Israel 'needs F-35 to stay on top'

Israel is the front line unit against Iran and Syria.  They continuously upgrade, modify and development weapon systems to meet the demands faced in this environment against enemies that are supplied by Russia.  The article displays a dire need of Israel to acquire the F35 fighter, Gen5, to keep them on top of the fighter combat role.  I never thought the F35 would be the main weapons system of any air force.  It is being designed to take on the responsibilities of all aspects of ground to air combat.  The Jack Leg of aircraft, can do everything, but master of nothing.  This price tag is approaching that of the F22 fighter that Secretary of Defense Gates has stopped production on a while ago.  I don't believe anyone will get their hands on this fighter--from Japan to Israel.  But, with the F35, formerly known as the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) being the new money maker of our aerospace industry, this new combat jet will be promoted at great cost.

I can see where the software codes and such will held close to the vest for the United States.  This software is where the secret lies in the F35s stealth capabilities that does allow it to command an airspace better than most other countrie's jets.   Russia, China and India are developing Gen5 fighter aircraft and will compete with the United States 5th generation aircraft somewhere in the world within the next ten years.  Who do we trust enough to go against an enemy with our equipment?
....lakotahope 
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MilTech
Israel 'needs F-35 to stay on top'
by Staff Writers Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Jan 31, 2011 Israel seems determined to acquire a fleet of Lockheed Martin's costly F-35 stealth fighters despite the plethora of problems plaguing the development of the fifth-generation jet.
A new assessment of Israel's defense challenges indicates why: In the face of improving air defenses in Iran and Syria, Israel's main state adversaries in the Middle East, air superiority is vital in maintaining the Jewish state's qualitative military edge.

"Equipping the Israeli air force with the F-35 has strategic importance in terms of deterring the enemy from starting a war and in terms of maintaining Israel's qualitative advantage in the arena," the assessment observed.

The study, written by Gur Laish, an expert on the Israeli air force with the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, added that air superiority is essential for Israel if it is to be capable of striking "choice regions deep inside enemy territory."

Israel has threatened pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities if Tehran doesn't halt its alleged drive to develop nuclear weapons. All the sites are deep inside Iranian territory.

As for Syria, Iran's ally and the most implacable of Israel's Arab foes, the Israeli air force's main targets in the vent of renewed hostilities would be missile batteries capable of pounding key military targets and cities in Israel.
The Israelis demonstrated the potency of their air power on the night of Sept. 6, 2007, when a squadron of Boeing F-15I aircraft destroyed a nuclear plant the North Koreans were building for Syria at Deir al-Zour near the border with Iraq, after first electronically blinding Syrian air defenses.

However, the decision announced by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak last August to buy the F-35 Lightning II has stirred debate, primarily over the cost and whether the jet will ensure Israel's air superiority over the next couple of decades.

Laish argues that Israel needs the F-35, the most advanced combat aircraft in the world, to strengthen the "element of deterrence, central in Israel's security concept" since it can deal with advanced air defenses and existing combat jets such as Russia's MiG-29 or the F-15s and Lockheed Martin F-16s in the inventories of Arab air forces.

The F-35's radar-evading capabilities, he went on, allows it to penetrate deep into enemy territory and attack heavily defended strategic targets.
Indeed, he observed, "the F-35 would be the central component of this capability."
Sometimes, he added, "Israel needs to be able to operate in enemy territory even in the absence of a wartime confrontation." Pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear installations would fall under that category.
Syria and Iran have been building up their air defense capabilities, largely with Russian-made systems, which have eroded Israel's unquestioned superiority in the air, Laish noted.

He maintained that Israel's F-15I and F-16I aircraft, the backbone of its strategic air power, are aging and even the most extensive upgrades won't put them on the level of the F-35.

"An examination of alternatives in the form of surface-to-surface missiles and advanced unmanned aerial vehicles demonstrates that despite their expected contribution they cannot serve as complete substitutes to fifth generation fighter jets," Laish concluded.

However, Yiftah S. Shapir, a colleague of Laish's at the INSS, is more critical.
In a separate assessment, he acknowledged that while the jet has "some unique capabilities that would make every combat pilot's mouth water" -- stealth and the most advanced electronic systems in the world -- it "also has some very important shortcomings."
 
These, he said, include U.S. refusal of Israeli demands to install their own weapons and electronic systems and access to the aircraft's software codes.
Cost remains a problem. "The original price tag "was estimated at some $50 million-$60 million apiece but delays and overruns … pushed up the price," Shapir noted.

"The final price per unit is still unknown but it is estimated at $130 million-$150 million."
Development delays mean the earliest Israel could expect F-35 deliveries to begin would be 2016 -- well past the date Iran is expected to be able to produce nuclear weapons.

But Shapir concluded that Israeli companies' participation in the F-35 project and maintaining the strategic relationship with Washington "rule out examining other options, such as purchasing European aircraft (or even Russia's fifth-generation combat aircraft)."

