The supposed “sale” of F-35s to Israel has more work to do.
Spice and the very good Python 5 air-to-air missile probably won’t be integrated into the jet because it costs too much. At this point; why bother? The export friendly stealth of the F-35 won’t be able to stand up to any big threats that could end up in the Middle East over the alleged life of the program.
Some other news; Block 4 and other post SDD phase blocks–which were mostly notional fairy dust used to impress the gullible sheep–are even less firm; maybe a software upgrade of more PowerPoint slides is needed?
U.S. program officials may also defer some capability from the Block IV aircraft into later blocks. Burbage says there are 150 capabilities sought that lack funding. Integration of a sea-strike missile is likely in Block V, and the MBDA’s rocket-ramjet-powered, radar-guided Meteor is not yet included in Block V.
The British Defense Ministry expects the results of an MBDA/Lockheed Martin study on the timing and cost of Meteor integration this year. Alan Nicoll, weapons director for the ministry’s Defense Equipment and Support organization, says the study is determining “how to best factor [Meteor] in,” though he adds that the U.K. doesn’t “have a timeline.”
Meteor is set to enter Royal Air Force service on the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2015.
Also eyed by London for future integration are the Selective Precision Effects At Range (Spear) Capability 2 and Spear Capability 3 weapons. Spear 2 is based on the Dual-Mode Brimstone, while Spear 3 is a medium-range cruise missile in its early stages at MBDA. Steve Wadey, MDBA’s U.K. managing director, says the advanced short-range air-to-air missile is already on the integration schedule. Six of the partner nations have requested information on F-35/Meteor integration, though he declined to identify them.
Even the current planned Block 3 is way less capable then the original from 8 years ago. Also what extra cost countries gonne make in the future to upgrade their F-35 fleet. Cause there is where the real profit for LM lays. Its not much discussed on forums but imo customers gonne be totaly dependant on LM for higher maintenance, sustainment and upgrades. Looks to me the new LM service system dont leave much room for 2 source providers. Ideal situation for LM to milk the cow for years and very costly to buyers.
Another reason to go look for alternatives. I mean do we really need a gold plated F-35 to do most of the simple missions/workload.