Jets & Planes but no UAV's here.

[MarkSheppard]

Some F-35 information:

Belgium -- They got presented with their first F-35 in December 2023; but it will be 2025 before a F-35 lands at Florennes Air Base (2nd Tactical Wing) and 2027 for Kleine-Brogel Air Base (10th Tactical Wing); as the first eight Belgian F-35s built will go to Luke AFB in the US to train Belgian pilots in the US.

Finland: F-35A deliveries to begin 2026.

Germany: F-35A deliveries to begin 2026; IOC 2028.

Canada: F-35A deliveries to begin 2026, first squadron IOC 2029.

Norway: Unit 279; has a start date of 1/122 -- Norway reached IOC in November 2019 and scrambled their first F-35s to intercept Russian aircraft in March 2020. Also is still labeled "F-35 JSF"

Poland: F-35A deliveries to begin 2024 to Luke AFB for training of Polish pilots in USA. Actual deliveries to Polish airbases won't occur until 2026.

Switzerland: F-35A deliveries to begin in 2027.

Czech Republic: F-35A deliveries to begin 2031, FOC in 2035.

Greece: F-35A deliveries to begin 2028; IOC around 2030 or later.

Romania -- they sent a letter in November 2023 to the USA saying they want 48 x F-35A for three squadrons, but no contract has been signed as yet; the aim is for them to replace the F-16s in Romanian service from 2030 onwards.

[MarkSheppard]

First flight of Turkish Kaan fighter.

https://twitter.com/Fighterman_FFRC/...40414035206331

Program started 2010; maiden flight Feb 2024, planned for production to about 2029/2030...ish for Block 10; with future mass production of Block 20 onwards from 2034 or whatever.

[DRG]

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/ukraine-pl...kaan-fighters/



I am not going to rush these into the game........aside from having 2 engines it's a near dead ringer for the -35

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Well, the next comes from the realm of from some of us as "We told you so." concerning the F-35 versus A-10C in the much-publicized competition back in 2018.

The funny thing was we only got "cryptic" reports of the results.

Well, the following is indicating the USAF kept them for the most part quiet and didn't even write up the full results until 2022.

During this period attempts to get the results, several petitions filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) were filed.

The conclusions from the below were drawn from those documents though heavily redacted for National Security reasons.

What this does is just verify what a small handful here said in the beginning concerning these aircraft in the CAS role from what little there was on the web at the time.

The video shows the F-35 Fleet have just been cleared (Again) to resume normal operations (F-35B) and IOC/OP Testing (F-35A/C).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...9539813&ei=108

The number have been cut again for this year to only 25-35 aircraft.

We've re-engine them 3 times. The biggest and still ongoing issue being the onboard logistics issues though that is slowly getting better and so many other issues to count.

We are stuck in a "LOOP" that sees the few new jets coming off the line with the latest fixes and in some cases having to "ground stop" the fleet to install the critical fixes on the existing jets.

Not a good way to run any program.

Regards,
Pat

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

I know I brought this up awhile back but are we going to see the Ukrainian jets armed with the "standoff" weapons they've gotten since last Fall?

Also, tracking down "bits" saying their HINDS have been modified for HELLFIRE. I'm not seeing what I want to at this moment to ask for them.

I know your clock is fast running out.

Regards,
Pat

[DRG]

Originally Posted by FASTBOAT TOUGH

I know I brought this up awhile back but are we going to see the Ukrainian jets armed with the "standoff" weapons they've gotten since last Fall?

Also, tracking down "bits" saying their HINDS have been modified for HELLFIRE. I'm not seeing what I want to at this moment to ask for them.

I know your clock is fast running out.

Regards,
Pat

It would be helpful to know which "standoff weapons" you are specifically referring to.

