1) From an article in the Canadian Military Journal, vol. 12, no. 3, summer 2012 (the general certainly remains committed to the F-35):
NORAD in 2012 – Ever Evolving, Forever Relevantby Lieutenant-General Tom Lawson with Captain Michael Sawler
Lieutenant-General Thomas J. Lawson, CMM, CD, MSc, is a very experienced fighter pilot who has commanded at all levels and has held a variety of senior staff positions, including Assistant Chief of the Air Staff from 2009 to 2011. He is currently the Deputy Commander, North American Aerospace Defence Command.
Captain Michael Sawler, MSc, is the Business Relationship Manager for the NORAD J3 (Operations) in Colorado Springs, Colorado…
Fighter aircraft must possess a wide variety of capabilities, including extensive range, endurance, speed, survivability, the ability to perform air-to-air refueling, advanced reconnaissance capabilities, and interoperability with other military assets. While our current fighter aircraft, the CF-18 Hornet, is capable of performing its tasks at this time, it is reaching the end of its effective operational lifespan. It needs to be replaced. Analysis of these capability requirements for a new fighter has “… made it clear that only a 5th generation fighter could satisfy our needs in the increasingly complex future security environment. We need a capability that helps us carry out our core missions of defending the sovereignty of Canadian and North American airspace through NORAD, providing Canada with an effective and modern capability for international operations, and effectively conducting joint operations with our Allies though NATO or a coalition.”9
Currently, both Russia and China are in the process of developing 5th generation fighters of their own. If they have the capabilities provided by these advanced aircraft, and NORAD cannot match them, the current symmetry would end. As a simple example, a 5th generation fighter, due to its stealth properties and its more advanced sensor suite, will ‘see’ a 4th generation fighter well before it is spotted in return. Also, it must be noted that it is impossible to upgrade a 4th generation fighter into a 5th generation fighter. Stealth must be expressly designed and built into a fighter from the outset…
Please. NORAD does not need to “match” any foreign fighters’ stealth capabilities. The potential aerial threat is from bombers. China has no long-range bombers capable of threatening North America while Russia does. Stealth would be of use if incoming bombers had fighter escort–but I have seen no indication that they might have. So no need for stealthy fighters to deal with escorts.
Moreover, stealth is actually a negative for the bomber intercept mission. In fact it is most unlikely RCAF F-35’s would be flying in stealthy mode with only internal weapons carriage (external missiles vitiate stealth) should actual combat appear a possibility:
…
How many internal air-to-air missiles with the F-35 carry? Will the weapons bays be designed to carry six AAMRAAMs?
Four internal air-to-air missiles is the current requirement and capability. New, smaller developmental weapons and suspension and release equipment may increase the capacity in follow-on development, but no firm weapons and suspension and release equipment candidates to accomplish this have been identified to date…
Four missiles are hardly enough to deal with Russian bombers each carrying several cruise missiles (see below). There’s also the fact that F-35s on air intercept missions would almost certainly carry external fuel tanks–also negating stealth–to have the necessary range.
In any event radar-evading stealth is superfluous for anti-bomber continental air defence. Bombers do not use radar to detect defending fighters since that would simply reveal the bombers’ position. Hence no need for stealth for our fighters.
More earlier on air-launched cruise missiles from a knowledgeable friend:
…
Russian Long Range Aviation is getting a lot of investment, including the new nuclear and conventional KH series ALCMs, which have just been publicly declared as coming into service [see here and here].
The New START treaty favours the bomber/ALCM combination because the aircraft counts as one, not an assigned multiple of deliverable warheads as the bombers did under older arms control agreements. Thus a Bear-H with eight missiles is one on the nuclear counting protocol…
2) The Israeli deal:
The Pentagon has reached an agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp on a $450 million program to enhance electronic warfare equipment on the F-35 fighter jet, and integrate Israeli-unique systems beginning in 2016, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The deal, to be finalized in coming weeks, marks a big step forward for Israel’s $2.75 billion agreement to buy 19 F-35 jets, which was signed in October 2010 and includes options for up to 75 of the radar-evading fighters…
The deal will allow increased participation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program by Israeli companies, including Elbit Systems Ltd and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, which will start building wings for the radar-evading warplane [emphasis added]…
Agreement on development of the new Israeli version of the F-35 will allow Israel to install its own radio and datalink systems, as well as other equipment, on the jets it is buying…
Lockheed and its subcontractors are building the stealthy warplane for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps along with Britain and seven other co-development partners — Italy, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands…
Will the Israelis be able to participate industrially on a similar footing as other partner nations? If so they will not be very happy. From another story (with a lot more technical detail):
…
Israel has not been a founding member of the F-35 program but based on the order and options it has committed to, Israel is expecting to share about one billion US$ worth of buyback related to the F-35 program. The system integration deal currently in the making will allow an increased participation of Israeli industries in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program…
Hmm.
