Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II - Norway's biggest investment ever on the mainland

[Til_Dovre_Faller 191]

Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II

Here we see one of the 52x ordered Norwegian F-35A's

 

ARMAMENT

• Weapon stations: 11
  • 4 inside the gun room
  • 6 outside under wings
  • 1 center outside
• 1x 25mm GAU-12 Equalizer
  • 4-barreled rotating machine gun
  • Ammunition capasity: 180 rounds 
    • PGU-20/U (API)
    • PGU-22/PGU-25 (HEI)
  • Normal rate of fire: 3.600 rounds per minute
  • Maximum rate of fire: 4.200 rounds per minute
• Air-to-air missiles
  • AIM-120 AMRAAM
  • AIM-9X Sidewinder
  • AIM-132 ASRAAM
• Air to ground missiles
  • AGM-158 JASSM
  • SPEAR 4
  • Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM)
• Air-to-surface (anti-ship) missiles
  • JSM (Joint Strike Missile)
  • For use aginst ground and seaborne targets
  • Can be carried internally
• Anti-ship missiles
  • AGM-158C LRASM
  • Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (sources tell me they are doing preparations for this. this is very unsure)
• Bombs
  • Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) series
  • Paveway series, laser guided bombs
    • Precision guided bombs AGM-154 JSOW
      • GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)
      • GBU-53/B StormBreaker (SDB II)
• It got the option to mount an B61 mod 12 atomic bomb, but this is not being used, and will never be used by Norway

 

SYSTEMS

• Stealth technology
• APG-81 radar, Unique technology for targeting and jamming enemy radar

 

TECHNICAL DATA

• Version: F-35A  
• Type: Stealth fighter
• Wingspan: 10.668mm  
• Length: 15.667mm    
• Height: 4.389mm    
• Wing area: 42.7m²
• Dry weight: 9.088kg
• Internal fuel capacity: 8.382kg  
• Max Payload: 8.165kg    
• Battle radius: 1.094km
• Max take-off weight: 31.752kg
• Engine: F135-PW-100
  • Low-pressure turbo fan with afterburner
  • 43.000 lb max
  • 28.000 lb Mil power
• Speed Mach 1.6 (1975 km/h)
  • (full internal weapons load)
• Crew 1

 

PERFORMANCE

• Top speed fully loaded: 1.6 mach
• Recommended runway length: 2440 m
• Combat radius (internal fuel): 1.408 km (USAF profile)
• Range: 2.222 km (USAF profile)
• Max flight altitude: 15.240m
• Max G-Rating: +9.0
• Power/weight ratio (without fuel): 1.47
   

NORWEGIAN MODIFICATIONS (this is currently unsure, but very few with the f-35 are using this. time will show the modiications it has and will recieve!)

• The Norwegian Armed Forces and some other countries have adopted brake screens for landing on short runways with ice
• Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile

 

Brief facts & important milestones

Spoiler

Brief facts & important milestones

 

The first F-35s landed in Norway on 3 November 2017. Then an extensive test and evaluation phase of the new combat aircraft started.

 

In the autumn of 2019, the F-35 gradually began to take over the tasks of the F-16. The Norwegian F-35 fleet will be fully operational from 2025.

 

In January 2022, the F-35 took over QRA readiness from the F-16. At the same time, the Norwegian F-16 aircraft were retired.

 

June 2015: The first Norwegian personnel arrive at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona. Norwegian technicians and pilots receive their training here.

 

22. September 2015: AM-1 is ready and is presented publicly as the first Norwegian F-35. Norway's second aircraft, the AM-2, was completed just a few days later

 

Autumn 2015: The first Norwegian pilots start the transfer course from F-16 to F-35. They will then work as instructors at Luke until 2017.

 

6 October 2015: For the first time, a Norwegian F-35 is in the air. The AM-2 gained its glory when the aircraft was tested at the factory in Fort Worth, Texas.

 

November 10, 2015: AM-1 and AM-2 land at Luke Air Force Base. On the same day, a Norwegian flies an F-35 for the first time. It was Morten "Dolby" Hanche who got the honor when he flew a training trip with an

American F-35.

 

14 December 2015: Pilot Morten Hanche becomes the first Norwegian pilot to fly a Norwegian F-35.

 

Spring 2016: The first group of Norwegian pilots starts their F-35 training at Luke. The students are experienced F-16 pilots from various squadrons in Norway.

