People focus on stealth as the determining factor or delineator of the fifth generation, it isn’t, it’s fusion. Fusion is what makes that platform so fundamentally different than anything else. And that’s why if anybody tries to tell you hey, I got a 4.5 airplane, a 4.8 airplane, don’t believe them. All that they’re talking about is RCS (Radar Cross Section).Just plain wow.
Fusion is the fundamental delineator.
And you’re not going to put fusion into a fourth gen airplane because their avionic suites are not set up to be a fused platform. And fusion changes how you use the platform.
What I figured out is I would tell my Raptors, I don’t want a single airplane firing a single piece of ordinance until every other fourth gen airplane is Winchester. Because the SA right now that the fifth gen has is such a leveraging capability that I want my tactics set up to where my fourth gen expend their ordinance using the SA that the fifth gen provides, the fifth gen could then mop up, and then protect everybody coming in the next wave.
I don't know air combat but that really sounds like you're attempting to give a fighter plane the AWACS mission. Additionally notice how the definition of 5th generation is changing...via Wikipedia...
The exact characteristics of fifth-generation jet fighters are controversial and vague, with Lockheed Martin defining them as having all-aspect stealth even when armed, Low Probability of Intercept Radar (LPIR), high-performance air frames, advanced avionics features, and highly integrated computer systems capable of networking with other elements within the theatre of war for situational awareness.[1]There is no doubt that 4.5 gen airplanes have advanced avionics...as a matter of fact according to the latest reports they carry superior avionics to those that will enter service with the F-35.
So they're attempting to move the goalposts and influence the uninformed. The pressure from the PAK-FA, J-20 and J-31 are already pushing the Pentagon to look toward the 6th gen fighter but the damage to our nations defense caused by the F-35 are already stark and growing.
The whole thing is going from the criminal to the insane and now to the "what the fuck" right before our eyes.
Fact. The Pentagon has sacrificed modernization of its ground forces to put into service an airplane that is already obsolete, is in many ways inferior to the planes its due to replace and is expensive beyond all reason. We won't even compare it to Russian and Chinese stealth jets...the Japanese and Koreans know this. That's why they're beginning work on their own jets.
Fact. The messaging for this airplane has spiraled out of control. More and more mainstream news outlets are asking questions...not simply repeating the talking points from the program office.
Fact. The President is pushing so many social programs that in order to keep from putting the US deeper into a financial hole, the Republican defense hawks will be lucky to draw the line at current spending. With the dynamic of attempting to increase defense spending while holding the line on social spending the politics will be plain awful.
Result. Sequestration will continue. The plane will either be cut or the numbers ordered reduced.
This year will be telling. Even if they can somehow get it into service the issue is already settled. This program is a failure.
Somebody better tell the boys at SLD Info that the Super Hornet has sensor fusion, although it's call MSI I or MSI II, depending on the SCS version. The SH doesn't have the pano cockpit display (yet - it's part of the ASH package,) or the HMD of the F-35, but consider this: the JHMCS that the Super Hornet does have factored heavily in the loss of a -E off the coast of Virginia last year. The pilot lost SA and ejected at over 600kts, breaking both arms and other injuries, but luckily he survived. HMDs have to be *perfect* or you risk giving the pilot vertigo and/or loss of SA.
ReplyDeleteThat's why this F-35 is such a joke. The SH naval implementation already has many of the elements of this so called sensor fusion (marketing bullshit) already. There are also straight forward evolutionary add-ons such as the pano display, JHMCS, or conformal weapons bay, or engine upgrades that continue the advancement of it as a platform. The E-2D are a critical link as are the jammers (Growlers). Not to mention, two man crew versions for a second "brain" in the cockpit.
DeleteSo, the real key to air combat is having an AWACS? Or apparently a stealth, AWACS? Where the single pilot will replace the entire AWACS crew?