There are no hellfires in the UKR OOB yet although...

https://dsm.forecastinternational.co...duction-fades/

Suggests I should add it but that link also suggests it's production is coming to an end

the HELLFIRE is operational in Ukraine, engaging targets it was originally designed to defeat instead of destroying pickup trucks full of wannabe terrorists. Yet, history is unlikely to repeat itself (at least this time). Any spectacular combat success gained by HELLFIRE in Ukraine will not stop its eventual production conclusion.

They are also using the Swedish RBS-17 which is a Hellfire derivative which is also not in the UKR OOB BUT ..........surprise, surprise, surprise. The Dumping ground OOB for the worlds weapons is running out of free weapons slots so for the RBS-17/Hellfire we may need to amalgamate them into one to conserve space and that won't make anyone happy as Hellfires have two weapons classes as they have different uses some are ATGM and some are air to surface missiles and the RBS-17 was designed to be an anti-ship missile\

And to give all the error ferrets something to chew on in the Swedish OOB the "Hellfire Team" fires a "RBS-17 AntiShip" WC 13 ( ATGM ) and that may very well be what ends up in the Ukraine OOB ONCE I FIX THE DAMNED THING as it has no HEAT pen so it's useless as an ATGM and it's been like that FOR TWENTY YEARS. There may be a reason lost in the mists of time that explains why a WC13 ATGM was given 0 HEAT pen but I don't recall what it might be

I SUSPECT it was set up this way as it was not intended for AT work. What they are good for in a ground role in Ukraine is unknown to me at this time

And yeah Pat.....it's all getting ( really, really ) old

[MarkSheppard]

https://twitter.com/Korea_Defense/st...88577479946710

The Republic of Korea Air Force paid tribute to its remaining F-4E Phantoms at Suwon Air Base on 08 March 2024.

As of March 2024, only 10 F-4E Phantoms remain, having been mostly replaced by F-35A. The remaining aircraft are scheduled to be fully retired in June 2024.

Going from F-4E to F-35A must be a huge for the pilots

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by DRG

And to give all the error ferrets something to chew on in the Swedish OOB the "Hellfire Team" fires a "RBS-17 AntiShip" WC 13 ( ATGM ) and that may very well be what ends up in the Ukraine OOB ONCE I FIX THE DAMNED THING as it has no HEAT pen so it's useless as an ATGM and it's been like that FOR TWENTY YEARS. There may be a reason lost in the mists of time that explains why a WC13 ATGM was given 0 HEAT pen but I don't recall what it might be

I think it comes down to what the RBS-17 was intended for use against -- Sweden bought it for their Amphibious Corps (Amfibiekåren).

Seems that the idea was that helicopters or fast boats would drop off Amfibiekåren units who would quickly set up defenses on otherwise uninhabited or sparsely inhabited areas.

https://www.militaryfactory.com/smal...llarms_id=1341
https://web.archive.org/web/20070101....com/rb17.html

The robot platoon in the AMF consists of 3 fire units which in turn are divided into robot and illuminator groups.

An illuminator group consists of 4-5 men who move with a G-boat.

The robot group consists of 9-10 men and moves with Stridsbåt 90H.

The entire robot platoon groups the advance along the enemy's likely path of advance, that way you can quickly open fire when/if the enemy shows up.

As part of the development of the HSDS (HELLFIRE Shore Defense System), the HEAT warhead of the normal Hellfire was replaced with a blast-fragmentation warhead to be more effective against small boats and landing craft. (it's why it has HEAT=0 in the OOB)

Additionally, the control logic of the missile guidance computer was changed to better work against surface (ship) targets.

This isn't the only specialized anti-landing craft ATGM made -- the South Koreans, Taiwanese or Japanese (I forget who) had a special TOW made with a different guidance wire section in order to use the missile at longer ranges over open water against incoming landing craft -- normal TOW can't operate over water over 'x' meters, because the guidance wires eventually touch the ground.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

This has been in the works since Oct. 11, 2023, when the State Department approved the foreign sales request from Denmark to Argentina of their F-16 fighters the same one the Ukraine will be receiving.

What strikes me was Britian did not block this sale as they have done in the past since the Falklands War of any Fighter aircraft foreign sales to Argentina.

