[TSJ]

Read on!

http://www.globenews...s...ss&d=161477

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 18, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI), a major international supplier to Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) on the F-35 Lightning II aircraft program, has produced and delivered its first structural assemblies for the jet.


My madrassas math tells me this is a halal jet fighter!

So whats your comment on this?? Just posting a link is an ROE here.

Addendum
OK, it's just that I never realized how global the F-35 jet fighter has gotten. Sure I figured, a few close allies would manufacture parts but I wasn't thinking about the middle east. It's kinda shocking and it takes some mulling over to realize the import of this new type of jet development. That is my point. Also wanted to poke a little fun. :D

This post has been edited by TSJ: 20 March 2009 - 0942 AM

[T19]

So whats your comment on this?? Just posting a link is an ROE here.

[TSJ]

T19, on Fri 20 Mar 2009 1436, said:

So whats your comment on this?? Just posting a link is an ROE here.

Added comment, please see above.

[Dawes]

Doesn't Turkey manufacture parts/overhaul for the F-16 program also?

[Simon Tan]

Errr...that would be the Sino-Pak JF-17/FC-1.

So wrong. Again.

Simon

[Rod]

TAI already assembles F-16s and have even exported some to Egypt . Besides Iran also makes some interesting jets, copies and adaptions of existing designs.

[TSJ]

But my point is they weren't involved when the F-16 was developed back in the day, was it?

[JamesG123]

They weren't involved in the development of either. They are just a sub-contractor supplying sub-assemblies chosen for low cost and political reasons.

[TSJ]

JamesG123, on Fri 20 Mar 2009 1758, said:

They weren't involved in the development of either. They are just a sub-contractor supplying sub-assemblies chosen for low cost and political reasons.

But F-35 is still in the development phase isn't it?

http://news.prnewswi...C...1766&EDATE=

FORT WORTH, Texas, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Maj. Joseph T. "O.D." Bachmann today became the first U.S. Marine Corps pilot to fly the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35 Lightning II, logging the flight-test program's 90th mission. He is the fifth pilot to fly the stealthy, multi-role fighter.


Bachmann departed the runway at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant at 11:29 a.m. CDT and flew the aircraft to 15,000 feet, checking handling qualities and engine response before landing one hour and 15 minutes later.


"The plane performed wonderfully," said Bachmann, a member of the F-35 Integrated Test Force and one of the team test pilots who will fly the F-35B Lightning II at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., test site, beginning this summer. "The U.S. Marine Corps will be getting an aircraft with extraordinary capabilities that is very easy to fly. Today is another step toward delivery of the first jets to Marines on the front line."


Bachmann's first flight was in F-35 AA-1, a conventional takeoff and landing variant with controls and flying qualities essentially identical to the short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B. The F-35B will replace Marine Corps AV-8B STOVL fighters and F/A-18 strike fighters. It will be the Marines' primary fighter, and will provide a unique combination of capabilities: stealth, supersonic speed, STOVL basing flexibility and network-enabled mission systems.


Bachmann is the second active-duty service member to fly the F-35. U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. James "Flipper" Kromberg first piloted the Lightning II on Jan. 30, 2008. Bachmann has more than 2,000 hours of flight time in more than 30 different types of aircraft and is currently qualified in the F/A-18 A-F.

This post has been edited by TSJ: 20 March 2009 - 1404 PM

[Chris Werb]

Simon Tan, on Fri 20 Mar 2009 1521, said:

Errr...that would be the Sino-Pak JF-17/FC-1.

So wrong. Again.

Simon

The United Arab Republic (which broke up in 1961) had its own delta winged jet fighter project. They had a German designer (Kurt Tank?) working on it and I think it made it to prototype.

[aevans]

Chris Werb, on Mon 23 Mar 2009 1739, said:

The United Arab Republic (which broke up in 1961) had its own delta winged jet fighter project. They had a German designer (Kurt Tank?) working on it and I think it made it to prototype.

Tank worked on an Argentine fighter prototype and an Indian fighter-bomber.

[T-44]

What's the big deal? Turkey isn't islamic as a state, and yes, it's in the Middle East, but so is Israel.

How many countries (or rather producers of different nationalities) are actually involved in the F-35 program?

[hojutsuka]

Chris Werb, on Mon 23 Mar 2009 1739, said:

The United Arab Republic (which broke up in 1961) had its own delta winged jet fighter project. They had a German designer (Kurt Tank?) working on it and I think it made it to prototype.

