Success Month and First F-35 Crash

A USMC VX-35 test squadron F-23B prepares to land on the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. Although the two test vehicles were marked with American citizenship, the British were at the controls - Lieutenant Commander Nathan Gray of the Royal Navy and Major Andy Edgell of the Royal Air Force, both members of the Multinational Test Group in the aforementioned unit stationed at US Naval Base Patuxent River.

September was another big month this year for the F-35 Lightning II multirole combat aircraft program, the most expensive fighter in the world so far in its class.

The exceptional confluence of the past month's major events was due to several factors - the scheduling for this period of testing aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the end of the 2018 fiscal year in the US and the completion of negotiations for the 11th limited-edition order. In addition, there were events with the expansion of the combat use of the F-35, including the loss of one of the vehicles in an accident.

Contract for the next introductory batch

On September 28, Lockheed Martin announced the successful completion of negotiations with the US Department of Defense regarding an order for the 11th batch of low-volume F-35 vehicles. The largest contract to date is 11,5 billion US dollars and will cover the production and supply of 141 copies of all modifications. Lightning IIs are currently in operation at 16 air bases and have flown nearly 150 hours.

Due to the lack of an official statement from the Ministry of Defense, only some details of the agreement are known, disclosed by the manufacturer. The most important fact is another reduction in the unit price of the most massive version of the F-35A - in the 11th batch it will amount to 89,2 million US dollars (a decrease of 5,1 million US dollars in relation to the 10th batch). This amount includes a completed airframe with an engine - Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney are still conducting activities aimed at reducing the unit price to US$ 80 million, which should be achieved by about 2020. In turn, a single F-35B will cost $115,5M ($6,9M down) and the F-35C will cost $107,7M ($13,5M down). USA). Of the ordered vehicles, 91 will go to the US Armed Forces, and the remaining 50 will go to export customers. Part of the aircraft will be built on the final assembly lines in Japan and Italy (including aircraft for the Netherlands). 102 units will be produced in the F-35A version, 25 F-35B versions and 14 will belong to the F-35C airborne version. Deliveries are expected to begin next year and are high on the F-35 agenda. The contract paves the way for the start of detailed negotiations on the first long-term (high-volume) contract, which may even cover about 450 different modifications of the F-35 at the same time.

In the coming weeks, important events of the program will be the distillation of the first serial F-35s to export recipients - Australia and the Republic of Korea, which will thus join Japan, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Norway. , whose F-35 is already one step behind you in this. The embargo on F-35A deliveries to Turkey remains an unresolved issue. Currently, the first two Turkish aircraft are deployed at the Luke base, where pilots and technicians are being trained for a new type of aircraft. Formally, they are the property of the Turkish government and cannot be confiscated by the Americans, but there is always a loophole in the form of a lack of support in the event of a possible transfer to Turkey. The first Turkish pilot of the Lightning II was Major Halit Oktay, who made his first flight on the F-35A on August 28 this year. Congress will agree or not to hand over the planes after reviewing a joint report on the state of political-military relations with Turkey, which will be presented jointly by the State Department and the Department of Defense in November.

Another important aspect of the program is the durability of the structure. In September, the manufacturer and the Department of Defense announced that fatigue testing of the F-35A version showed a trouble-free flying time of 24 hours. The absence of problems may allow further testing, which may allow for a longer service life. As required, the F-000A currently has a service life of 35 flight hours. However, recent studies show that it can be increased to more than 8000 - this can increase the attractiveness of buying an F-10, as it will save money in the future or pay for, for example, equipment upgrades.

Debut F-35B in Afghanistan

According to earlier assumptions, the operational march of the expeditionary landing group, the core of which is the universal landing craft (LHD-2) USS Essex, was an opportunity for the combat debut of the F-35B of the US Marine Corps. The team left the San Diego base in July, and on board were incl. aircraft of this type squadron VMFA-211. At the same time, the United States became the second user of machines of this type after Israel, who used their F-35s in a combat mission.

On September 35, an unknown number of F-27Bs struck targets in the Afghan province of Kandahar, according to an official statement. The machines took off from Essex, which was then operating in the Arabian Sea. Flying over the target meant the need for repeated overflights of Pakistan and aerial refueling. However, much more interesting was the analysis of photographs made public after this event.