re the Turkish pilot training--- I read somewhere in the online news stream that the U.S. visas of all of the Turkish F-35 pilot trainees(in Arizona IIRC) and their support crew have been pulled by our Dept. of State in the last 48 or 72 hours although they were granted a decent period of time before they must depart the USA. The extended or protracted mandatory departure date seemed curious and possibly wily(or strategic) as if President Trump were leaving a window open for a cancellation of the Turkish Russian missile deal.

The training cancellation seemed so obviously logical that I didn't look further into the matter to check if it is truly so.

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
My question would be, what in the hell are the Japanese doing flying our most advanced fighter?

They are a trusted ally, that is why.

The F-35 was essentially designed as the replacement for the F-16. We've sold thousands of F-16s worldwide and if we want to ensure allies remain allies, we need to sell them advanced weapon systems. It also keeps our defense industry working / in business. Often times things foreign customers want (bigger engines, more fuel, etc in the case of the F-16 & F-18 exports) trickle down to the US variants.

It's either that or they run to Russia and buy their stuff.

the Turks were training at Luke which is outside Phoenix

I don't think they spent much time at DM although I did see the Turkish flag flying there for a day awhile back

Turkey needs to make a decision - which side are they on

I don't doubt that the Turks were getting the PeeWee league version of the F-35.

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
My question would be, what in the hell are the Japanese doing flying our most advanced fighter?

You do know Japan's defense is largely integrated with the US...it's part of the agreement we made after WWII. Their destroyers are enlarged Burke-class using the Aegis system. All their ISR and patrol assets are US made/integrated. They originally wanted to buy the F-22 however that got denied, instead they have license to produce the F-35, which turns-out to have more value as a ISR/electronic warfare platform, than a single-use stealth fighter. Them, South Korea and Singapore are our strongest allies in the Pacific.

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
My question would be, what in the hell are the Japanese doing flying our most advanced fighter?

One word...CHINA

Watched an interesting show on TV about aircraft, at one point the narrator was taking the stick in a small single engine over England i believe.

The instructor told him to close his eyes and fly level simulating black out, no instruments, after a few minutes when he opened them they had been in a right turn and were at a heading 40 degrees off target.

They were discussing the "black box" how it's made, housed, tracked, the general consensus is that in the future black box data will be streamed live and recorded both on the plane and via satellite giving inspectors real time data on plane location, speed, altitude etc...

Surprised that an F35 doesn't stream some data back to the military.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:


Surprised that an F35 doesn't stream some data back to the military.

A flight data recorder records a LOT of very specific information integrated into nearly every aspect of the aircraft. While presently there are systems that send bursts of information in limited amounts at intervals, it doesn't come close to streaming or to the amount of data needed, in real time, up until impact.

Addtionally, there are very big chunks of this planet where there's no contact, and you're on your own. Even sat communication is spotty in many places (to say nothing of expensive).