Jets & Planes but no UAV's here.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

While the USAF is still working on the common logistics software issue that'll affect all three versions of the F-35, the USN has taken another step closer to bringing the F-35C to Initial Operational Capability (IOC) per the below ref.
http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm...sStory&id=6694

Weapons testing is also still ongoing along with several others and the CAS test against the A-10 and F-15SE well, let's just say has been delayed until Spring of 2018. Of course along with everyone else, I'm awaiting the results of that.

Now we wait until they reach Full Operational Capability (FOC) there's a reason I started using these terms because generally speaking those are the terms and associated definitions of them that many of the world's militaries use. And really my "old" term "Fielded" actually fitted better than I thought after looking into what the above terms actually meant in military terms. For those in a "hurry" I offer the following ref. again from NAVAIR it fits this perfectly as FOC is just the final step to Fielded in a weapons system etc. This of course doesn't apply to Don or the others who track these things for some cases over many years.

IOC does allow us some latitude (Unless we have other information such as the Russians hoping to have the T-14 ARMATA
Operational/Fielded from the many statements they've made to date but, even that could be wishful thinking.) to establish a start date for the game recognizing the dates can and usually will shift (ARJUN Mk I/Mk II which will need to be changed again by the way.). But there's always the chance it could happen sooner or as put in if the program is moving along smoothly. My example covers the USN's JSOW C-1 and fully discusses the process and as you'll see, reaching the Fielded stage can still take, in this case, a year and a half after FOC (Para.2 of the ref.).
http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm...sStory&id=6658

Also note the RAAF will be getting this weapon as well.

A final observation for my MARINE friend (It's a rare early non sarcastic compliment sort of - so here's your early Merry Christmas! (I did say sort of!)) and others that the F-35B was the one predicted too have the most issues but ended up being the first to IOC and I feel confident the first to FOC+.

Regards,
Pat

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by FASTBOAT TOUGH

A final observation for my MARINE friend (It's a rare early non sarcastic compliment sort of - so here's your early Merry Christmas! (I did say sort of!)) and others that the F-35B was the one predicted too have the most issues but ended up being the first to IOC and I feel confident the first to FOC+.

Regards,
Pat

I'd guess a lot of that has to do with the way Jarheads do business. They're more use to looking for their own solutions then waiting for someone else to come up with one.

And Happy Holidays to you and the Boss (and any rugrats) Sailor.

[redcoat2]

Indian Air Force retires MiG-27 ML Bahadur, 12/2017.

obat 18. Unit 284.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indi...ahadur-1793734

https://www.oneindia.com/india/iaf-b...s-2611156.html

[MarkSheppard]

China is claiming the J-20 is now in operational service, FWIW.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplo...es-combat-duty

China’s J-20 stealth fighter has entered combat service, the country’s armed forces confirmed on Friday, expanding the military’s air power options as it presses on with a massive modernisation programme.

People’s Liberation Army Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke said the deployment of the J-20 to combat units would “help the air force better shoulder the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity”.

[MarkSheppard]

Oh dear, and now looks like Su-57 (aka T-50) is doing an early combat test in Syria:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...otted-in-syria

Moscow appears to have deployed an advanced new stealth fighter to its airbase in Syria, reports in Russian news media and online videos of the aircraft indicated on Thursday, in what analysts say could be a risky attempt to gain publicity and operational experience for the jet in one of the world’s most tangled conflicts.

Their appearance comes at a fraught moment in the seven-year war, as the US and Russia occasionally scramble jets to intercept each other over Syria and pro-regime warplanes pound the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta despite protests from the UN. More than 330 people have been killed there since the bombing began on Sunday, according to reports.

The deployment of two Su-57 fighter aircraft, which were filmed landing at Russia’s Khmeimim airbase along the Mediterranean coast, would represent the latest high-tech military system Russia has exhibited in Syria, a conflict that has already been used to demonstrate the prowess of Russian cruise missiles and combat helicopters.

Both the Kremlin and the Russian ministry of defence declined to comment on whether the fifth-generation Russian fighter jets, which are still in combat testing phases, had been deployed. Russian news agencies, including the respected RBC business daily, published reports on Thursday saying sources in the ministry of defence had confirmed the presence of the advanced fighter jets in Syria.

The military had previously announced it would begin testing the fighters in combat. They have been touted as a future rival to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which the US uses in patrols over Syria.

Yuri Borisov, the deputy defence minister, said earlier in February: “We are buying Su-57 jets for test combat use. First stage state trials are over.”

US-led forces wounded and killed dozens of Russian mercenaries and pro-Assad militiamen earlier this month, in a battle near the city of Deir ez-Zor in which US drones and warplanes directly targeted Russians fighting on the government side for the first time in the war.

Russia has regularly used the conflict as a testing ground for its latest military technology and has even credited it for an uptick in arms sales. The Su-57, the first operational Russian jet to use stealth technology, has been plagued by cost and time overruns, and analysts said there could be a business rationale behind the deployment.

“There is some operational merit in doing this, but there’s also a publicity element,” said Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. He noted that a successful demonstration of the plane in Syria could assuage concerns of potential buyers such as the Indian government.

It is still unclear whether the aircraft could play any role in day-to-day operations. “We haven’t seen it fire anything. We haven’t seen it drop anything,” Barrie said.

Ruslan Pukhov, a defence analyst and the director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said it could be risky to deploy the new jets to Syria.

“If I were the minister of defence, I probably wouldn’t do it,” he said. “If you lose one of these planes, it could make for big problems. And what happens if the technology falls into the wrong hands?”