Posted on 06/14/2013 12:05:47 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
The American F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft has its origins in a secret collaboration between Russia’s Yakovlev and Lockheed Martin of the United States.
The American F-35B – the naval version of the Joint Services Fighter – was not designed in Fort Worth, Texas, but in Moscow, Russia. The ‘unique’ lift fan and vectoring tailpipe that allows the F-35B stealth fighter to perform vertical takeoffs and landings (VTOL) was designed nearly three decades ago by Russia’s Yakovlev aircraft bureau for their supersonic multi-services fighter, the Yak-141.
The Yak-141 was a successful development of the older Yak-38 jump jet. A good example of Russia’s poor record in naval aviation, the Yak-38 was an apology of a fighter, being outperformed in almost every department by its Western rivals such as the highly successful British Sea Harrier.
As part of the Soviet Navy’s massive expansion under Admiral Gorshkov, in 1975 Yakovlev was ordered to develop a highly versatile aircraft. Having an unprecedented blend of supersonic speed, vertical take-off and landing capability and extended range, its main role would be to defend the Soviet Naval Fleet and shipping lanes. The aircraft would not only operate from aircraft carriers, but also from wheeled landing and takeoff platforms that could be placed throughout the country, allowing the Russian Air Force to come into the picture. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at indrus.in ...
Good article!
To be honest, though, I wish the F-35B variant had never actually been hatched. The JSF was already a compromise design trying to meet the needs of both the USAF and the USN. Trying to make a variant that is STVOL as well has undoubtedly created many of the technical problems, delays, and cost overruns the JSF program has endured.
Now, I don’t blame the Marines for wanting a 21st century replacement for the Harrier, or the Brits for wanting the F-35B as a Harrier replace for their carriers (before they bailed out on the deal). I’m just sayin’ in retrospect, it probably would have been better and less expensive to start with a clean sheet of paper and create a design completely separate from the F-35 A and C versions. What we’re seeing now is bloat that makes McNamara’s adventure with the F-111 look like pocket change.
LOL. This is just silly.
The Bolsheviks fought the Nazis with biplanes!
Since WWII, an amazing number of designs should impress even US manufacturers—they certainly have impressed me.
“To be honest, though, I wish the F-35B variant had never actually been hatched. The JSF was already a compromise design trying to meet the needs of both the USAF and the USN.”
I worked on the Future Combat System, the largest army procurement to date. For political reasons it was to be a design that satisfied all of the Army program command’s customers. It would have a front-line combat tank replacement, an ambulance, a scout car, all buit from the same platform. Anything that was not designed into the main vehicle would be, theoretically, paid for by the end Army customer. Well, the program command would never make a decision because each customer truly needed a unique vehicle and didn’t have the money to design their portion. So those customers would never sign off on a base design that wasn’t their complete vehicle.
To get the funding SAIC and Boing searched their pockets and came up with enough Senatorial votes. This meant that the “integrator of integrators” was actually two companies who refused to work together on anything.
The shecedule and spend rates were set in concrete but the documentation that would let the subs start building didn’t show up until a month before the preliminary design review. But those spend rates were met because the upper level bonuses were tied to them. So, companies hired unbelievable numbers of people the last three months of the year, who spent their time, for the most part, playing computer games. Then, they’d lay them off come January in the hopes the Army would eventually send us design documents.
The point of this is, for political reasons, you can’t have a pure design for anything as eventually even the Clean The Floors Command will be you customer. This is one of the basis for cost overruns.
>>>The Bolsheviks fought the Nazis with biplanes!<<<
In fact Soviets were extremely advanced in aircraft design from late 1920s to mid 1930s.
At the early stage of Spanish civil war their Tupolev SB bombers were faster and more agile than literally every opposing Nazy fighter.
Soviet Rata fighter outclassed any Nazy platform as well until Germans developed and fielded Bf-109 against the Republicans and Russians.
The problem is technology advanced very fast at the time, in 1937 Stalin started his purges of military and defence industry and by 1940 everything has stalled, they ended up with 1930s technology and without any competent leadership.
In fact, Comrades, modern life as we know it all started in The Rodina, The Motherland of Communism. Capitalist Dog, did I forget Blender?
Dr. Pyotr Yakovlevich Ufimtsev - the father of stealth technology.
On the Eastern Front, the Nazis used thousands of Russky biplanes for target practice.
The girls of the "Night Witches" applied Stalin's best use of the Russky biplane.
BTW: It was Alexandr Seversky whose design-skills were dearly missed by the Bolshevik Revolution in designing the Allies' P-47.
Lucky us! :)
You miss my point. Biplanes weren’t a backbone of Soviet air force during WWII for sure, thus they had a SMALL number of biplane fighters (i-153). These planes were a rollback from an i-16 known as a rata or mosca. An i-16 was a pretty revolutionary plane for earlier 1930s (a fast agile monoplane featuring retractable landing gear). An i-153 biplane came in 1934 as a less revolutionary alternative but the history proved that even an i-16 turned absolete by late 1930s with a Bf-109 in the skies.
The point is the Soviets has stuck with a technology from the early 1930s with Stalin’s purges.
U-2 biplane in Night Witches’ use weren’t even a combat planes.
You can have the greatest engineers/designers in the world, but if your work force is drunk off vodka and would rather be sleeping, you aren’t going to pull them off.
The Germans had Engineers/Designers AND a ready supply of craftsman AND slave labor to actually build them.
LOL..sadly true concerning just about anything nowadays.
Right, mismanagement of the JSF project coupled with Lockheed's ineptness has had nothing to do with technical problems, delays and cost overruns. Any idea why the F-35B is farther ahead than the A and C variants to the point that the B will achieve IOC prior to either?
(before they bailed out on the deal).
The Brits are once again procuring the B.
Obviously, you are not familiar with the Yak-3 and its successor, the Yak-9. The LaGG-5 was also a good fighter, though its predecessors, the LaGG-1 and LaGG-3 got creamed. The Soviets build some amazing planes. Their issues were with pilot training, not their aircraft.
BTW: Germans and Italians were also using biplanes. The Germans used the Henschel Hs 123 until 1944 as dive bomber, and the Italians used the Fiat CR-32 and CR-42 fighters. The Brits still operated the Gloster Gladiator biplane fighter at the beginning of the war and operated the Swordfish and Albacore biplane torpedo bombers for the entire war.
Canadians and brits also used the Mosquito, one heck of a plane, don’t think anything could match it’s speed.
Agreed—and nothing against biplanes, either. As I stated, Russian designs have always impressed me.
"...U-2 biplane in Night Witches’ use weren’t even a combat planes..."
'Didn't write that—but "ground-attack" ain't bad—
Fascinating reading:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&q=cache:7JKwZD6IGpAJ:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_Po-2%2BU-2+biplane+in+Night+Witches%E2%80%99&gbv=2&ct=clnk
Night Witches actually inflicted little damage to the Nazy. Their primary mission was harassing Germans at nights. If you remember MASH series and their 5 o’clock Charlie it is exactly that the Witches did. Little to none effect but the enemy is nervous and constantly thinking how to deal with you.
Primary Soviet ground attack planes were Il-2 and Aircobra.
Is true. Along with thousand inventions, in belovèd Rodina we have free medical care for everyone!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_M-15_Belphegor
or this maybe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2
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