The Helwan HA-300 originated as a lightweight Mach 1.5 interceptor powered by an afterburning Orpheus turbojet for the Spanish Air Force, designed under the direction of Willy Messerschmitt (not Kurt Tank). When funding from the Spanish ran out, the project was transferred to Egypt and the powerplant changed to a new, more powerful afterburning turbojet to be developed by Erich Brandner. Two prototypes powered by Orpheus were flown, but the third powered by the Brandner E-300 (expected to reach Mach 2) was never flown due to cancellation of the project in 1969. http://en.wikipedia....i/Helwan_HA-300

Hojutsuka

[LeoTanker]

aevans, on Mon 23 Mar 2009 1305, said:

Tank worked on an Argentine fighter prototype and an Indian fighter-bomber.

[OT]

HAL Marut :) A pretty slick bird in its own bizzare way..

[end OT]

[TomasCTT]

Old news I guess (I didn't notice a similar thread):

Hackers breach F-35 program

http://www.gmanews.t...fighter-program

Quote

WASHINGTON — Cyber hackers nearly two years ago breached a high-tech jet fighter program developed for the Pentagon by Lockheed Martin Corp., but classified information was not compromised, a senior defense official said Tuesday.

No details about the attacks were provided. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

In confirming the attack on Lockheed's F-35 Lightning II program, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, the defense official said it is unclear who did it, or whether it was an attempt at corporate thievery or a hacker trying to harm the program. The Pentagon is expected to pay about $300 billion to buy nearly 2,500 of the F-35 jets for the Air Force, Navy and Marines.

The cyber spying revelations come as the White House is preparing to release its review on the nation's cyber security. There have been increasingly frequent warnings that US networks are at risk and repeatedly are being probed by foreign governments, criminals or other groups.

Lockheed officials issued a carefully worded statement saying that "to our knowledge there has never been any classified information breach" but that the company's systems are continually attacked, and there are measures in place to detect and stop the hacking.

The statement did not specifically deny a breach into unclassified information or less sensitive areas of the program. The cyber attacks were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday that Defense Department networks are probed repeatedly every day, and the number of intrusion attempts have more than doubled. While he would not discuss the Lockheed incident, he said there obviously are some computer programs that are far less sensitive or classified than others. Whitman cautioned that hackers' ability to get information out of military systems should not be overestimated.

Whitman described a layered approach to the government's protections, saying that as the information becomes more sensitive, it is more walled off and safeguarded.

"We view cyberspace as a war-fighting domain ... and we are going to defend it and protect it," Whitman said. "The key is to stay one step ahead of your enemy."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told CBS News on Tuesday: "We are under cyberattack virtually all the time, every day here. We think we have pretty good control of our sensitive information, both with respect to intelligence and equipment systems."

Gates said he is dramatically increasing the resources for cyber experts,

"We're going to more than quadruple the number of experts in this area," he said. "This is going to be an enduring problem."

Another official familiar with the program said that the more classified portions of the fighter program are digitally walled off and have heightened protections built in.

That official added that outside cyber scans of the fighter program are not new, and that they could well involve subcontractors and suppliers around the world. Those scans may not involve critical, classified systems, the officials said.

Lockheed Martin Corp. is the lead contractor on the jet, with a number of other companies that include Northrop Grumman Corp. and BAE Systems making parts and systems for the plane.

According to US counterintelligence officials, this is not the first military jet program that has been hacked.

During a speech in Texas this month, Joel Brenner, head of the US Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, said that officials have seen counterfeit computer chips "make their way into US military fighter aircraft."

Brenner added: "You don't sneak counterfeit chips into another nation's aircraft to steal data. When it's done intentionally, it's done to degrade systems, or to have the ability to do so at a time of one's choosing."

His comments were not related to the F-35, according to administration officials. Brenner also has warned that careless, laid-off or disaffected employees can often be the root of corporate cyber leaks. Foreign governments or groups, he said, plan computer attacks that take advantage of sloppy workers or bad network management practices.

In a series of recent speeches, Brenner has repeatedly raised the alarm that foreign governments and other groups are accessing government systems and installing malicious software.

"The Chinese are relentless and don't seem to care about getting caught. And we have seen Chinese network operations inside certain of our electricity grids. Do I worry about those grids, and about air traffic control systems, water supply systems, and so on? You bet I do," Brenner told an audience at the University of Texas at Austin. - AP

Couldn't find the old F-35 critiquing thread, and this was the most recent thread, so....