Two F-35 Demo Teams Showcase and Contrast Roles and Capabilities of Joint Strike Fighter.
If you’re fortunate, you get to see one or two aviation firsts in your lifetime. At the Battle Creek Field of Flight Airshow on July 2-3, 2022, aviation lovers acquired to see two. The Field of Flight Airshow at Battle Creek Executive Airport, Kellogg Field, in Battle Creek was the primary time the U.S. Navy’s F-35C Demo Team flew at a Michigan airshow.
More considerably, it was the primary time each the U.S. Air Force F-35A Demo Team and the Navy’s F-35C Demo Team flew at the identical present. The two Joint Strike Fighter demo groups highlighted the variations between the Navy and Air Force variations of the F-35 and how their distinctive capabilities and crews complement one another.
The convergence of the 2 demonstration groups supplied a useful perception into the progress of the general Joint Strike Fighter program. This first-ever assembly of the F-35 demos additionally showcased the inter-service capabilities of the Joint Strike Fighter program.
And, it was an opportunity for aviation followers to see two beautiful flight demonstrations regardless of the cancellation of Saturday’s flying because of a tragic accident that claimed the lifetime of U.S. airshow performer Chris Darnell within the crash of the Shockwave Jet Truck.
The timing for this double-demo was good. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter first flew 15 years in the past in December, 2006. The first operational F-35s have been deployed 9 years later with the U.S. Marines in July of 2015. The program grew to become a lightning rod of criticism and fiscal concern throughout the first decade of testing and integration into operational service. Much of the mainstream reporting about this system was poorly knowledgeable and closely biased as prices escalated and schedules have been stretched. During this time, most people had issue greedy the capabilities of this system, lots of that are complicated, problem historic fight plane paradigms or stay categorized.
But in keeping with Senior National Security Business Correspondent Lauren Thompson of Forbes, and F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin, a September 2021 report mentioned that the F-35 program, “…expects to reduce its portion of the fighter’s cost per flight hour by 40% over the next five years, which would be consistent with a similar reduction over the previous five years”.
Additionally, unit price of the F-35 has fallen persistently through the years, though this pattern in per-plane price reductions is anticipated to stage off in coming years.
In a February 19, 2021 article by Defense Analyst and Correspondent John Tirpak in Airforcemag.com, Tirpak reported that, “In the Lot 12, 13 and 14 deal, announced in October 2019, there were 478 aircraft, and Lockheed’s unit price for the F-35A model fell below $80 million apiece for the first time. The Lot 12-14 contract reduced F-35 unit prices nearly 13 percent over the previous lots, and marked the sixth successive year of unit price reductions.”
Tirpak’s article went on to cite Lockheed Martin Vice-President of Aeronautics, Gregory M. Ulmer, as saying, “We’re working to keep a cost-neutral position for the next production lots”. Ulmer and Tirpak cited the brand new “Tech Refresh 3”, that Tirpak writes will embody, “upgraded software, improved core processor, [and] new cockpit display” as elements for a leveling-off of price reductions within the F-35 program. Lockheed V.P. Ulmer instructed Tirpak that, “We’re working to keep a cost-neutral position” for the subsequent manufacturing heaps.
But despite the fact that the initially controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has loved vital fiscal and operational fight successes, many pundits nonetheless have a tough time acknowledging the success of the F-35 program, even after a decade of strong developments.
“A decade ago was a long time ago,” USAF Major Kristin “BEO” Wolfe instructed TheAviationist.com in Battle Creek this weekend.
Maj. Wolfe is the Commander of the U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II Demonstration Team, 388th Fighter Wing, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and the group’s lead demonstration pilot.
Maj. Wolfe went on to say, “Obviously, any program is going to have its criticisms early on and go through its different types of struggles. Especially being multi-service, international, you’ve got a lot of hands in the pot trying to design one single airplane that make it fit for everybody.”
U.S Navy F-35C teacher and demo pilot, LTCR. Daniel “Jiggle” Slater, instructed TheAviationist.com, “When it comes to the inter-service portion of it, it is great to have a lot of parts commonality. As far as the design goes, we think that the ‘C’ model’s got a great platform for the Navy with its big wing, and can carry tons of gas. As Navy pilots, we love that. It gives us a lot more tactical fuel before we have to go max endurance and land back on the ship. The F-35’s doing a great job for us so far.”
Slater, who has flown catapult launches from plane carriers within the Navy’s massive-winged F-35C mannequin, instructed TheAviationist.com that early criticisms concerning the entrance touchdown gear bobbing throughout catapult launched have been, “Not really a big problem. They adjusted the [nose landing gear] damping a bit”.