 

Summer 2016: Norway's third and fourth aircraft arrive at Luke. At the same time, the training of Norwegian pilots and Norwegian technicians is in full swing.

 

October 2016: The first Norwegian technicians on a transfer course come to Luke to start the practical part.

 

Spring 2017: The Norwegian branch will be fully staffed with pilots and instructors stationed at Luke. Start of the first transfer course for Norwegian pilots who will return to Norway after the course ends.

 

Early summer 2017: Norway's planes number 5, 6 and 7 will arrive at Luke. The three aircraft will be in the USA for several years to come and will be used for training. Then they will go to Norway.

 

Summer 2017: The armed forces are at the end of the training of basic personnel within the F-35 environment. This means that we have trained enough pilots and technicians to operate the F-35 department in Ørland. Further training of technicians will take place in Norway from now on. Norwegian pilots who receive F-35 training in the USA are sent home to build up the department on Ørland.

 

3 November 2017: Norway's flights number 8, 9 and 10 land at Ørland airport in Sør-Trøndelag. These are the first F-35 aircraft on Norwegian soil.

 

22 May 2018: Norway's flights number 11, 12 and 13 land on Ørland. Norway has now received a quarter of the planned 52 new aircraft. Six aircraft are in Norway, and seven are in Arizona for education and training.

 

21 September 2018: Norway's flights number 14, 15 and 16 are in place at Ørland. Now nine planes have arrived in Norway, and a further seven are in Arizona for educational and training purposes.

 

2017–2019: Even if the first aircraft arrive in Norway, the F-35 will not enter operational service immediately. Over the next two years, the Norwegian Armed Forces will thoroughly test the aircraft, so that we know they can cope with all types of weather and climate conditions here at home. In addition, many departments and professionals in the Armed Forces must become familiar with the new aircraft, and find their role in the new combat aircraft concept. The F-35 provides endless new and good opportunities for the Norwegian Armed Forces, and the organization therefore needs time to learn how to utilize the combat aircraft as best as possible.

 

2019: During the year, the first F-35 aircraft entered operational service and are gradually replacing the F-16. In the technical language, we call this phase initial operational capability, IOC. The plane was based at Ørland air station in Sør-Trøndelag, with an advanced base at Evenes in Nordland. In recent years, Forsvarsbygg has expanded Ørland air station, including a new squadron building, residential buildings and hangars. In addition, the runway has been extended from 2714 meters to 3000 metres.

 

From 2019, Norwegian fighter pilot students were trained at Luke. Previously, the students traveled to Tucson in Arizona after basic training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.

 

6 January 2022: The F-35 takes over the QRA mission from the F-16. At the same time, the Norwegian F-16 fleet was retired.

 

Milestones for the future
 

Until 2025: Defense construction builds Evenes airport. Evenes is the advanced base for the F-35 and the main base for Norway's new maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A. Major upgrades are underway, among other things, the current building has been refurbished, and we will build a completely new hangar for the P-8A aircraft.

 

2023: Until 2023, Norway will have seven aircraft at Luke Air Force Base. The aircraft will be used for education and training of Norwegian and foreign personnel. In 2023, three of the Norwegian planes will fly home to Norway, and after that only four Norwegian planes will be permanently stationed in the USA.

 

2024: Norway is scheduled to take delivery of its last six aircraft. By then, Norway will have purchased and delivered all 52 planned aircraft. 48 will operate from Norway, while the last four will be used for education and training of Norwegian personnel in the USA.

 

2025: The build-up of the Norwegian fighter fleet will be largely completed. Thus, according to the plan, the F-35 achieves full operational capability - in the technical language called full operational capability, FOC.

 

HISTORY

35 Lightning II is the fighter of the future. It is among the most advanced and complicated fighters the world has seen. Perhaps only its big brother, the F-22 Raptor, surpasses this aircraft's advanced finesse." This is how the author Erlend Larsen begins his book about the F-35. He can also say that the aircraft was named Lightning II in honor of the American P-38 Lightning from World War II. History is therefore strongly present in the aircraft, also in the choice of name.

