Modern-Aviation

Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform ground attack and air superiority missions. It has three main models: the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variant, the F-35B short take-off and vertical-landing variant, and the F-35C carrier-based Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery variant. On 31 July 2015, the United States Marines declared ready for deployment the first squadron of F-35B fighters after intensive testing. On 2 August 2016, the U.S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35A fighters combat-ready.

Maximum speed: 1,930 km/h (1,199 mph) Range: 1,379 mi Maiden flight: 15 Dec 2006 Length: 51.41 ft Wingspan: 35.10 ft Types: Stealth aircraft · Multirole fighter.

Developed: Lockheed Martin F-35
The UK is about to commit to the F-35 fighter project, a US-led effort to produce 3,000 aircraft which is set to cost more than £600bn globally.
The initial UK order for 14 F-35Bs will, with support costs added, cost about £2.5bn, Newsnight has learned. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the F-35B was an expensive plane, but one with an "incredible capability".

But critics have questioned Ministry of Defence suggestions that the jets will be combat capable by 2018. The F35-B will be known as Lightning II in UK active service and is going to replace the already retired Harrier.

The aircraft - capable of vertical landing - will eventually be able to fly from new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. The F-35 programme is central to the future of the Royal Navy and the military aerospace sector of the economy, but it has been plagued by development problems, is years late into service and the true cost to the UK is only just becoming clear.

At one stage, the US Marines had hoped to bring the F-35 into service in 2010, but they now hope to do so late in 2015. Many industry experts say this is hopelessly optimistic.

'Number One Risk'
Newsnight has learned that Britain originally intended its F-35s to enter service in 2012.
With 8.4m lines of software, it is by far the most complex fighter ever built, but a Pentagon inspector's report stated that by last summer only 2% of that code was fully up to standard. Much of the plane's software, including that needed to aim and launch weapons, remains to be proven in tests.

Aircraftmaker Lockheed Martin argues that 7.4m lines of the aircraft's software have now been tested, but one senior source familiar with Britain's F-35 programme says continuing software problems are "the number one risk" to the UK bringing it into service on time.

Former Royal Navy chief Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, who now works with Lockheed Martin, believes the new aircraft is vital to maintaining Britain's status as a serious international player.

"By the end of the decade, we are going to have a credible air capability," he said, adding that the Ministry of Defence's original commitment to buying 48 jets "will certainly not be enough".

Worries about risk - financial and technological - have kept the British government from committing to bigger numbers.
Newsnight understands that the first 14 aircraft will be bought for £58m ($96m) apiece. However, once spares, maintenance and initial support are included, the price will be much higher.

Basic Weapon Range
There is concern in the MoD that observers will simply divide the approximate £2.5bn cost of this stage of the project by the 14 planes being ordered, whereas this price tag includes certain support costs for the entire, eventual UK fleet.

One Pentagon estimate last year for an aircraft plus support costs for the first few years came out at £154m ($253m) each.
In planning its own buy, Britain has shown a little more caution than the hard-charging US Marine Corps.

It's planned that the 14 aircraft will form the first operational squadron in 2018, and that by 2020 they will be able to fly from HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Justin Bronk, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, said that even by then, they might be capable only of "going through the motions" - taking off and landing - and not using the more advanced weapons in the RAF inventory.

People in the MoD say they are confident the aircraft will be "combat capable", with a basic range of bombs and missiles, by 2018, although they concede that getting some of the RAF's more advanced missiles to work with the F-35 will not happen before 2022.

However, others in the industry have suggested that 2025 might be a more realistic date for full combat capability, and that funding to "integrate" some of these weapons with the F-35 could come under threat at some future point.

'Air Force back Bone' Mr Hammond said: "[The F-35] will be the world's most sophisticated fighter aircraft with a high level of stealth capability, so it will be able to penetrate enemy defences with very little radar signature, which makes it a very versatile and capable piece of equipment.

"And it will provide a backbone to our air forces, including our carrier power projection for many years to come."

He added of the software issues: "It would be a mistake to think of this as a software that will be completely written when the aircraft comes into service.

"There will be updates of software throughout the life of these aircraft, adding capability as well as dealing with any specific issues that arise when the aircraft is in use."
Ref: UK - BBC News 11.02.14

General Characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 50.5 ft (15.67 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft[d] (10.7 m)
Height: 14.2 ft[e] (4.33 m)
Wing area: 460 ft² (42.7 m²)
Empty weight: 28,999 lb (13,154 kg)
Loaded weight: 49,441 lb (22,426 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 70,000 lb[g] (31,800 kg)
Internal fuel capacity: 18,498 lb (8,382 kg)

Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 1.6+ (1,200 mph, 1,930 km/h) (tested to Mach 1.61)
Range: >1,200 nmi (2,220 km) on internal fuel
Combat radius: 669 nmi(1,239 km) interdiction mission on internal fuel, 760 nmi (1,407 km) for internal air to air
configuration
Wing loading: 107.5 lb/ft² (525 kg/m²; 745 kg/m² max loaded)
Thrust/weight:With full fuel: 0.87
With 50% fuel: 1.07
Maximum g-load: 9
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofan Dry thrust: 28,000 lbf (125 kN)
Thrust with afterburner: 43,000 lbf (191 kN)

Armaments
Guns: 1 × General Dynamics 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-22/A 4-barrel rotary cannon, internally mounted with 180 rounds
Hardpoints: 6 × external pylons on wings with a capacity of 15,000 lb (6,800 kg)and two internal bays with a capacity of up to 5,700 lb (2,590 kg); total weapons payload is 18,000 lb (8,100 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of: Missiles:
Air-to-air missiles: AIM-120 AMRAAM
AIM-9X Sidewinder
IRIS-T
AIM-132 ASRAAM
MBDA Meteor (pending further funding)
Air-to-surface missiles: AGM-88 AARGM
AGM-158 JASSM
Brimstone missile / MBDA SPEAR 2
SPEAR 3
Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM)
SOM
Anti-ship missiles: Joint Strike Missile (JSM)
Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM)
Bombs:
Mark 84 or Mark 83 or Mark 82 GP bombs
Mk.20 Rockeye II cluster bomb
Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) capable
Paveway series laser-guided bombs
Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)
Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) series
AGM-154 JSOW
B61 mod 12 nuclear bomb

Role: Stealth multirole fighter
National origin: United States
Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
First flight: 15 December 2006 (F-35A)
Introduction: F-35B: 31 July 2015 (USMC)
                       F-35A: 2 August 2016 (USAF)
                       F-35C: 2018 (USN)
Status: In service
Primary users: United States Air Force
                        United States Marine Corps
                        United States Navy
Produced: 2006-present
Number built: 231[a] as of March 2017
Program cost: US$1.508 trillion (through 2070 in then-year dollars), US$55.1B for RDT&E, $319.1B for procurement, $4.8B for MILCON, $1123.8B for operations & sustainment (2015 estimate)
Unit cost: F-35A: $94.6M (low rate initial production lot 10 (LRIP 10) including F135 engine, full production in 2018 to be $85M)
F-35B: US$122.8M (LRIP 10 including engine)
F-35C: US$121.8M (LRIP 10 including engine)
Developed from: Lockheed Martin X-35