But airshow flying is totally different than actual-world fight. Availability and readiness of frontline, operational F-35 items in each the Navy and Air Force have additionally improved considerably in keeping with pilots Slater and Wolfe. And now, Air Force, Marine and overseas F-35 operators like Israel have actual-world fight expertise within the plane.
“The squadron at Hill [AFB] was already deployed. A squadron just came back from another AOR (Area Of Responsibility). We’re full-up, ready to go, flying combat airplanes. These are combat airplanes that have been on deployment,” Maj. Wolfe mentioned.
When requested if the media and common public nonetheless has issue understanding the capabilities of the F-35, Maj. Wolfe mentioned:
“Probably. There’s stuff that you don’t see out there. Like, you barely see that we had a squadron in Spangdahlem [Air Base, Germany], or now we have a squadron in Guam. That really doesn’t make it out to the media. Nobody [in media] really knows what they’re doing out there. I can tell you they’re doing their mission that they trained to do- both in Europe and in Asia. It’s very hush-hush. Sometimes that makes people a little skeptical.”
From a historic perspective, cynicism in a joint-service, one-aircraft-matches-all answer for tactical air fight is effectively based. Beginning in December, 1964, the General Dynamics F-111 was imagined to be a one-plane match for each the Navy and Air Force. Then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who got here from an automotive manufacturing background as former President of Ford Motor Company, used early unfold-sheet evaluation of price effectiveness to “prove” the fiscal case for the joint-service F-111. But McNamara wasn’t a fighter pilot. He was an accountant. And that will have been an element within the F-111’s early issues.
The F-111 program got here on the heels of ongoing success with the McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II, a legendary multi-mission fight plane that ultimately served with each U.S. air arm and the air forces and navies of nations world wide with resounding success. Two air forces, Iran and Greece, proceed to make use of the multi-mission, multi-service F-4 Phantom II in the present day, making it the unique “Joint Strike Fighter”.
But McNamara’s F-111 one-plane-matches-all fiscal idea met with operational catastrophe. The F-111 by no means did make it into operational service with the U.S. Navy. The preliminary deployment of Air Force F-111s to Vietnam was a calamity. In March and April, 1968, three F-111s have been misplaced in Vietnam, seemingly because of persistent flight management issues. Four years later in 1974, after upgrades, the F-111 returned to Vietnam the place it did have appreciable operational success within the later levels of the battle. The Navy went on to develop its personal plane with Grumman, the F-14 Tomcat, which was conceived as a fleet-protection interceptor. The F-14 did end its operational service as a strike plane nonetheless, nicknamed the “Bombcat”.
But for the F-35 program, the primary ever twin-look of two operational Joint Strike Fighter demo groups at one airshow was a watershed second. And whereas, particularly with the F-35 program, the capabilities aren’t about aerobatics and flight demos, simply the frequency of seeing F-35s flying impressively within the airshow field has shifted public notion in some circles.
“Now we’re fully spun up doing 25 shows a year,” Major Kristin “BEO” Wolfe instructed TheAviationist.com. “Everywhere we go- we haven’t been too many places twice- we see people that have never seen the airplane fly. They say, ‘Wow! I did not know it could do that!’, just because they’re reading all the articles and it’s very hard to tell people it’s a very capable airplane. We can’t even show off everything in an airshow environment that we actually do tactically. It’s kind of the crowd-pleasers [at the airshows] versus the combat capabilities.”
And despite the fact that each the Navy and the Air Force F-35s proceed to assemble airshow followers with their increasing schedule of demos, as Maj. Wolfe says, the F-35’s actual-world fight capabilities will not be about airshow performances. They’re about actual-world fight, one thing the F-35 has completed very effectively at to this point throughout all of the companies.
The Aviationist thanks Mr. Bretten Bailey and the complete media group at the Battle Creek Field of Flight Airshow together with the U.S. Air Force F-35A Demo Team and the U.S. Navy F-35C Demo Team for their variety help and entry for this report.
Tom Demerly is a function author, journalist, photographer and editorialist who has written articles which are printed world wide on TheAviationist.com, TACAIRNET.com, Outside journal, Business Insider, We Are The Mighty, The Dearborn Press & Guide, National Interest, Russia’s authorities media outlet Sputnik, and many different publications. Demerly studied journalism at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan. Tom Demerly served in an intelligence gathering unit as a member of the U.S. Army and Michigan National Guard. His navy expertise consists of being Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia (Cycle C-6-1) and as a Scout Observer in a reconnaissance unit, Company “F”, 425th INF (RANGER/AIRBORNE), Long Range Surveillance Unit (LRSU). Demerly is an skilled parachutist, holds superior SCUBA certifications, has climbed the best mountains on three continents and visited all seven continents and has flown a number of kinds of gentle plane.
