Navy: F-35C Will Be Eyes and Ears of the Fleet | USNI News
NAVAIR reshuffles the pieces to build a new Operational Concept, rethinks JSF and UCLASS missions, changing Link 16 data link (using JTRS?) to join NIFC-CA, using F35C as a stealthy ISR platform extending the reach of E-2D, and UCLASS UAV for tanker and missile carriers.
Under the service’s forthcoming Naval Integrated Fire Control–Counter Air Capability-Based System, Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, the Navy’s director of air warfare said targets discovered by the F-35C’s advanced sensor suite would be passed back to a Northrop Grumman E-2D to be shared with the rest of the carrier strike group. Further, F-35Cs flying deep inside enemy territory would also play a key role in providing terminal guidance for long-range stand-off weapons launched by other platforms such as Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or a[n Aegis] warship.
However, the F-35C will need some data-link modifications, which are expected for the jet’s Block IV configuration, to perform the role the Navy intends for it. While the current version of the Link-16 data-link does not have enough of a low probably of intercept capability that would allow it to be used inside highly contested airspace, the Navy is working on a solution.
“They’re working right now, because it is a follow-on development item, Lockheed Martin is working with other contractors to make that capability happen,” Manazir said. “We need to have that link capability that the enemy can’t find and then it can’t jam.”
In order to extend the F-35C’s range, the Navy hopes to refuel the stealthy new fighter from the service’s future Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft, Manazir said. While the UCLASS would not be as stealthy as the F-35C, it could accompany the JSF into some of the more modestly contested high threat environments.
The U.S Navy’s unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) program has evolved to call for a jet that is much larger and much more capable than what was envisioned just six months ago, Navy officials told USNI News. “We’re talking about a 70,000- to 80,000-pound airplane,” Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, the Navy’s director of air warfare said in a 20 December interview. “We’re talking [Grumman F-14] Tomcat size.”
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of why F-35 Program Cost have Escalated -Mission Requirements Changes. I'm not against improved mission/cost effectiveness; however, such cost increases should not be considered "overruns" of previously approved program/system baselines AL