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Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
F-15EX Nails Pentagon Test Campaign, Survivability Concerns Remain
In its latest annual report, the Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) provides an absolutely glowing assessment of the F-15EX Eagle II, the latest fighter to enter U.S. Air Force service. However, the assessment also offers a note of caution, especially when it comes to the survivability of the fighter when faced with potential future threats. In the report, the Pentagon provides an update on the status of the F-15EX, which was approved for full-rate production in June of last year. It also reinforces the fact that, at present, the two-seat F-15EX is primarily an air superiority platform, despite its multirole capability. The F-15EX could potentially take on a multi-role mission once it's established in service, but for now, the air-to-air mission is the priority. Specifically, the report notes, this includes missions such as offensive counter-air, cruise-missile defense, and defensive counter-air capabilities, including escort of high-value airborne assets. At this point, the F-15EX has only 'a limited capability to employ precision-guided, air-to-surface munitions.' With that in mind, the DOT&E report outlines the results of tests that assessed the F-15EX primarily against the kinds of threats it might encounter in the air-to-air part of its mission set. Here, the Eagle II appears to have passed with flying colors. 'Against the level of threat tested, the F-15EX is operationally effective in all its air superiority roles, including defensive and offensive counter-air against surrogate fifth-generation adversary aircraft, as well as basic air-to-ground capability against the tested threats,' the report notes. The reference to the F-15EX's effectiveness against fifth-generation threats is especially notable. While it's unclear exactly what kinds of threats are being referred to, a fifth-generation fighter will typically have a low-observable design, advanced 'sensor fused' avionics, and generally high performance, among other attributes. Prior to the F-35, the fifth-generation rubric often included extreme agility and supercruise, but definitions for generations of fighters are highly subjective and change with the times. You can read more about this reality here. Critics of the F-15EX have, in the past, suggested that the aircraft would not be able to compete on level terms with fifth-generation types, since it's after all a heavily upgraded fourth-generation design, the first prototype of which flew in 1972. Regardless, the report seems to put such concerns aside, at least in the air-to-air arena, and based on the currently available test data. Furthermore, 'The F-15EX was able to detect and track all threats at advantageous ranges, use onboard and off-board systems to identify them, and deliver weapons while surviving,' the report continues. While it has clearly excelled in simulated air-to-air combat, the F-15EX also wins plaudits from the Pentagon on account of meeting 'all its reliability, availability, and maintainability requirements,' and achieving 'nearly all objectives although maintenance technical orders were still immature.' This is a huge achievement as the reliability of modern fighters has become nearly as big of a concern as their basic capabilities, with fifth-generation types struggling in this regard. Compared with the 'legacy' Eagle, the F-15EX boasts a much-enhanced cockpit, including a large touchscreen display, which you can read more about here. The crew are each provided with Digital Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (D-JHMCS). The cockpit environment is singled out for praise in the report, with survey data assessing human-systems interactions indicating that the pilots had positive opinions of F-15EX cockpit usability. However, the report does highlight some potential concerns that were raised during the initial operational test & evaluation (IOT&E). Here, the Pentagon notes that, while adequate for the current F-15EX mission set, the threat level was not representative of some of the kinds of higher-end threats that the aircraft may encounter in the future. 'The mission-level testing did not include some advanced, longer-range threat weapons becoming operational at the time of F-15EX fielding.' As a result, the report continues, follow-on testing will be required 'to assess the system against higher threat levels in more complex mission scenarios.' More details weren't provided, although the 'advanced, longer-range threat weapons' would appear to be a reference to one or more of the new Chinese air-to-air missiles currently coming online or poised to do so. China is known to be working on further-reaching air-to-air missiles, including the big PL-17, a very long-range missile that may well be intended primarily to target high-value assets, like tankers and airborne early warning aircraft. You can read more about this still-mysterious missile here. As well as the more specialized PL-17, there is also another new Chinese air-to-air missile, currently dubbed PL-16, the design of which seems to have been driven by the requirement for the Chinese J-20 stealth fighter to accommodate six longer-range missiles internally. In the past, Douglas Barrie, the Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank told TWZ that the PL-16 will likely feature 'an active electronically scanned front end, Mach 5-plus fly-out, a lot of very capable onboard software, and be very resistant to jamming.' There's no doubt that China is making rapid progress in air-to-air missiles, with even the relatively well-established PL-15 thought to out-range the U.S.