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In what could be seen as a change in Japan’s defense posture that has banned the possession of offensive aircraft carriers, the Defense Ministry is considering buying new fighter jets that may be put on its helicopter carriers, government sources said Sunday. The sources said the introduction of F-35Bs, which are capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings, will be useful to counter China’s growing maritime assertiveness. They are expected to bolster defenses of far-flung islands in the southwest, where only short runways exist, they said. The move, however, is likely to trigger a backlash from China and other neighboring...

Fixed-wing aircraft carrier aviation is not cheap, and short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft have a limited ability to bring back unspent fuel and ordnance to the ship after a mission is completed. This means good gas gets dumped, and even worse, weapons that cost thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars get jettisoned into the sea. The Royal Navy wants their F-35Bs to be able to the return to the ship with more gas and weapons than they normally could by landing vertically on the decks of their two new Queen Elizabeth classaircraft carriers. The aim is to...

ZHUKOVSKY (Moscow Region), July 18. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry is in talks with aircraft builders to develop an advanced vertical take-off and landing fighter jet for a future aircraft cruiser on the basis of planes produced by the Yakovlev Company, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on Tuesday. "The Defense Ministry’s plans … somewhere at the finish of the state armament program for 2018-2025 envisage the commencement of the construction of a new aircraft cruiser and, of course, a new generation of aircraft will emerge by that time," Borisov said. "Today, Su-33 and MiG-29 aircraft are the backbone of aircraft...

Assuming its planned appearance at the Farnborough International Airshow goes ahead, the Lockheed Martin F-35 will be the most significant new military aircraft to be seen in the skies of southern England for many years. It has been a long wait for British eyes, the nation being the first overseas partner to sign up to the Joint Strike Fighter program, as it became. Britain joined following the signing of a government-to-government memorandum of understanding way back in 1995. It was a momentous decision for the UK government at the time, as the JSF design and configuration was yet to be...

According to China Daily, China's aviation industry is working on the development of aircraft with short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities needed for an important role in the Chinese navy's future operations, military experts said. "Research and development on components of STOVL aircraft, such as the engine, have started," Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told China Daily. Artist Impression ("Fan Art") of a J-26 STOVL Aircraft of the PLAN "The aircraft's principles are not new. They have been known for more than 40 years, so our aircraft designers should be able to develop the plane on their...

Direct Video Linki YouTube:F-35B Accomplishes First Night Vertical Landing Aboard USS WASP On Aug. 14, the first DT-II (Developmental Test Phase Two – the second of three planned tests aimed at expanding the F-35B’s shipboard operating envelope for the U.S. Marine Corps) night vertical landing was executed by F-35 Marine Corps test pilot, Lt. Col. C.R. “Jimi” Clift. Clift, a Harrier pilot. The F-35B is the STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) of the JSF, destined to replace all the USMC assets, including the Harrier jump jet and the F/A-18 Hornet.

One feature that makes Lockheed Martin's F-35B different than other fighter jets is its ability to land on an aircraft carrier without requiring a hook to prevent it from sailing right off the end into the ocean. The F-35B recently completed its first vertical landing at night on the USS Wasp. When visualized through a night vision lens, the F-35B looked just like what you might expect of a Hollywood-stylized UFO.

The F-35B, the VSTOL version of the Joint Strike Fighter made its first vertical landing on a US Navy Amphibious assault Ship, the USS Wasp LHD-1. F-35B makes vertical landing on USS Wasp, LHD-01 Here is the link to a video of the same: F-35B Makes 1st Vertical Landing onboard a US Navy LHD

F-35B Makes First Vertical Carrier Landing At Sea By Colin Clark Published: October 3, 2011 The big news today: the Marines F-35B made a vertical landing on the deck of the USS Wasp, a small Marine aircraft carrier. Ship trials will demonstrate how the stealth materials on the plane hold up to harsh conditions at sea, as well as show just how hot and noisy the aircraft is when making landings on a carrier. There have been concerns that the enormous thrust and heat from the 43,000 pounds of thrust the engine can produce might soften carrier decks and require...

Pentagon to recommend Taiwan buy F-35B, AV-8B fighters: report 2011/09/21 20:48:32 Washington, Sept. 20 (CNA) A U.S. Defense Department study has concluded that Taiwan should buy short-takeoff and vertical-landing jets such as the British-designed AV-8B Harrier jump jet or the new F-35B vertical-takeoff jet, the Washington Times reported Monday. The Pentagon will deliver the congressionally-mandated study on Taiwan's air power to Capitol Hill later this week, the newspaper said. Citing U.S. officials familiar with military aircraft, the report said the Pentagon conclusion was based on anticipated mainland Chinese missile strikes against Taiwan's airfields with cratering munitions that would thwart takeoffs...