 

That the plane also points far into the future is illustrated by the fact that it was given the number 35. The number that stood for turn was actually 24, so this should have been the F-24. According to Larsen, the number being 35 is due to a misunderstanding at a press conference, but once the name "F-35" first came into circulation, it was difficult to change it. The fact that the Air Force is now going from the F-16 and "all the way to" the F-35, which is more than double the 16, in one leap, and not just to the F-24, which only accounts for 50 percent, suggests a "giant leap »> for the Air Force into the future. Some might think that with the F-35 we still have a long way to go before we get (back) to the F-104. However, it is the case that the Americans have many different ways of naming their planes, and that these seem confusing to those of us who value structure and predictability. Not all aircraft acquisitions have received as much attention as the purchase of the F-35.

 

On 20 November 2008, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced in the Storting that Norway had chosen the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as Norway's next combat aircraft. This came as a result of a process that started in the late 90s and which eventually became an assessment of the Eurofighter Typhon, the SAAB Jas 39 Gripen and the F-35. In 2007, Eurofighter chose to withdraw from the process, which they experienced as biased, and the Swedish authorities were also critical of the way Norway had made its assessments when the result was available.

 

Norway is to buy 52 new F-35A combat aircraft at an estimated cost of NOK 62.6 billion according to 2013 value (what I am told by my source, it has probably changed since then). Four of these were scheduled to be delivered in 2015/2016 and stationed in the USA for training Norwegian crews. The rest, 48 aircraft, are planned to be delivered in Norway between 2017 and 2024. Four aircraft are to arrive in Norway in 2017, and the government will request authorization to order the first aircraft in the main delivery in the first half of 2013. The planned operating period is until at least 2054. It is still unclear whether the schedule will stick.

 

The F-35 is built in three main models. The F-35A, which Norway orders, is intended for conventional take off/landing, and is the smallest and lightest model. The F-35B is built for what is called "short take-off and vertical landing", where the pressure from the engine can be turned downwards, while the F-35C is adapted for use on aircraft carriers and is equipped with a larger wingspan, foldable wingtips, stronger undercarriage and brake hook.

 

The F-35 is a multi-role combat aircraft that can perform more roles in the same flight than the F-16 is capable of. All additional equipment that is in use on the F-16 is built into the F-35 from the beginning. The aircraft has "stealth characteristics that make it less visible on radar, and an internal weapons bay, which also contributes to a lower radar signature and higher speed. It is also equipped with far more sensors than the F-16 has, and combined with radar, this gives the pilot a very good description of the situation.The information is projected directly into the pilot's helmet.

 

The fighter jet purchase will be Norway's biggest ever investment on the mainland. What the final cost will be is still unclear. Lockheed Martin claims that Norway will get the planes for the price stated in 2008, but the costs are so high that some countries, such as Canada, have chosen to go through a new round in relation to the choice of combat aircraft. Others have chosen to postpone the order or to reduce the number of flights. Until the beginning of 2013, 100 machines were to be produced according to their plan at the time, while the test program was being run in parallel. Problems that are discovered and corrected must be incorporated into already produced aircraft.

 

The purchase entails major changes in the Air Force and society in general, such as e.g. that the base structure changes. The planes will operate from Ørland and air base Evenes instead of Bodø, which may be closed down as a military

 

A full-scale model of the aircraft has been exhibited at the Flysamlingen in Gardermoen around 2012-2013.

 

VIDEOS (recommended, the videos are as beautiful as the plane)

Spoiler

King Harald greeting the pilots

 

 

PICTURES

Spoiler

https://ibb.co/album/HLkjCX

SOURCES

Spoiler

Cannon:

https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-12_Equalizer

The plane itself and its history:

https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II

https://www.norli.no/boker/dokumentar-og-fakta/historie-og-dokumentar/krig-og-historie/luftforsvarets-historie-fortalt-gjennom-75-gjenstander?

https://www.adlibris.com/no/bok/norske-militarfly-9788271286873?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1660092860961099

https://www.forsvaret.no/om-forsvaret/organisasjon/luftforsvaret/f-35/milepalar

https://www.forsvaret.no/om-forsvaret/organisasjon/luftforsvaret/f-35

https://www.tu.no/artikler/industri-her-skyter-f-35-med-25-millimeterkanonen-i-lufta/276031

https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norges-nye-f-35-kampfly-1.11136635

Til_Dovre_Faller

Edited June 5, 2023 by Til_Dovre_Faller
Finished and ready

[Thatz 637]

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