This Is What the F-35 of the Future Will Look Like

[Peter1469]

This Is What the F-35 of the Future Will Look Like

The air-frame was designed to allow upgrades throughout its service-life. This is what they will look like.

• The F-35, which has undergone a 20-year design and development effort, is scheduled for a slew of technology upgrades to keep the aircraft current.
• The new tech should allow pilots to be more aware of their surroundings, drawing data from different sources to come up with a plan to attack the enemy.
• The upgrades also include a 50 percent boost in stealthy firepower, allowing the F-35 to carry more weapons while hiding from enemy radar.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is scheduled to receive a long list of upgrades that will ideally keep it the dominant multi-role fighter for years to come.

The F-35, already in service with nine countries, is scheduled to receive the new Block 4 series of enhancements in the near future. Block 4 aircraft will boast faster computers, more missiles, panoramic $#@!pit display, longer ranges, and AI-flown wingmen. The result is a strikingly different aircraft than the one that was originally designed in the early 2000s.

Aviation Week & Space Technology has published a rundown of the upcoming Block 4 upgrades. Rather than one large monolithic refresh, Block 4 will be released in waves, with a Block 4.1, 4.2, and so on. That way, the new capabilities will go out to the global fleet of F-35s faster, and the fighters won't have to wait for more difficult capabilities to mature.
The most important Block 4 upgrade is arguably the computing power. The F-35 is set to receive new main computers capable of 25 times more instructions than current onboard computers. The result is an aircraft capable of drawing data from other friendly air, land, and sea sources in order to give the pilot a more information-packed view of the battlefield. The extra juice should also give the F-35 increased electronic warfare capabilities, allowing it to quickly jam enemy radar and radio signals.

Read the rest of the article at the link.

[Tahuyaman]

Amazing.

[MMC]

The F-35, already in service with nine countries, is scheduled to receive the new Block 4 series of enhancements in the near future. Block 4 aircraft will boast faster computers, more missiles, panoramic $#@!pit display, longer ranges, and AI-flown wingmen. The result is a strikingly different aircraft than the one that was originally designed in the early 2000s......snip~


Lets not give out any more and none with upgrades.

[Perianne]

A couple of thoughts on this (not trying to derail):

1. My house is mostly surrounded by big trees. However, on the east side of my property is an opening. One day I was inside and I heard something monstrous outside. I went out back and there, in the opening, was some sort of military jet. It sorta slowed down and seemed to almost stop right in the air, and then it took off again. Oh. My. Gosh. The sound was unlike anything I had ever heard. I will never forget it. The absolute power that came out of that fighter! To be near it must literally be deafening.

2. If we are selling these jets/fighters to some other nation, do you @Peter1469 suspect that we have some remote way to cripple these jets electronically in case they are ever used against us?

[DGUtley]

Will the LSA or the RSA get this technology after we break up?

[Peter1469]

A couple of thoughts on this (not trying to derail):

1. My house is mostly surrounded by big trees. However, on the east side of my property is an opening. One day I was inside and I heard something monstrous outside. I went out back and there, in the opening, was some sort of military jet. It sorta slowed down and seemed to almost stop right in the air, and then it took off again. Oh. My. Gosh. The sound was unlike anything I had ever heard. I will never forget it. The absolute power that came out of that fighter! To be near it must literally be deafening.

2. If we are selling these jets/fighters to some other nation, do you @Peter1469 suspect that we have some remote way to cripple these jets electronically in case they are ever used against us?

I don't know whether the US puts software or whatever in our weapons systems (today) to make them inoperable should the need arise. We have done such things in the past. One example was the MANPADS we sold to the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation- we did something to the battery packs so they would not last beyond a year.

What the US does these days with major systems, like planes and tanks, is to provide the contractor support to foreign nations who buy our stuff. If we got into a war with one of those nations we could pull the contractor support that maintains the equipment. Without proper maintenance and parts those weapon systems will not remain operational long.