India and Russia Combine to Develop Generation 5 Fighter

India is in a partnership with Russia to design and deploy a Gen 5 fighter.  They will not be looking into purchasing any U.S.A. fighters like the F-22 or F35 JSF.  In this deal they will split the intellectual property rights with Russia and will have total access to items like software codes.  These codes are a thorn in the side of a few countries that are in a development partnership with the United States as America doesn't want to share this code with anyone.  Hence, the partners will have to ship these aircraft back to the USA for some maintenance gigs.  Too bad I reckon, but with Russia, China and now India developing a Gen 5 fighter, what is a adversary to do?  Develop something better than a Gen 5.  

We all know Defense Secretary Gates axed any further funding for the F22 fighter project, so we had better have superior aircraft if we go toe to toe with anyone else. Just for numbers sake, I reckon our electronics will take care of many threats from newer Gen 5 fighters that will outnumber ours in the long run.  But, I am thinking the F22 will be the last American full scale production combat fighter that will be fully manned.  The next fighter aircraft we produce may very well be remotely operated.  Smarter software/ computers and remote pilots will be a very powerful tool for the future..... lakotahope

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With own 5-Gen fighter project with Russia, India not keen on US jet

Rajat Pandit, TNN, Jan 29, 2011, 04.07am IST
NEW DELHI: India has no plans as of now to either join the US-led joint strike fighter (JSF) programme or buy the F-35 `Lightning-II' fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) when it finally becomes operational.

"We cannot have two types of FGFA. We have already launched preliminary work for our FGFA after inking the $295 million preliminary design contract (PDC) with Russia last month,'' said a top defence ministry official on Friday.

This comes in the wake of comments made by a top Pentagon official, undersecretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics Ashton Carter, in Washington that the US was open to Indian participation in its JSF project.

Interestingly, the comments came during a function where an aggressive sales pitch was made for India to select either the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet' ( Boeing) or F-16 `Falcon' ( Lockheed Martin) over their European rivals in the ongoing IAF's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest.

The other 4.5-generation fighters in the hotly-contested race to bag the $10.4 billion MMRCA project, under which 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf and another 108 will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology, are Eurofighter Typhoon, Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault) and Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation).

The IAF force matrix for the coming years revolves around the 270 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for around $12 billion, the 126 MMRCA and 120 indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, apart from upgraded MiG-29s and Mirage-2000s.

In the decades ahead, the advanced stealth FGFA to be developed with Russia will be the mainstay of India's combat fleet. "Our FGFA will be cheaper than the F-35. Moreover, the intellectual property rights of the FGFA will equally and jointly vest on both India and Russia, with full access to the source code and the like,'' said another senior official.

With a potent mix of super-manoeuvrability and supersonic cruising ability, the "swing-role'' FGFA will of course not come cheap. The cost of designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing has been pegged at around $11 billion, with India and Russia chipping in with $5.5 billion each.

Over and above this, each of the 250-300 FGFA India hopes to begin inducting from 2020 onwards will cost around $100 million each. In all, India will spend upwards of $35 billion over the next two decades in its biggest-ever defence project till now.

The Indian FGFA will primarily be based on the single-seater Sukhoi T-50, the prototype of which is already flying in Russia, but will include a twin-seater version and a more powerful engine with greater thrust.

"Its complete design will be frozen by the end of the 18-month PDC. Six to seven of its prototypes should be flying by 2017. After that, there will be 2,500 hours of flight-testing over 25 months before the series production begins in 2019,'' he said.

Net Neutrality Challenged by Verizon

Verizon, is saying the FCC overstepped its boundaries by imposing rules that prohibit Internet Providers from favoring certain groups, content and such over other groups.  What would be the driving force behind an ISP to favor a business over an individual in providing certain guaranteed speeds or content?  Certainly money would be my first thought, but also in that soon we'll have NBC/ Comcast as a major player in providing content and internet services to a greater chunk of America.  We will have the other content providers being shuffled to the sidelines by organizations (Verizon) that want to promote their shows, services and name brand ahead of all others.

Will Americans suffer because we don't have laws in place protecting internet content and availability--yes, as this also would keep ISPs from putting low paying option plans in last place concerning bandwidth priority.  That means not everyone is created equal when accessing the "free world wide web".  ... lakotahope

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Verizon Challenges FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

Published January 20, 2011

| Associated Press

AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

WASHINGTON –  Verizon says it has filed a court challenge to new federal regulations that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks.

A divided Federal Communications Commission adopted the "network neutrality" rules last month. Verizon Communications filed the challenge Thursday in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, it says.

The new rules prohibit phone and cable companies from favoring or discriminating against Internet content and services that travel over their networks -- including online calling services such as Skype, Internet video services such as Netflix and other applications that compete with their core businesses.

In its court filing, Verizon argues that the FCC overstepped its authority in adopting the regulations.

The new rules are also expected to be challenged by Republicans in Congress.