China’s Jump Jet Mystery April 25, 2011By David Axe Are Chinese internet rumours about the development of a J-18 jump jet fighter really credible? The Chinese aviation industry has begun testing a short-takeoff, vertical-landing naval fighter optimized for small aircraft carriers, according to English-language military trade publications. The reports last week cited rumours circulated by Chinese aviation blogs. ‘It is difficult to substantiate Internet chatter,’ US-based Defense News cautioned. But ‘given the PLA's naval power projection ambitions, it is probable there is (a) VSTOL or STOVL (short-takeoff and vertical-landing) fighter programme,’ Richard Fisher, from the International Assessment and Strategy Center...

India's sole current aircraft carrier, the 29,000 ton INS Viraat, is running out of Harrier aircraft. Two years ago, Viraat emerged from 18 months in a shipyard getting maintenance and upgrades. With its engine and hull refurbished, and its electronics upgraded, India has announced that Viraat will serve for another decade. But back in 2009, one Harrier had just crashed, and now only ten of the original 30 Harriers are operational. Since Britain recently retired the last of its Harriers, there's always the possibility of India getting some of those before they are scrapped

F-35B vertical landings are like buses, you wait ages for one then three come along all at once. Aircraft BF-2 did three VLs in one day - Jan 13 - taking the fleet total to 15 since March 2010 and moving the program closer to the target of 42 vertical landings required to clear the F-35B for initial ship trials.BF-2 was instrumented for STOVL-mode flight tests after the first F-35B, aircraft BF-1, encountered mechanical reliability issues that slowed testing. Ship clearance was planned by the end of 2010, with STOVL trials on the USS Wasp scheduled for March, but by...

The Pratt & Whitney F135 short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant propulsion system took one more step toward government certification recently with the successful completion of one of the most rigorous, demanding tests in the entire qualification program. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp.company. The high temperature margin test which took place at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) in Tennessee involves intentionally running the engine to turbine temperatures beyond design conditions while simultaneously operating the turbomachinery at or above 100 percent of design conditions

Britain's decision to buy a different version of the F-35 fighter jet will not dramatically raise the cost of the aircraft for the US Marine Corps, a military official said Tuesday. "The initial briefs that I've seen is that this does not significantly increase the cost of the aircraft, but that's for the budget and the programmatic folks to deal with," Lieutenant General George Flynn told reporters. As part of a strategic review in October, Britain has canceled plans to purchase the F-35B, a version of the fighter that can vertically land or take off, and opted to buy a...

Good progress is being made in flight testing by the CTOL and CV versions. F-35B STOVL mode flights have resumed, but the variant is still behind schedule. However, it is neither the CTOL nor the CV model that holds the current speed and g-load records for the F-35. That honor befalls the F-35B STOVL. Recently the jet accomplished Mach 1.32 and 7 g's, the maximum g's the STOVL is designed for.

Aircraft Carrier Cavour Prepares to Receive F-35B Aircraft (Source: Italian Navy; issued Oct. 27, 2010) (Issued in Italian only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com) From Oct. 18 to Oct. 22, the aircraft carrier Cavour hosted a Site Specific Activation Plan Midterm meeting (SSAP), part of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program according to which the Italian Navy plans to acquire 22 F-35B Short Take-Off and Landing (STOVL) combat aircraft between 2014 and 2021. The meeting was attended by representatives of various Italian and US government agencies ((SEGREDIFESA, MARISTAT, NAVARM, UTNAV Genova, GRUPAER) as well as industry representatives from Lockheed Martin, Fincantieri...

Changes are being made to the integrated power package (IPP) on the Marine’s F-35 that should limit heat damage to carrier decks and other surfaces, Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for aviation, told DoD Buzz in an exclusive interview one day before the start of the Farnborough Air Show. In addition, the heat buildup from the STOVL drive shaft will be addressed in LRIP 4, although negotiations on that are still underway so costs for that are not set yet. “We have made the decision to adjust the IPP,” he said Sunday, reshaping the nozzle so that the enormous...

Comments made by Taiwan's Air Force chief of staff have confused the issue over whether Taiwan actually wants F-16s. On May 13, Air Chief Ger Hsi-hsiung told members of the legislature that F-16s would meet Taiwan's immediate requirements, but the F-16 lacks the stealth and short-takeoff and vertical-landing (STOVL) capabilities that will be needed in the future. When asked by the legislature to identify the fighter better suited to meet Taiwan's long-term needs, Ger identified the F-35B Lightening II. Taiwan first requested 66 new F-16C/D Block 50/52 fighters from the United States in 2006, but Washington has been hesitant to...

When the Marine Corps commandant says equipment he is buying for his people works and is safe, we listen. So when Gen. James Conway told us the vertical takeoff version of the Joint Strike Fighter was not too hot to damage carriers or amphibious ships and was not too loud to harm crews or communities, we listened. So did some folks on Capitol Hill and they questioned whether the Marine leadership was singing too sweet a song. Testing documents obtained by DoD Buzz, said by congressional sources to be the most recent available, raise serious questions about the effects of...