Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates

[John Fedup]

This Breaking Defense article indicates that Lockheed’s proposal for an upgraded “Ferrari“ F-35 fitted with a number of 6th Generation systems is gaining traction in Washington & US Defence circles and this could have implications as a potential replacement for the RAAF’s Rhinos & Growlers - the timing should work well to obtain a replacement type that is a significant increase in capability but have some commonality with the existing F-35 fleet. I understand that the RAAF still has options on 28 more F-35’s so it would be great to take delivery of them in the Ferrari version.

“Of the about 2,300 F-35s yet to be delivered to the jet’s customer base, Taiclet estimated that anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 aircraft could be delivered as the “fifth-gen plus” version, even if export restrictions prohibit international buyers from being able to purchase that configuration. Upgrades for those jets could include new weapons, an improved stealth coating and potentially a more advanced engine, he said”

Some of these systems could potentially be retrofitted to the existing F-35’s as part of a mid-life upgrade thus increasing commonality and decreasing logistics costs.

LM is very late with TR3 and block 4 and the ECU, wtf knows when that will happen. Now LM is promoting a 5.5 version of the F-35 with 80% of the F-47 capabilities…arriving sometime after Elon’s landing on Mars

 

[Takao]

Exactly.

At some point, I'd like Lockheed to deliver what we ordered - a fighter than can do some strike and is capable of fighting a peer threat. I get the F-35 is an effective fighter, but my gosh, it's a very deep black hole of finance with questionable return

 

[John Fedup]

Exactly.

At some point, I'd like Lockheed to deliver what we ordered - a fighter than can do some strike and is capable of fighting a peer threat. I get the F-35 is an effective fighter, but my gosh, it's a very deep black hole of finance with questionable return

Sadly true but there is no other viable choice for confronting the J-20 and J-35 not to mention pending future Chinese jets until GCAP and the F47 arrive. The latter may not even be offered.