Mark Collins is a prolific Ottawa blogger
1ce65 Responses to “Mark Collins - F-35: Flim-Flammery From a Senior RCAF General/Israeli Deal”
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July 27th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Here’s an intriguing tit-bit from AW&ST:
“…defense planners in both countries [the US and Israel] have accepted the fact that stealth is a perishable product with today’s designs good for 5-10 years, while the airframes themselves will operate for 30-40 years; this will drive them to adopt advanced cyber and electronic warfare options to protect their aircraft as they mature…”
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_07_23_2012_p48-475840.xml
It should be taken in conjunction with these posts:
“F-35: More on Possible USN Wobbling/US Costs”
http://www.cdfai.org/the3dsblog/?p=1265
“Rethinking Military Technology: USN CNO”
http://www.cdfai.org/the3dsblog/?p=1306
Stealth may not be that magical an asset in the not-to-distant future. The USN, for its part, takes EW/jamming very seriously:
“The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are expected to outspend each of their sister services roughly two-to-one on electronic warfare (EW) programs during the next decade…
The second-largest EW program for the 10-year period is the Navy’s proposed Next-Generation Jammer with about $2.1 billion in spent funds or expected funding. The Jammer is slated to replace the ALQ-99 jamming pods on EA-18G Growler aircraft…”
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_07_23_2012_p26-478217.xml
Mark Collins
July 27th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
The USN is also pursuing this alternative to manned strike fighters–stealthy UCAVs:
“Lockheed Martin unveils Sea Ghost concept for USN’s UCLASS program”
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2012/07/lockheed-martin-unveils-sea-gh.html
Mark Collins
July 27th, 2012 at 6:15 pm
The Canadian aspect of continental air defence put another way.
Suppose the Russians could escort their bombers with stealth fighters. How effective against that incoming force of bombers, with several cruise missiles each, plus the escorts, could the smallish fleet of RCAF F-35s operating in stealth mode be? With only four internally carried air-to-air missiles each and no external fuel.
Good luck.
Mark Collins
July 28th, 2012 at 9:53 am
UK latest:
‘UK slashes F-35B numbers but might look to split buy with F-35As
By Robert Hewson
7/27/2012
UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has signalled a major revision to the UK’s plan for procuring the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), with a sizeable cut in the expected number of F-35B short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft purchased and the possible acquisition of a second variant: the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A.
In remarks on 19 July in the United States, Hammond said the UK would order 48 F-35Bs to equip the UK’s future carrier strike force. He added that a follow-on F-35 buy would be set out in a future Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), with the aim of replacing the Eurofighter Typhoon in UK service.
Hammond was in the US to attend the handover of the UK’s first F-35B (BK-1) at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed his comments, telling IHS Jane’s : “The defence secretary said that initially the UK would buy 48 jets for the aircraft carriers and announce at a later date what the final numbers would be. We will not finalise our decisions on the F-35 programme until SDSR in 2015.”‘
http://www.janes.com/products/janes/defence-security-report.aspx?ID=1065969970&channel=defence&subChannel=business
Remember the original UK commitment was for 138 F-35Bs:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18919388
Heaven knows if after the next SDSR they will be able to afford any A-models (or more Bs).
Mark Collins
July 29th, 2012 at 11:41 am
Note also that the RAF will be using its non-stealthy Eurofighter Typhoons for the air defence of Great Britain, not F-35s:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/gallery/typhoonairdefence.cfm
And only 107 operational Typhoons for all purposes in the end:
http://www.cdfai.org/the3dsblog/?p=131
Mark Collins