-made AIM-120C/D AMRAAM series. Indeed, the Air Force has publicly said that the emergence of the PL-15 was a key factor in the decision to start the AIM-260 program to provide a longer-range AMRAAM successor. It's notable, too, that the F-15EX has also been earmarked as a potential platform for the carriage of new and larger long-range air-to-air missiles, as you can read about here. The report points out that some of the difficulty in obtaining the required test data for the F-15EX has resulted from the limitations in existing open-air range infrastructure. This is something that will only become more acute as missile ranges increase — not to mention the need to conduct these kinds of tests away from the prying eyes of potential adversaries. With this in mind, the F-15EX test campaign may, in the future, make use of the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE). This is a facility offering a so-called 'software battlespace environment,' for testing and training that cannot currently be conducted on the Pentagon's major physical test and training ranges. With the F-15EX now in Air Force service, the generally highly positive results of its operational testing thus far will be a significant confidence boost for the service and for manufacturer Boeing. Time will tell how the F-15EX copes with the kinds of 'advanced, longer-range threat weapons' that it hasn't currently been pitted against in test simulations. But provided it continues to excel, this could be another strong argument for the Air Force looking to acquire more than the 98 F-15EX aircraft that it now plans to buy. Contact the author: thomas@
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Key tests for latest F-35s will begin in 2026, two years after rollout
An important series of tests for the latest upgrades to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will likely not begin until two years after these jets started hitting the field — and at least three years following their original due date. The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said in its annual report, submitted to Congress on Jan. 31, that dedicated operational tests for the F-35's Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, upgrades will probably start in mid to late fiscal 2026, or around next summer. Those tests are intended to determine whether TR-3 is operationally effective. Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the military's F-35 program executive officer, said in a statement to Defense News that as of January, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 100 TR-3 equipped fighters. All of those jets have software allowing its pilots to conduct training flights, including combat training. 'We are aggressively implementing comprehensive test plans to ensure this critical upgrade delivers cutting-edge capabilities to the warfighter,' Schmidt said. 'The F-35 [Joint Program Office] remains focused on working through known risks to deliver TR-3 combat capability in 2025. The capability will continue to be improved in future lots to ensure warfighters have what they need to win in future conflicts.' An official with knowledge of the operational test program for the F-35, who spoke about the program on the condition of anonymity, said that starting operational testing next year would not delay the fielding of the newest jets. 'It is not uncommon for fielding decisions to come before operational testing is complete,' the official said. The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said the TR-3 tests can't begin until its software is stable and aircraft modifications, flight test instruments and open-air battle shaping capabilities are in place. But if those systems and software are matured and in place sooner than expected, testing could start earlier, the office said. Pentagon to accept deliveries of Lockheed F-35s after yearlong pause The delayed launch of the TR-3 tests is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Lockheed Martin-made fighter, which have caused efforts to modernize the program to slip further behind. TR-3 is a set of improvements to the F-35′s hardware and software, which include better displays, computer memory and processing power. TR-3 was originally set to be released in April 2023, but software problems and integration difficulties stalled the program. The Pentagon refused to accept deliveries of the newest F-35s until July 2024, when an interim version of the TR-3 software that allows the jets to conduct training flights was completed. But the TR-3-enabled F-35s can't yet carry out combat missions. And while the F-35 Joint Program Office still hopes to have the jets combat ready in 2025, the timeline might slip further. In a January earnings call, Lockheed Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said the work might not be finished until early 2026. The delays in TR-3 are also having cascading effects on subsequent improvements to the F-35 – particularly another modernization program called Block 4 – which is intended to allow the jet to carry more weapons, better recognize targets and improve its electronic warfare capabilities. The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation criticized the F-35 program's lack of progress in rolling out necessary software. 'The F-35 program has shown no improvement in meeting schedule and performance timelines for developing and testing software designed to address deficiencies and add new capabilities,' the office's annual report said.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
U.S. Navy unveils photo of warship firing high-powered laser weapon
The U.S. Navy unveiled a photo of a warship's high-powered laser weapon in an annual report released last month. The image published in the Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation's 2024 report shows the High Energy Laser on USS Preble being tested on a drone target, the report said. It's unclear where the ship was stationed at the time. There were no other details about the results of the department's test and evaluation. To safely test High Energy Laser weapons, the Department of Defense would require new test and training ranges, the report said. Such facilities would require HEL-specific safety equipment as well as radars and sensors that can collect data to assess performance. Further testing of laser weapons is expected to continue on U.S. Navy ships in 2025, according to Naval News who first reported on the test. Last year, the Center for Countermeasures conducted 32 tests of different weapons and aircraft, according to the DOT&E's fiscal report. Trump's former trade chief on how tariffs affect the economy, why he says the U.S. needs them USAID to merge into State Department with major budget cuts Details on Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products set to take effect next week
