Developmental and Test + LRIP

2011 - 9
2012 - 29
2013 - 35
2014 - 36  (109 built by end of 2014)
2015 - 45
2016 - 46
2017 - 66  (266 built by end of 2017)







High Rate Production kicks in

2018 - 91  (357 built by end of 2018)
2019 - 130 (487 by end of this year)
2020 - 145
2021 - 150
2022 - 150
2023 - 160+ (1092+ by end of 2023)

500th fuselage section already built and delivered by Northrop-Grumman February 25th, 2019

Damn that's a fat plane.

But vaporware

Look at the fat fucks building the damned thing.  The radar absorbent coating is probably just congealed nacho cheese at this point.

Maybe compared to a tiny Harrier, sure.  But it's far more aerodynamic than all of the aircraft it's replacing when you combat-configure them.

Maybe a dumb question, but why would we allow pictures of the inside of factories like this to be released?

Maybe it's the lines or something, but it looks bloated.

Lots of internal fuel and weapons load, YO.

Wow. Rude

Great post.

Tag for another awesome thread

Internal weapons bays make it look a bit chonky.

But, it's more aerodynamic than hanging things off wings.

Which it also does.

Still there's no getting around the fact that it just doesn't quite have the lines of an F22.

Attached File

Nothing sensitive is revealed, plus the Clinton's sold high speed aircraft manufacturing technology to the Chinese in the 1990s.

The F-35 line uses a new type of production method based on decades of lessons-learned from the F-16 production line though, so the production operations have been planned and executed with a focus on efficiency of operations without as much bottle-necking.

Seems to be working out as planned now that they ironed out the kinks with the early birds and LRIP.

She aint fat, she got junk in the trunk. She purdy

There's a cool video of how they build them, let me see if I can find it.

Some size comparisons to legacy single engine and lightweight fighters:



The F-35A carries 18,500lb of internal fuel.

The F-35B carries less internal fuel due the lift fan taking up space, but it still carries about twice the internal fuel of an F-16.

Here's a pic of the underside during construction:

Let's not forget all of the ones we built before we worked all of the bugs out, that we won't upgrade to standard, that won't ever see service in an operational squadron.  Hundreds of F-35's wasted

Found it.

The size comparison to a Mig 21 is particularly interesting to me.

If Poland buys F35s one of the types they will be replacing is the SU22. A literal flying antique.

But!

Cheap to operate, apparently.

Yeah, but do you remember that Boeing thing that was competing against it?

That thing was Buffett Slayer fat.

The overwhelming majority of those jets aren't being updated because they are going get all their flight hours used up on training missions. We could waste money on updating all the combat systems to the latest versions unnecessarily if we wanted to though.

Compare that to the few hundred early model F16s that got sent to the boneyard with low hours.

With a mouth to match.

They've already been in heavy use in:

* Fighter conversion training squadrons for the USAF, USMC, USN, Danes, Norwegian AF, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, ROK Air Force, Japanese Air Force, etc.

* Test squadrons at Edwards, Pax River, and Eglin

* Fighter Weapons School at Nellis AFB

Instead of needing all sorts of structural changes to these aircraft, the vast majority of changes have been software, which is upgradable as part of the F-35's avionics architecture approach to adaptability.

We did the same thing with F-4Cs, F-15As, F-16As, and are doing it with F-22As.  There are 20 early production lot/block 10 F-22As dedicated to conversion training, with 160 combat-coded Raptors.  I don't hear anyone complaining that their fighter conversion Raptors don't have the Helmet-Mounted Sight, AIM-9X capability, radar ground-mapping modes, Small Diameter Bomb delivery capability, or the April 2016 Raptor upgrades, because it doesn't matter.

So F-35 pilots who train on early LRIP birds at Luke AFB, MCAS Beaufort, or NAS Lemoore will have all the systems features they can handle during their first times in the jet, getting used to starting, taxiing, take-offs, patterns, formation flying, and landings.

When they get to their squadrons, they will do intensive combat systems management training on ground sim stations to learn all the mission profiles their squadrons cover down on as part of their service and regional taskings at that time, and then employ those profiles in operational training sorties, to include live weapons delivery as scheduled.

So if a dude trains on a Block 1 production bird that was brought up to 3i software, it isn't a big deal when he gets to his squadron with 3F, as they're preparing for transition to 4 anyway.

Block 4.3 F-35s will have some minor structural changes to the weapons bay to be able to carry 6 x AIM-120s.

Some of the structural changes that were initiated because of F-35B weights benefitted the As and Bs as well, so those were added to the mass production line.  This has no real bearing on the early production birds, and I've seen plans to retrofit some of the LRIPs structurally as well in the cases where it helps with airframe life span.

Also, just like we did with previous aircraft, birds get moved around all the time.

If a Squadron has some of the early LRIP birds, as the airframe hours rack up on them or new birds roll off the line several years down the road, they'll pull the old birds and replace them with new shiny ones, and send the old birds through depot-level checks and inspections with some changes and upgrades if needed, then send them to the training, test, or weapons test units.

Go track the history of any particular F-16 for example and see how many times they've been assigned here, moved there, then moved over here, then sent there.

And because someone is going to bitch.

Attached File


The proposed F32.

Still chonky. But got kind of an updated F86 vibe.

... sometimes I miss working in that environment - American aircraft factories that design, develop and manufacture military hardware are great to work at. At least in my experience

Don't forget about the F-35's that Italy and Japan are building.

F-22 production line - just 'cause.

@KA3B

I've been wondering for awhile. What is 601 supposed to mean?

Unreconizable error?

Or maybe its just stealth

NOT a sexy aircraft

Thanks for posting this. Awesome

Great, now we need a 712

....or not.

The dark canopy makes it look like it's wearing sunglasses.

In person they look pretty sweet.  No pics but there are some F-35Cs over Fallon this week.

Seems like there wouldn't be much room for the radar in the nose of that aircraft.  I guess the nose is bigger than it looks, but the HUGE air intake makes the look small in comparison.

They actually look pretty good from the boom pod.  From most angles they look like a fat girl though.

They are growing on me.  Most anytime I drive by hill AFB I see them buzzing around.   I am liking them now.

Louder than hell though.  But that’s awesome.

Yeah, well bitch sucks like a hoover.

fuk commies, and if this is our gift to the air gods, we gonna win.

Do they build all three variants on the same line, or different lines in the same building for the different variants?

Same line no difference in firing order.