NASA says it can't afford new rocket, spacecraft

This project was put into play several years ago under President Bush's initiative to retire the Shuttle Fleet and Replace it with the Aries I rockets and the Constellation series.  Now I recently read an article that NASA is spending 500 million dollars in production that is not going to be used.  NASA is forced to spend this money because these are earmarked funds that favor certain parts of the country that build parts and supply needed assets to this newly canceled Aries/ Constellation program.  One half a billion dollars in earmarks to keep people working so they will vote for the House member and Senate members that gave this money up to be used by NASA for these reasons.  Is this heavy lift vehicle anywhere in this 500 million dollar throwaway part by Senators and such?

Originally, the Shuttle fleet was going to be ordered to stand down on 2015.  The New Replacement Fleet was to carry on from this point until the Space Station retires in 2020.  We need to get America's Space Program in Gear and not let it be NON-EXISTENT for years as it happened when the Apollo Moon missions were scrubbed before the Shuttle program was ready to fly.  We had nothing flying and now will be begging for seats on Russia's ships for years to come it seems....Damn politicians set their own agendas just to give themselves a pat on their back at the expense of prestige for the USA and $500 Million from the USA. .........lakotahope


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by Staff Writers Washington (AFP) Jan 13, 2011 NASA this week told Congress it cannot afford to build a new heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft to replace the retiring space shuttle program within the timeframe and budget approved by lawmakers.
The plan to make a first launch of a new rocket and space capsule to carry astronauts by 2016 "does not appear to be possible" within the projected budget, NASA said in a report to legislators.
Four members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation shot back that the plan is not optional and that the US space agency must find a way.

"The production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. It's the law," said a joint statement issued late Wednesday by Senators John Rockefeller, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bill Nelson and David Vitter.
"NASA must use its decades of space know-how and billions of dollars in previous investments to come up with a concept that works. We believe it can be done affordably and efficiently -- and, it must be a priority."

The Senate committee released a copy of the NASA report, which the US space agency had not issued publicly but presented to lawmakers on January 10.
It said that NASA fears it does not have the adequate funds according to budgets outlined in the fiscal year 2011 and President Barack Obama's 2012 budget request.

"None of the design options studied thus far appeared to be affordable in our present fiscal conditions, based upon existing cost models, historical data, and traditional acquisition approaches," said the NASA report.
The US space agency said no structures match the three criteria set out by its administrator for developing a future exploration system that is "affordable, sustainable and realistic."

NASA said it would continue to study the matter and would issue another report to Congress in April.
That report will aim "to update our approach based on the plans described herein and, if necessary, modifications based on the outcome of FY 2011 appropriations and the president's FY 2012 budget request."
The final two -- or if the budget allows, three -- space shuttle flights are set to take place this year, with Discovery scheduled to launch February 24 and Endeavour on April 19, before the fleet is retired for good.
According to expert John Logsdon, the NASA report comes as no surprise, because the US space agency administrator Charles Bolden has already informed top Senators that the plan before them was unrealistic.
"Even if they got more money I don't think they could achieve it by 2016," said Logsdon, former Director of the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University, adding that 2018 or 2020 might be more feasible.

"Something this big will require more than five years," he said.
Logsdon added that the apparent clash between senators and NASA was actually "the beginning of a dialogue."

"There is no doubt in my mind that NASA wants to build this heavy lift vehicle," Logsdon said. "It's also clear to me that based on NASA analysis they cannot do it under the conditions that have been written in the authorization act.

"So they have to go back and forth for some period of time so that Congress understands the basis of the NASA conclusion."

Iran Seizes another American on Spy Charges

Why do idiot NON Islamic people go to a country that can seize them and lop off their heads without any remorse?  The Islamic religion in Iran and other Muslim countries is not compatible with the Western style countries.  After their oil runs out, they will need to be isolated and marooned.  Let their religion dictate their future.  They will end up killing one another and the West will be more fortunate. I hope.. I see that Iran is a country that needs to protect it's borders.  Why can't the USA protect it's borders.........lakotahope
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Iran: American Woman Detained on Spy Charges

Published January 06, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Iranian authorities have detained a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges, a state-owned newspaper reported Thursday.

The daily IRAN said Hall Talayan had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities detained her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles northwest of the capital Tehran. The report said Talayan arrived in Iran from neighboring Armenia without a visa. It did not say when she was detained.

Talayan is the fourth American Iran has arrested and accused of spying in less than two years.

U.S. State Department officials could not immediately confirm the report early Thursday.

In July 2009, Iran detained three Americans who were initially accused of crossing the border illegally from northern Iraq and later accused of spying.

The U.S. has dismissed the spying charges and says the three are innocent hikers. Their families have said if they crossed the border at all, it was inadvertent.

One of the three, Sarah Shourd, was released in September on compassionate grounds. Her fiance, Shane Bauer, and friend Josh Fattal remain in prison and could go on trial next month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.