen, most air forces do over 200 hours
 
The French are a joke. It's good you can laugh at yourself too.

A report on the challenges the French Air Force will face in 2023 has revealed an alarming training deficit for both fighter and transport pilots.

In his report, Parliament member Frank Giletti explained that fighter pilots are only expected to fly 147 hours in 2023, against 162 in 2022. This is below NATO standards, which require that a combat pilot fly a minimum of 180 flight hours annually.
 
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The French are a joke. It's good you can laugh at yourself too.

What's the funny saying... The French they are a funny race they fight with their feet and bang with their face. :LOL:
A report on the challenges the French Air Force will face in 2023 has revealed an alarming training deficit for both fighter and transport pilots.

In his report, Parliament member Frank Giletti explained that fighter pilots are only expected to fly 147 hours in 2023, against 162 in 2022. This is below NATO standards, which require that a combat pilot fly a minimum of 180 flight hours annually.
How hard is it to maintain a 4th gen fighter? It's not like they have a 5th gen plus different types of 4th gen fighters to also maintain like the US. The French only have two types a fighters, Rafales and Mirageez.

I know IAF and folks in here like to boast a 70%+ availability for their Rafales but when you only have 36 and fly each one of them once a week for an hour well of course you're going to have high availability rate.
 
It seems transport and helicopters are even harder for them. I wish India well with 75% in a few years. Getting 20% more than the french get at 55%

India's planes are now new and just delivered. They wouldn't have accurate numbers yet.

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Indias
 
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The French are a joke. It's good you can laugh at yourself too.

A report on the challenges the French Air Force will face in 2023 has revealed an alarming training deficit for both fighter and transport pilots.

In his report, Parliament member Frank Giletti explained that fighter pilots are only expected to fly 147 hours in 2023, against 162 in 2022. This is below NATO standards, which require that a combat pilot fly a minimum of 180 flight hours annually.
Yes that's a spurious excuse, the Indians have deployed more Rafales than the UK has F-35s, since more recently, and yet they have enough pilots.
As for what a member of parliament says, nobody pays attention, they are not experts in the field, they tell what they are told to tell, and all lies are valid as long as they bring in more budget.
 
Quality and availability of Rafales is so bad that pilots are only expected to fly 147 hours in 2023, against 162 in 2022. This is below NATO standards, which require that a combat pilot fly a minimum of 180 flight hours annually.

Either that or the whole French air force "quality" is bad which is why every aircraft of the French air force availability rate is of a third world country. :sneaky:
 
Quality and availability of Rafales is so bad that pilots are only expected to fly 147 hours in 2023, against 162 in 2022. This is below NATO standards, which require that a combat pilot fly a minimum of 180 flight hours annually.

Either that or the whole French air force "quality" is bad which is why every aircraft of the French air force availability rate is of a third world country. :sneaky:
Yeah, because french AF is so "3rd world" is why during Inherent Resolve, the US entrusted the command of Task Force 50 in the Persian Gulf to the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. Sure. Clown.
 
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Espain-ish is going Rafa... F-35. 😛

Margarita Robles quietly finalizes the purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the US
The Secretary of State for Defense also maintains secrecy and avoids citing the F-35 as an option to the Air Force's F-18 and the Navy's Harrier
Juan Pons

A small cell of the highest confidence of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has already finalized negotiations with the US Department of Defense and the Lockheed Martin industrial corporation for the purchase of the F-35, the fifth-generation stealth fighter of which more than 840 aircraft are already flying in the air forces of 17 nations.

With the express prior authorization of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, the small Spanish team has sought counterparts with the US military-technical delegation and "have already agreed on the general outlines of the transaction," say sources familiar with the details. The Spanish Air Force needs to replace its more than 50 modernized F-18 fighters from the 12th Wing (Torrejón) and 15th Wing (Zaragoza) over the next decade. And the Navy needs to start replacing by 2029 its dozen veteran AV-8B Harrier II Plus that make up the 9th Squadron of its Aircraft Flotilla.

The start of the formal F-35 procurement process will be formalized in the coming months. A government-to-government agreement through the FMS (Foreign Military Sales) system is the mechanism by which Washington's defense department facilitates the sale of weapons systems, equipment, services and training to allied or friendly powers.

The total number of aircraft in Spanish demand is kept under lock and key. The aim is to obtain an initial batch of at least twenty F-35A aircraft for the Air Force and another dozen in F-35B vertical take-off configuration to renew the L-61 Juan Carlos I aircraft carrier's air projection potential. Once the contract is signed, the Spanish requests will enter the production line of the immense F-35 factory that Lockheed Martin has in Fort Worth, Texas, where thousands of orders are accumulating, making it practically impossible for the first units to arrive in Spain before 2030.

The Euros want the most advanced air to air, AG and ISR fighter to ever fly it's friggin no-brainer.

Btw it is done... the encirclement of France by F-35's is complete. Luckily for France sucker countries still exist that will buy Rafale although these nations are not allowed to join the affluent F-35 club. Away yee peasants! Lulz.
 
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\o/
Can you remind me of the last time Australian industry designed, produced and exported high value-added military equipment? (#ohwait?). No you can't. Who is a joke then?
I invite you to show less arrogance and very much more modesty.
We haven't built an aircraft by ourselves since WWll. What we do, I won't bother saying. If you had an interest, you would know. I commented on Picdelamirand-oil and Amarante finding 147 hours a year very funny. It is good they can laugh at themselves, with a joke aircraft.
 

Government finally admits defence equipment mess​



The Australian
Amid lingering tensions with China, Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have finally disclosed to the public the equipment mess in Australian defence.
Around 2001 the US was considering an expanded role for the F-22, but we chose the high risk JSF-F35, which is still plagued with countless problems.
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