Do you estimate at 150 Planes a year for a few years, we will get the plane under $80 Mill?

This really does make the paltry naval F-18 numbers look silly by comparison. The navy should also be pushing full rate, to get the plane closer to superhornet numbers.

More On champ. Becasue I dont know what thread to post it in.

I will note that this weapon in a F-35 will be dangerous.

 

One of the displays at the Pentagon Lab Day yesterday was the Air Forces’ Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) weapon developed by Boeing under the Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP). AFRL has tested the weapon in 2012, using an AGM-86 Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile used as a surrogate vehicles the Air Force has now selected the stealthy, long-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER) as the optimal air vehicle to carry the CHAMP weapon.

“The capability is real … and the technology can be available today…”

The research laboratory tested the counter-electronics device on the cruise missile at a military test range in Utah, where it successfully shut down a room full of computers. The effect similar to the electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude nuclear explosion.

Major general Thomas Masiello says the technology, which fries electronic equipment with bursts of high-power microwave energy, is mature and will be miniaturised to suite the JASSM-ER.

“The capability is real … and the technology can be available today,” The Air Force Research Laboratory commander Maj. Gen. Tom Masiello said. “That’s an operational system already in our tactical air force,” Masiello says at the science and technology exposition held at the Pentagon yesterday.

 

 

 

The Boeing Company has successfully completed the first flight test of a counter-electronics missile carrying a high power microwave (HPM) payload designed to zap enemy electronic system. The program called Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) is run by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, N.M. The missile’s first flight test was conducted earlier this year at the Utah Test and Training Range at Hill Air Force Base. the tests did not include a live HPM payload. Under the three-year $38 million contract Boeing will provide five missiles, two of which will be integrated with HPM payloads provided by Ktech.

 

http://defense-update.com/20110922_boeing-tests-champ-hpm-missil.html

 

Marine F-35 pilots conduct 'dogfights' during sea trials
29 May 2015 James K. Sanborn

"...During testing, pilots were tasked with launching simulated attacks on each other or intercepting aircraft attacking the ship. The 'dogfights' showcased the aircraft's technology, which is far more advanced than legacy jets. The F-35 has more sophisticated stealth and electronic warfare capabilities — all in a single airframe.

"When you put together the stealth with the situational awareness, with it being connected to all the other airplanes, with the information sharing — this airplane is going to be pretty darn hard to beat," said Maj. Michael Roundtree, one of the test pilots with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 out of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina.

The pilots noted the aircraft's ability to provide "unparalleled situational awareness" through its advanced sensor system, including a $400,000 helmet. The helmet displays all flight data on its visor, allowing pilots to fly without glancing down at their instruments. It also feeds streaming video from an array of six infrared cameras around the aircraft, providing a seamless 360-degree view.

When paired with the aircraft's communications capabilities, F-35 pilots have unprecedented awareness of their environment, Roundtree and his fellow pilots said. Maj. Richard Rusnok, the F-35B detachment officer in charge for Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 22, declined to offer specifics on the aircraft's classified radio system, but said pilots can communicate with the ship each other without using radios. The system, which is shrouded in secrecy, allows pilots to silently and seamlessly divvy up targets [MADL or secret sauce NIFC-CA?]...."

Source: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/m ... /28070165/

No way they could have practiced dogfighting. I thought that according to APA the plane was not capable of dogfighting

 

A kite (Sukhoi) is capable of dogfighting, if the kite driver knows what he does.

 

But the point about APA is noteworthy. Kopp and Goon are quite a  pair, almost as incompetent as Sweetman and Sprey.