Also, these fighters are much more modern with an arms package we're also selling them being more "modern" then expected.

I already knew that since 2015 when the MIRAGE III fighters where retired from service that the ONLY fighter they were flying was the A4 SKYHAWKS.

What I didn't know however was that in 1994 they bought 36 UPDATED A4's from us that were flown by the USMC. They've had some updates along the way but, from the time of purchase those jets would be known as the A-4AR Fightinghawk.

The A-4AR will be replaced on a "one-to-one" which for RL & Game will keep them operational until DEC 2025.

What drove this? See the "breaking news" Argentina wants to join NATO and the talks have been ongoing. We have also sold them our latest version of the P-3 ORION Anti-Submarine and Surface Maritine platform.

There also up until a little over a year ago was the Chinese effort to sell them the JF-17 Fighter as flown for some time now by Pakistan.

Some "Cut and Paste" to make things easier for "The Boss"...

"After the signing of the deal, the first F-16 with the insignias of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina was unveil unveiled. The aircraft, the F-16BM 86-0199/ET-199, is painted in dark grey “Have Glass” color scheme, with full color Argentine flag and roundel. Interestingly, the F-16 was also armed with an inert GBU-31 JDAM and BRU-61 rack with four GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs. " (They are getting these. )

"According to Argentine newspapers, the package also includes AIM-120 and AIM-9 missiles (Non-starters for us.), while other weapons will be acquired directly from the United States. The whole deal is worth about $ 300 million which, according to a government spokesperson, is below the market cost of the aircraft."

"In their current configuration, the F-16s sold to Argentina were initially delivered in the Block 1, Block 5 and Block 15 configuration and later upgraded up to the Block 20 Mid Life Update configuration, with capabilities considered comparable to the F-16C Block 50/52 configuration.
https://theaviationist.com/2021/02/0...f-16-aircraft/"

By the way we are currently building those new F-16's.

From some other sources they should have the first six by the Fall also it is my understanding their Pilots are in Denmark training already.

I would expect it more than "reasonable" for FOC START Argentina in OCT 2024.
https://theaviationist.com/2024/04/1...-breaks-cover/

Regards,
Pat

[MarkSheppard]

F-4E retirement moving forward:

https://theaviationist.com/2024/05/1...r-south-korea/

On May 9, 2024, the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF) F-4Es flew in formation with KF-21s to mark the type’s upcoming retirement. A sole F-15K served as chase plane and took photos of the flight. The formation, consisting of four F-4Es and two KF-21s flew around the Korean peninsula, covering all major cities outside of Seoul. The three-hour flight covered the following regions of Gyeonggi-province (Suwon, Pyeongtaek), Chungcheong-province (Seonghwan, Cheonan, Cheongju, Chungju), Gyeongsang-province (Uljin, Pohang, Ulsan, Busan, Geoje, Daegu, Sacheon), and Jeolla-province (Yeosu, Goheung, Gageodo, Gunsan).

...

During part of the flight, two KF-21s joined the formation over the skies of Sacheon, home to Korean Aerospace Industries’ manufacturing plant and headquarters. The formation symbolised the KF-21 taking over the F-4E’s role of protecting the nation’s sky. The first batch of KF-21s are expected to be come out later this year 2024 and achieve Initial Operating Capability (IOC) by 2026. Current F-4 and F-5 squadrons are scheduled to be the first ones to receive the new KF-21s.

...

A Korean Spook wearing a red scarf has and a Spook holding an AGM-142 Popeye missile were specially created for this occasion. Specifically, the Spook holding the Popeye missile is wearing the traditional battle gear of a Chosun dynasty military officer. The F-4Es were the sole operators of the AGM-142s and the remaining stockpile of munitions were all fired prior to the aircraft’s retirement

...

With the official retirement ceremony of the F-4E scheduled for June 7, 2024 at Suwon Airbase, the remaining 19 ROKAF Phantoms are still scheduled to fly around until the last few days.