I found this on another forum. I have been following the JSF program for years at this point, and I have gone from being "less than enthralled" to "OMG OMG OMG OMG" over the past two or so. This guy's post has done a lot to allay a lot of my lingering concerns about the aircraft. My only real questions now are technical ones (for example, I have yet to see a top speed listed. If it's going to pull fleet defense, it had damn well better be able to match the F-14 since it sure as hell doesn't pack Phoenixes under its wings.)
Anyway, the post with particular points of interest highlighted and a few comments added on my part:
Some pictures of the sim's cockpit that the guy posted (as far as I know, these are to spec of the real one. I've never seen a picture of an F-35 pit, but it looks about right):
This made me laugh because not six months ago I was marveling at the pictures of the F/A-18E pit which replaced virtually all instrumentation with several MFDs.
Anyway, the post with particular points of interest highlighted and a few comments added on my part:
That is some seriously cool stuff, a lot of which I haven't seen detailed anywhere else. It sounds like it may actually be a halfway decent CAS platform.I've been following the JSF (and Raptor) programs pretty closely since their early years.
This is an exact copy from another form of what I wrote a couple weeks ago:
I just came back from a JSF briefing. It was by LM and given by a Vietnam MiG killer who flew F-16s in DS and Balkans (5,000 total fighter hours, 3,000 if F-16). He told it how it was pretty much and didn’t try to embellish anything. Take it how you will though. I’m just presenting what I saw. The whole thing was "full public release; distribution unlimited" so therefore I can share it here. It was also good because some of the prior things that did not fall into the category last year and the year before do now, so hopefully you learn some new stuff about the JSF.
Quick things first:
Weight problem fixed. They got 2,700 lbs off the STOVL, and because of the common parts, 1,500 off the AF version. In addition, P&W modified their engine for 600 lbs more thrust with no weight gain.
First flight for the AF version Sept 2006
Marine version assembly late 2005
9 main companies with the program
UK
Italy
Netherlands
Turkey
Canada [lol canada. I'm sure they'll rename it "C-35" or something.]
Australia
Denmark
Norway
Two other that fall into a 'different' category; I didn't really understand what it was.
Israel
Singapore
Current cost for CTOL $45 million
Current cost for CV/STOL $55 million [To compare:
F/A-18E - $60 million
F-15E - $50 million]
Uninstalled engine thrust
39,800 lbs Max AB --most powerful fighter engine ever made
25,000 lbs MIL [To compare: The engines that the F-16C use (Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-200/220/229) provide ~27,000 lbs]
Current Combat radius (full internal weapon load, hi-hi-hi profile, 1 minute of Max AB, fuel reserve, ect)
CV 851 NM
CTOL 730 NM
STOVL 482 NM [Very impressive... The F/A-18E only manages ~400 nm, and that isn't even with a full load]
C-17 requirement for 30 days of combat operations with 24 aircraft
F-16: 13
F-35: 6
Emergency deployment and 7 days of operations
2
A-10 loiter time with two JDAMs (I know, unrealistic) 2.5 hours or so
F-35A with same (I know, not enough for true CAS)
2.25 hours or so
maximum weapon load is 18,000 lbs on up to 11 stations [as a comparison, the F/A-18E can carry 17,750 lbs.]
The DAS helmet mounted display (where you can look through yourself and the aircraft) has 20/40 vision right now but will be 20/20 or better in a few years. It has three options, off, on with only the instrument panel floating in front of you, or on with nothing except complete, unhindered 360 vision
The HMD has an integrated night vision that displays on your visor when needed [fucking awesome]
Voice activation controls a significant portion of aircraft functions (much more than other voice activated aircraft)
3-d audio
You hear your wingman in your speakers according to his position (behind you, to the side, ect) [that is ridiculously cool]
You hear the ground troops and GFACs where they are on the ground when talking to you
Incoming missiles have directional warnings... no more straining to find that incoming missile that's in the clouds
The EOS includes
AA FLIR
AG FLIR
passive laser tracker
active laser designator
4x optical zoom
Due to its sensors and vast amount of information it takes in, the JSF can serve in the ISR and ELINT role to a limited extent. It can go deep behind enemy lines, suck up all signals, and send it back though a datalink so RC-135s and the like don’t have to get to close to the action
They seem to be answering the guys complaining about the CAS capability of the JSF. A significant portion of the update was focused on that
The AGP-81 has full AG mode with SAR radar. They didn't tell the distances, but you can zoom in enough to visually ID the individual vehicles (eg, tell the difference between an M1 or T-72)
At closer ranges, this can be backed up with the EOS system (good enough to target individual people from 10 miles and 10,000 feet).
These images can then be beamed directly to ground forces or GFACs. The GFACs or ground forces can look at these images, tell the pilot which is the target, which are friendlies, and then send that info back to the pilot so he can target them with weapons. That info can also be data linked to the CAOC.
The will be having a combat ID system that visually shows the pilot in his displays and on his HMD exactly where the friendlies and enemies are. It will also visually show what the GFACs want and don't want killed. The pilot can then zoom in and separate very close contact enemies.
CAS payload will be 16 SDBs (each able to take out a vehicle or tank), 6 JCM (joint combined missile--a Mav/Hellfire follow on in development) and cannon with 182 DU rounds or in some cases up to 400. Cannon will only be extreme last ditch weapon and not used for normal operations.
After, I asked about danger close situations where the A-10s gun is required because bombs (even SDBs) or MAV type weapons are too close.
