"All aspect stealth"? I don't think so.
Posted on 07/29/2009 3:57:38 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
Lockheed Martin has unveiled the first naval variant for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in a roll-out ceremony at its final assembly plant in Fort Worth, Texas.
'"It's an honour and a privilege and it is a great day", says Adm Gary Roughhead, chief of naval operations. The US Navy plans to operate 260 F-35C carrier variants among the 2,443 aircraft in the current US programme.
"This airplane will top anything that comes it's way," Roughead adds.
The first prototype CV model to roll off the production line - CF-1 - follows the debut of a conventional variant for the US Air Force in December 2006 and a short take-off and vertical landing F-35B in June 2008.
The naval variant uses the same propulsion system as the air force fighter, but adds other modifications, including an expanded wing and strengthened landing gear.
The F-35C will be the first tactical aircraft to enter naval service in the USA for several decades that is powered by a single engine. It will also be the first carrier-based jet fighter featuring all-aspect stealth.
The navy's first F-35C unit is scheduled to enter service in fiscal year 2015, although one Pentagon estimate projects a two-year delay.
The CF-1 prototype model is now expected to start flight tests in late December, reflecting a three-month schedule slip. It is projected to be the fourth F-35 prototype to enter flight test, following the non-production configuration AA-1, and STOVL aircraft BF-1 and BF-2.
"All aspect stealth"? I don't think so.
More pix plox.
F-35 Charlie a/c ping
I was laughing my butt off for days when this pic appeared on foreign blogs, they actually thought we had this operational.
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Its a movie prop from the film, “Stealth” and it was so real foreign assets thought it was a clever attempt using Hollywood to unveil the “secrets” of Naval Aviation.
In effect they could not decide that it was real or that it was a prop, like the movie Airwolf, when it came out nobody thought such an attack helicopter could exist, reality can be cruel and fickle.
Of course there is always the F-302
2,443 aircraft in the current US programme
Airwolf—such a well written show 9 [/s]. Every problem of every episode could be solved by Airwolf coming out of its lair in the final 5 minutes and blowing the crap out of something.
I was actually thinking of the movie that started the series Airwolf, can’t remember the name of it, I think it was the AH-64 prototype, the actor from Jaws, Sneider? was in it?
Blue Thunder
thanks, I have no clue where anybody is here, but for me its before 4am here in Alaska and I just woke up a little while ago.
Blue Thunder was supposed to be about “scary” black government silent helicopters, instead it became a dominant weapons platform for the military.
Frankly I think Hollywood got caught with TOO much intel about the program and made an airframe TOO realistic.
Or the military thought it was too cool and so they made their own, funny in a way.
Don’t know the history of the AH-64, but I’ll bet it was in development way before “Blue Thunder”. Aviation programs take at least 10 years from concept to deployment. More likely Hollywood got the idea from AH-64 concept sketches.
I agree with you, we had the Cobra way before that, but Hollywood was trying to make it into a government black project to spy on people in urban environments and to also make it a platform for political “culling” in softspeak.
I'd agree. I don't think the chopper from Blue Thunder would have been a prototype. If so, the design sure did evolve ....
2 years late too boot.
I'd agree. I don't think the chopper from Blue Thunder would have been a prototype. If so, the design sure did evolve ....
The Blue Thunder machine was a movie-modded Aerospatiale Gazelle (If you look at the left "air intake", there is no feed to the engine) 
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