F-35 global MRO details announced

Australia, the Netherlands, and the UK will be the first to set up maintenance, repair, AGS overhaul facilities outside the US for the F-35 fleet. MRO work and upgrades during 2021-2025 will be performed at these facilities. They will perform work on 65 of a possible 774 components.

Eventually South Korea will be added to the MRO list. The DoD has assigned 48 components to the UK, 14 to the Netherlands, and three to Australia. Beyond 2025, the European need will be completed by the UK (51 components) and the Netherlands (14).

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Australia have a big order of a version of f-35s and alot of analysts are not happy about it..... They comment on the maneuverability not being as good as what the Russians have supplied Indonesia, lacking against China and trying to be a Jack of All trades but a master of none.

a reply to: ms898

They're also basing that on a test that was about something else. Almost all the complaints about lack of maneuverability come from a supposed dogfight test between an early non-production F-35 and an F-16.

a reply to: ms898

I don't have a link to that report.

However if you read it completely. It does go into detail about what the pilots were doing.

And the one paragraph makes sense after you read what they were doing.

There are two problems with the F-35. It seems to only win in scenarios where it still has first shoot capability. It lacks the ability to carry air to ground weapons in sufficient quantities.
If it is seen by any enemy it apparently is a doomed craft. So its enemies will spend much more effort in out numbering it.

I think that it is a good aircraft to have, but I think it shouldn't be relied upon for all types of missions.

a reply to: Fools

It will be hard pressed for anything to get into a position where the F-35s can't shoot first. They also won't be operating in a vacuum. On day one they'll be operating with F-22s to open the door. On later days either stealth won't matter as much, and they'll be carrying their pylons, or they'll be going stealthy and acting as forward sensor platforms for other shooters.

Saw this last night, a positive of this kind of distribution is it will be a hard aircraft to kill with attrition.. If the lines all flow right the wait for spare parts or depot service should be much shorter.

a reply to: bra1nwash

That's one reason they decided to go this route. With aircraft being spread all over the world, it's far better to have depot facilities for them, without having to fly them to the US, where there's a backlog. That's one lesson the US has been relearning, hard in the last few years. The Navy is so far behind in all their maintenance it's not funny, and the Air Force is being hurt by only having one or two places to do depot work on the heavy platforms.

originally posted by: Fools
F-35... So its enemies will spend much more effort in out numbering it.

You describe a winning strategy used by our planners before : outspend the enemy to oblivion .
Very well put.
Odds are the American military aviation community are not banking on a lemon ... and , I admit they know much more than I when it comes to such things .
Beautiful ship , in MHO .
Thanks , OP.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It probably will not have F-22's backing it up in many places, there are not that many F-22's. Certainly aren't any in Australia or Israel.

I believe also that low band radar can detect them, just without much accuracy, but enough to know they are in the area. That of course would allow enemy craft time for evasive action and also to try and pinpoint missile launches as opposed to the aircraft itself.

My thoughts are that we need to deploy the first line of these aircraft promised, keep them as stealth attack only (much like f-117) and then bring the F-15 back into production as a missile launching platform that is integrated with f-22's and existing awacs infrastructure. It would be much cheaper.

Also possibly bring in a new program to replace the f-16 fleet with something much less expensive and more able to perform air to ground tasks.

I am just really worried about a scenario where China and Russia have a few stealth themselves and obviously have a larger amount of 4.5 Gen to carry out the actual grunt work. Have any of you seen how much Russia and China have built up their 4.5 Gen fighters? For Russia, right now, its like they build 5 times the fighter aircraft per year than we do.

Russia may build a lot more craft than the US, but in reality what percentage of their fleet is serviceable and ready to go?

It's kind of like their ground armour, they have the numbers, but when it comes to it they have problems with maintenance that drastically lowers the numbers of vehicles they can employ.

a reply to: Fools

We're also not going to be seeing a situation where the F-22s are spread all over the world fighting either. There hasn't been a situation where the US, or its allies were fighting alone in a long time. Even if the F-22s are busy, there are other platforms coming up, such as the PCA family, that will serve the role as well.

Russia and China both have production and reliability issues. Yes, they have a lot more 4+ and 4.5, but they're not all available at any given time, due to maintenance issues.

Stealth is improving rapidly against low frequency radars. We're not far from seeing a true multifrequency stealth aircraft flying.

originally posted by: AussieNutter
Russia may build a lot more craft than the US, but in reality what percentage of their fleet is serviceable and ready to go?

It's kind of like their ground armor, they have the numbers, but when it comes to it they have problems with maintenance that drastically lowers the numbers of vehicles they can employ.

I have some news for you, and I hate to say it, but the USAF, USN, and Marines are having maintenance issues as well. It does seem that we have less than Russian/Chinese manufactured weapons, but I am thinking that they are probably doing better as time goes on.

Still, not to be a total Debbie downer, I do applaud the fact that the F-35 is finally getting in service. That and I trust that Lockheed (because it pays the best for the best talent) will probably continue to improve whatever faults it may have.

One other slight problem I do have with it though is why we will soon only have 1 company making combat aircraft. I think putting all of our eggs in one basket is asking for it.

a reply to: Fools

The big difference is that our maintenance issues, while bad, are temporary. Both Russia and China have a long history of reliability issues, from engines to airframes. We'll have our problems under control within a couple of years, after the backlog catches up.