He said it’s a big issue and they can use laser guided 2.75 in rockets. They can kill individual people very close to friendly forces, kill vehicles, ect, and they 'can strap on huge amounts of the rocket packs'
They showed an interdiction video using the F-35. I can't really explain everything since it was 9 minutes long and I was getting information overload just trying to follow along, but a couple points
The F-35 flies almost the entire mission on autopilot except for take-off, landing, and over the target area. The rest of the time, the pilot is too busy trying to take in the vast amount of information from all the sensors. The situational awareness of the air and ground environment is crazy. Two MiG-29s are in the area, and the F-35 are seeing exactly what the F/A-22s see, see which raptor is targeting which mig, see which missile is heading to which target and the time of flight for the missiles. The DAS system registers when the targets explode.
The Raptors leave, but two Su-27s scramble to cover the target area. The F-35s continue on their course, go in AA and AG mode pretty much at the same time, turn to fire their missiles, turn back to the ground target to continue their mission. Autopilot and aircraft systems automatically jam/spoof incoming missiles as the pilot is focusing on AG stuff. Bombs drop, aircraft goes back on autopilot, turns around and lands.
I was trying to figure out why the pilot needed to be in the cockpit. Everyone else was too. All the pilot really did was look at the displays, target, and drop weapons. The aircraft flew itself. There was no reason the pilot had to be in the cockpit. All the information needed was on the displays, DAS and Night vision is already projected on the HMD. Sensors cover 360 degrees of the aircraft and already have displays to accurately and efficiently show that to the pilot in the cockpit. There would be nothing missing from putting the pilot in the cubicle, giving him the same cockpit display and HMD, and having him fly from the ground. The only problem I see is bandwidth.
That wasn't nearly the goal of the brief, but everyone left realizing how close pilot are of being out of the cockpit. They will still be flying for a while—from the ground, but there is no reason for them to be in the airplane any more.
I wish I had the video because its full public distribution as well, but I don't. It might be on LMs website.
They also brought an F-35 cockpit sim, so I'm going to try and get picture/fly it tomorrow.
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Someone asked about the DAS:
Yes. Its a black and white picture. You get 360 degree coverage day or night. Its IR based so it won't work as well in the weather. For the STOVL guys, it will be nice to look directly below them while landing (which is controlled by autopilot as well). You can land the F-35 STOVL your very first try.
Google in DAS (distributed aperture system) and you will find a pretty good amount of information.
In fact, I just quickly found these articles.
http://www.aviationtoday.com/cgi/av/show_mag.cgi?pub=av&mon=0903&file=0903jsf.htm
http://www.codeonemagazine.com/events/apr_04/apr04_events22.html
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I went back today and looked at the sim. It modeled a STOVL JSF. It had the included HMD (a cheap representation) but the DAS system was not working so they didn't use it.
Push a button, it goes into VTOL mode. Pull the throttles back to idle. Pull back on the stick. You climb vertically how much you pull back on the stick. Its not like the Raptor of Viper, the stick has a lot of play.
Release the stick, it goes back hover. Push forward, you go down. Left and right stick moves you left and right. Rudders yaw.
Push a button to go to normal flight mode and it says it can't do it through some beeps. You raise the gear and push the throttles forward. The aircraft automatically raises its nose and lowers as needed to keep exact altitude while its moving forward. You don't touch the stick or throttle. It does it all its self. Once its gets fast enough, all the doors and stuff close and the nozzles moves forward. From there, you put your hands back on the controls and fly away. Its performance and roll rate looked almost exactly like an F-16.
To go back in vertical mode, you once again push that button. It tell you it can't do it. Reduce the throttles and once you get slow enough, it does the reverse (once again, hands off the controls). There are switches on the throttle to input constant forward or reverse speeds in VTOL mode. If you push a button, it automatically goes to 0 speed and you hover.
I got to talk with the people a little more. The one guy was the one I first posted about and the other was also an ex F-16 driver.
I brought up a few questions you guys asked here.
1. Yes, the JCM was cancelled. The Air Force didn't care yet because they have other weapons. The Army is PISSED and is fighting to get it back. That was their TOW and Hellfire replacement.
2. Autopilot: Yes, the autopilot flies just about the entire fight. He said that every air force pilot comes in say "I'm not going to use the autopilot, I'm going to hand fly this thing" They all leave using the autopilot. It is IMPOSSBILE to fly the JSF while trying to take in all the information the aircraft absorbs from the outside world. Again, its IMPOSSIBLE. The guy said the Air Force pilots were extremely experienced with thousands of hours in F-15s and F-16s. They couldn't do it.
Besides for the information overload the reason for the autopilot is that the autopilot can fly through and evade enemy systems much better than any human possibly could.
After asking, the F-16 blk 60 avionics are very similar in many ways to the JSF (minus a few things like the DAS). The USAF didn't want to buy that because its holding out for the JSF.
IOC is 2013 right now for the AF.
Israel wants this thing so bad that they said they will buy all the aircraft the US isn't in the event that the US reduces its orders like it has been doing with the F/A-22.
About the man being in the cockpit, the reason why is exactly why I thought. There is just such a vast amount of bandwidth its impossible to do now. There is just no way of beaming that over the airwaves.
I can't overemphasize the amount of information pumped to the pilot.
Some pictures of the sim's cockpit that the guy posted (as far as I know, these are to spec of the real one. I've never seen a picture of an F-35 pit, but it looks about right):
This made me laugh because not six months ago I was marveling at the pictures of the F/A-18E pit which replaced virtually all instrumentation with several MFDs.
