Posted on 07/06/2006 7:49:16 PM PDT by nametrader
Pictures: Exclusive first photos of Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF ahead of official roll-out flightglobal.com has obtained exclusive photographs of Lockheed Martin's first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as it emerged from the paint shop at Fort Worth, Texas ready for its formal roll-out and naming on 7 July.
Aircraft AA-1 (pictured below), an F-35A conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant of the JSF, is expected to fly by late October. As a result of a redesign to reduce the weight of the F-35B short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, AA-1 is a one-off and not fully representive of the production JSF. It is being used to validate design, manufacturing, assembly and test processes for the 14 development flight-test aircraft that will follow.
Powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, AA-1 is equipped with most of the vehicle systems planned for later F-35s, including the fly-by-wire/power-by-wire flight controls and flat-panel cockpit displays. The mission systems, incuding active-array radar and 360deg infrared sensors, will be tested in later aircraft.
Assembly of the next flight-test aircraft, the first optimised-airframe STOVL F-35B, is already under way at Lockheed and partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems, with the aircraft scheduled to fly in February 2008. The first optimised-airframe F-35A is to fly in August 2008 and the first F-35C carrier variant in Januray 2009.
AA-1 carries the flags of the eight international nations involved in development the JSF (pictured below): Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the UK, which is the only Level 1 partner. Lockheed and the US government are hoping the eight nations will sign a memorandum of understanding on the JSF production, sustainment and follow-on development phase in December.
No, in fact I know that the F-22 is.
Ahhhhhhh . . .
Yet you believe I have a corner on the foil market.
Fascinating.
No, just wishful thinking on my part. With the F-18 and the F-35, the navy still won't have the combat radius it had with the F-14. Perhaps that's not as important as it once was?
I think it's a safe bet that . . . uhhhh that
it would help keep more than one's whistle wet . . .
especially launching from a carrier, according to my Baptist boss . . . who was wing commander in Nam . . . ejected twice . . . safely.
One is built to be the best in limited numbers, the other for economics.
LOL.
YUP. Too true.
OTOH, things CAN be incredibly schlocky in unlikely places at times. Human error; human stupidity; human arrogance . . .
Looks like a boat.
That's getting in the region of my relative's job in the 70's.
Fascinating stories from there.
If you have a chance check out "Flight of the Old Dog" and "Fatal Terrain". Some of his thoughts on how war develops are down right scary. He wrote about the current situation with NK 13 years ago.
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Thanks for the ref.
And you simply can't have that sort of security in USA.
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I wouldn't bet on it. There are significant numbers of missing people that UFO's did NOT take.
We etiher love you or zot you.
Unlike with the Eurofighter, the various participants in the JSF program receive no guaranteed work share. They have to earn it. Gotta love competition.
Out in the 'field', away from the Pentagon, AF personnel were lining up for the F-16. Guys wanted to fly it, and Colonel's wanted to get a star via the 388th.
The A-10 was not considered sexy by the rank&file. However, if one were to talk to these same folks about the A-10 today, they'd admit their vanity and praise the airplane.
When they announce the name I'll post it to this thread.
The name is Lighting II!
You're right, they goofed! They were supposed to put the NWO insignia on the one painted black.
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