RAF'S Blunder And Lighting

RAF'S Blunder And Lighting *By Neil Chandler Daily Star Sunday April 12, 2009 *Analysis: This is an article on F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) extracted/published in Daily Star Sunday April 12, 2009., which makes no sense. We like to add, while the United States is the primary customer and financial backer, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, Australia, Norway and Denmark have agreed to contribute US$4.375 billion toward the development costs of the program. Total development costs are estimated at more than US$40 billion (underwritten largely by the United States), while the purchase of an estimated 2,400 planes is expected to cost an additional US$200 billion. The nine major partner nations plan to acquire over 3,100 F-35s through 2035, making the F-35 one of the most numerous jet fighters. The United Kingdom is the sole *"Level 1" partner, contributing US$2.5 billion, about 10% of the development costs under the 1995 Memorandum of Understanding that brought the UK into the project. (DTN Defense-Technology News) (NSI News Source Info) April 13, 2009: THE £9 billion supersonic jump jet seen as the future of the RAF and Royal Navy will not fly properly in hot weather, say experts. British forces are still flying over hotspots Iraq and Afghanistan – and are expected to be involved in the latter conflict for decades. But early versions of the showpiece F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter are “very limited” in the heat. The new plane will replace the Harrier jump jet and also fly from the new £3.8billion aircraft carriers HMS Prince Of Wales and Queen Elizabeth. In America, F-35s are only doing limited flying in hot weather while the makers try to fix the problem. Sources have told the Daily Star Sunday that the £60million supersonic wonder jets will have limited range and may even have problems landing with weapons on board. That could mean pilots having to dump any bombs that have not been used. The F-35 risks overheating because designers want it to be “stealthy” – so it won’t show up on enemy radar. That means it can’t have the usual air scoops and vents to cool its engine, since they would show up as infra-red hotspots. So pilots need lots of fuel on board to keep the jet cool, restricting mission range. It is an even bigger headache for the British F-35B jump jet model, which already has less range than other versions because its big fan for hovering takes up a lot of fuel space. Defence Technology International editor-in-chief Bill Sweetman told us: “JSF in its current form will be very limited in hot-weather performance and modifications intended to fix the problem won’t start to be tested until 2011 or 2012. “But by that time the UK will be well down the road to building ships that can only operate JSFs.” The Ministry of Defence admits sorting the F-35 for hot weather is “a demanding task” but insists they are on top of the problem and “it is not a programme risk”.