USAF not F-35 thread

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17 years 7 months

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Last time I checked significant difference generally meant somewhere between 1.5% to 5% increments.

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15 years 5 months

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tipping is a special case, where 10-15 cent or 1.5% can be considered a significant tip on a 10 dollar meal,
here, a generous tip would simply transform into a blatant and quite rude show-off going up to a 10% one dollar tip

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12 years 3 months

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For the interested, the USAF FY '16 Budget breakdown is available at the airforce financial management site:

http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/budget/

Interesting tidbit, an AMRAAM D costs 978,000 for FY '16 and goes down from there.

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16 years 2 months

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So thats essentially what he is saying as well. The F-15C/D is going to be secondary to the F-22 and F-35 fleets, which would ultimately play a secondary role to the fighters that will look to replace them well into the future. No one is going to claim that the F-15C even with AESA and newer EW gear is going to be a cutting edge fighter in the 2030's nor will it act as such since its operator would have a sizable next generation fleet by then. As per the current plans the F-35 acquisition winds down in 2038 and by then the F-X should be in LRIP if not full rate of production. Depending upon how development, and budgets pan out you would be looking to either replace the F-15C/D's with the F-X (replace F-22+F-15C fleets) or continue buying more F-35's if there are cost or technical challenges developing or producing the F-X.

UCAV's would obviously be in addition to this.

@FBW, I suggest you change the title of the thread :)

Spuddy, like many US orientated folk, assumes the Typhoon, Rafale and Gripen are equivalent to the F-15.
He also assumes that only US tactics and methods are relevant.
Anybody with a little more knowledge than just the US and US types knows those assumptions are inaccurate.
Thus to claim that because the F-15 will become less effective the Typhoon etc. will also do so to the same degree is also inaccurate.
Nic has done a good job of setting out how UCAV's will complement the current European fighters in the future.

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F-22 fires Aim-9x for the first time:

http://www.janes.com/article/51375/f-22-notches-first-guided-aim-9x-sidewinder-firing

http://www.airforce-technology.com/news/newsusaf-test-fired-two-guided-aim-9x-sidewinder-missiles-from-f-22-raptor-4575760

Eleven years after aim-9X entered in USAF service and three years after the last F-22 was delivered...

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And at least five years before the F-22 gets any real competition.

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As of now weapons upgrades are tied to block upgrades. This is true for most programs in the US. UAI is an effort to change that as you can field multiple weapons even in between updates thanks to the streamlined effort. It has already been rolled out in the F-15E and F-16 fleets and should be available to the F-35 fleet in the early 2020's. Aim-120D integration on the F-22A should also occur fairly soon and they plan on having an HMS as well around the end of the decade. Slow progress yes, but as mentioned above by Rii, it really has marginal impact on what rolls its likely to play in the next few years. It can be argued that giving it a SAR capability (which it does) is much more relevant to the immediate future.

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Any signs ie pics or videos of F-15E models with AIM-9X?

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Yeah they carry them..Here's the SG carrying

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Saw this elsewhere on the web and thought it deserved a mention particularly given the heated debate about low level penetration and RCS over on the Rafale thread:

http://defense-update.com/20150506_sabr_gs_radar_for_b1b.html#.VVRuIPlViko

New AESA radar for the B1B with details of its ability to map and operate at different angles depending on which way the aircraft is facing in relation to the ground and those hunting it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]237437[/ATTACH]

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18 years 2 months

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Has the USAF ordered this radar for the B-1B? How long will they continue to operate the B-1B?

Edit: just looked further into the article:

The development of SABR-GS took place under a $21 million risk reduction contract awarded in 2011 by the Air Force B-1 Systems Program Office. Northrop Grumman has demonstrated in flight, the advanced B-1 AESA and advanced sensor and fusion processing, readying the radar for the engineering, manufacturing and development phase.

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12 years 3 months

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Has the USAF ordered this radar for the B-1B? How long will they continue to operate the B-1B?

Edit: just looked further into the article:

They've not set an hard out of service date. They've said that it will serve "at least through the 2030's"

Some of the upgrades are needed and well overdue. Some of the crews were still buying handheld GPS receivers well into the Afghanistan conflict.
Some of the recent work:
http://defensetech.org/2014/02/21/air-force-begins-massive-b-1b-overhaul/
http://www.airforce-technology.com/news/newsboeing-upgrades-usaf-b-1b-lancer-aircraft-fleet-4569025

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Will the B1's AESA be bigger/more modules than its fighter counter parts?

And just a thought.... Why not turn the B1 into a long range EW platform? Can you imagine the amount EW power
it would bring. It would be able to carry many AGM-88 missiles and jamming pods.

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19 years 9 months

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Will the B1's AESA be bigger/more modules than its fighter counter parts?

Yes, Its 3 times the size of the F-16 SABR.

And just a thought.... Why not turn the B1 into a long range EW platform? Can you imagine the amount EW power
it would bring. It would be able to carry many AGM-88 missiles and jamming pods.

The Core component jammer looked at that.

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It's a shame they canceled it. B1 would be better suited in my opinion.

But i guess they went with this?

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Shocking, the senate cuts money from the LRS-B to keep two programs the airforce does not need or want. In 2020, congress will be wondering why the new bomber project is behind schedule and over budget after years of cutting money at the front end of the program. SOS in Washington.

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/05/sasc-markup-whacks-lrs-bomber-adds-12-super-hornets-6-f-35bs/