ReplyDeleteSomeone better tell the Navy they just waisted a crap load of money on the E-2D then.
extremely well said. what i can't wrap my head around is that the USN and USAF both are looking at future warfare from two extremes. the USAF is saying its going to be all stealth and sensor fusion is the winner. the USN is saying that electronic warfare and advanced missiles (payloads over platforms) is the key.
Deletei wonder why some think tank isn't tackling the problem and wargaming who is right in a couple of theoretical battles.
Probably not enough good data to publish anything. What I would expect is it ending up back at the 1st grade playground argument of "I shot you first!"
DeleteIf I go out and buy a thirty year old car I can get a new stereo installed along with parking sensors and a reversing camera. It's not quite as elegant as in a brand new car out of the factory but it is possible. Why can't the same done with older airframes once the avionics are sorted?
ReplyDeletePropaganda nuts at SLD.... now compare their bullshit to various DOT&E reports. Big difference.
ReplyDeleteThis is why the Milestone C production decision is scheduled for not until April 2019, after the completion of operational testing (which follows development tests), and the evaluation of those tests. There should not be any production until that time beyond the prototypes required for test.
ReplyDeleteBut of course the JSF program is producing planes, and pro-Lockheed people like Hostage are making claims. without the test and evaluation evidence.
Meanwhile, the new test report is out and where's the progress?
2015 DOT&E Report (through Oct 2014)
Overall suitability continues to be less than desired by the Services, and relies heavily on contractor support and unacceptable workarounds, but has shown some improvement in CY14. Aircraft availability was ?at over most of the past year, maintaining an average for the fleet of 37 percent for the 12-month rolling period ending in September.
2014 DOT&E Report (through Oct 2013)
Overall suitability performance continues to be immature, and relies heavily on contractor support and workarounds unacceptable for combat operations. Aircraft availability and measures of reliability and maintainability are all below program target values for the current stage of development (37% for operational training fleet).
? = fl, as in "availability was flat"
DeleteI posted this comment on snafu a while back.
ReplyDeleteI read an article recently which included an interview with USMC Colonel (ret.) Art Tomassetti who might correctly be called the father of the F-35B.
“Turbo” Tomassetti began his career with the F-35 in 1998 when he joined the Joint Strike Fighter Test Force, where he became the lead government test pilot for the X-35, the Lockheed Martin demonstrator for the Concept Development phase of the program.
After Lockheed Martin won the downselect and the X-35 became the F-35, Tomassetti followed the program to Fort Worth, Texas, where he represented the US Marines during the System Development and Demonstration phase of the program.
Turbo's the go-to guy on the B, so I was interested in his answer to the question: "What impact will the F-35 have on US Marine Corps operations?"
I thought I'd read about how great the B will be in its CAS role, vital to the Corps. But this was Turbo's quizzical response.
"The F-35 will have a significant impact on the Marine Air-Ground Task Force in bringing fifth generation capabilities and flexibility. It will be an important node in a networked battlespace by gathering and disseminating information, which can increase the overall situational awareness for Marines on the ground as well as for Marines and other friendly forces in the air."
A balloon could do that.
ADDED: I believe I saw some news that “Turbo” Tomassetti is no longer retired, and has a nice job at .....Lockheed.
from the recent DOT&E test report--
ReplyDelete...fusion of information from own-ship sensors, as well as fusion of information from off-board sensors is still deļ¬cient. The Distributed Aperture System continues to exhibit high false-alarm rates and false target tracks, and poor stability performance, even in later versions of software.
Fusion
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, you have a map, a compass, and to be fair, a GPS co-ordinate receiver
On the other, you have a smart phone with a GPS map and route planning system.
Guess who can find his position faster?
Guess who can get back to base faster?
Guess who can call down accurate fire support quicker?
The same or more applies to a fighter aircraft, with multiple on board radar, IR, ECM intercepts.
thats not even close to being a proper analogy of whats being discussed here. thats the most twisted example i've heard in a long time and i'm not even an aviation guy and i know its jacked up.
Delete