Canadians Talk About Building the F-35.-

Visiting Pax.-

Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Defence United Kingdom, visited Naval Air Station Patuxent River Md., May 1, 2013 to witness an F-35B execute a short takeoff and vertical landing. Following the flight, Mr. Hammond and U.K. National Deputy for the JSF Group Captain Harv Smyth commented on the aircraft's capability and what it will mean for British industry.

Spear Missile from F-35.-

Promo.-

MCAS Miramar.-

Comeback.-

The U.S. Navy and the 33rd Fighter Wing officially reconstituted the highly decorated VFA-101 Grim Reapers Squadron during an Oct. 1, 2013, ceremony at Eglin AFB, Fla. The VFA-101 Grim Reapers are the Navy's first F-35C carrier variant training squadron, based at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Members of the U.S. Navy VFA-101 attend the F-35C Rollout Ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 1, 2013.

British lightning.-

British operational military pilots have begun flying what is being touted as the world's most advanced stealth fighter jet, the F-35. But even as they take to the skies, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has given the clearest indication yet that the UK may not now buy all the jets it had planned.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Mr Hammond pledged that the first 48 aircraft on order at a cost of around £100m each would be bought to service the new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers from 2020. But he would not commit to a further 90 planes, which had originally been proposed. He said: "It's dependent on politics, money and the state of the world, but it's also dependent on what is not yet clearly known, what the mix between manned fighter jets and unmanned aircraft is going to be."

Mr Hammond said there were two trains of thought, one suggesting an 80/20 split of manned to unmanned aircraft in future, the other suggesting the exact opposite. He said the final decision would determine how many manned F-35s the UK could buy.

The Defence Secretary interrupted a visit to Washington to meet his recently appointed US counterpart Chuck Hagel and fly to the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River in Maryland where the F-35, or the Lightning II as it will be known in Britain, is being tested. Mr Hammond looked on as former Harrier pilot Pete "Wizzer" Wilson, who now works for defence contractor BAE Systems, which is part of the project team for the F-35, demonstrated the 'B' variant of the aircraft, which is capable of a short take-off and vertical landing.



In Florida at Eglin Air Force Base in the northwest of the state, the first UK military operational pilots began flying the F-35B just six weeks ago. There are only two of them - Lt Commander Ian "Tidders" Tidball from the Royal Navy and Squadron Leader Frankie Buchler from the RAF. Both have vast experience on other types of fast jets - Lt Cdr Tidball on Sea Harriers and F-18s, Sqn Ldr Bulcher on the Jaguar and latterly Typhoon aircraft.

After frustrating delays due to problems with the test aircraft and then the weather, both British pilots are now qualified to fly the F-35. Lt Cdr Tidball told after his qualifying flight: "Having come back from the Harrier and F-18, the aircraft handles absolutely exceptionally, very responsive even in these bumpy conditions."

Sqn Ldr Buchler is also a fan of the new jet, parts of which are still classified and Sky News was not allowed to film. He said: "It's awesome, a boyhood dream. I've always wanted to fly the best fast jets in the world and here we are with a fantastic platform and I'm lucky enough to be one of the first guys from the UK flying it. It's better than working for a living."

The British pilots fly two of the three UK jets so far delivered. But it will be another five years before the first squadron, based at RAF Marham, is set up on UK soil. In the meantime, 17 Squadron will be the first UK unit to fly the F-35B out of Edwards Air Force base in California from next year.

The F-35 programme comprises three variants in all. The A model is the "base" model and will be flown predominantly by the US Air Force, the B variant, which the UK is buying, will also be flown by the US Marine Corps, while the C or carrier variant, is adapted with "cat and trap" equipment to fly on and off American aircraft carriers.

The bulk of the projected orders will come from the US - close to 2,500 planes - with the UK originally due to buy 138 in total and the other "partner" nations, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, Denmark and Norway, due to buy about 500 between them.

The projections from Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor, suggest that including sales to other "coalition" countries there will be 3,922 F-35s sold during its planned 30-year production run. That's good news for the UK economy too, because 15% by value of each sale comes to these shores, largely through the contribution of BAE Systems in Lancashire, where much of the tail of every F-35 is manufactured.

The biggest danger to the programme at the moment is the immense cost, estimated at £2.5bn so far, given that defence budgets across the world, particularly in the West, are being slashed.

Virtual.-

No soy especialmente partidario de las pantallas táctiles en un avión de caza, pero tengo que reconocer que Lockheed ha conseguido, bajo mi punto de vista, una mayor funcionalidad en las suyas que Dassault en las del Rafale. Y no me refiero únicamente a la propia presentación táctica de los ítems, si no al propio tacto en sí, que garantiza en mayor medida el tocar el elemento elegido en un momento dado de la maniobra o con aire turbulento.

Simple.-

STOVL conversion is a push of a button...literally that easy. And it is remarkably easy to fly in STOVL.

Formando pilotos.-

Cazador cazado.-

F-35 Experience.-

Arrival.-

June 22, 2013. The U.S. Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-101 received the Navy's first F-35C Lightning II carrier variant aircraft from Lockheed Martin at the squadron's home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Interviews:
Lt. Cmdr. Chris Tabert, U.S. Navy Test Pilot.
Capt. John Enfield, VFA-101 Commanding Officer.
Col. Todd Canterbury, Commander 33rd Fighter Wing.
Capt. Mark Black, Commander Strike Fighter Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Photo By US Navy.

Photo By US Navy.

Promo.-

Detalles.-

Divertless Supersonic Intakes (DSI) is an air intake that was designed for supersonic flight regime, so the plane doesn´t need to have any variable-geometry air intake. In supersonic flight regime, it is hard for an airplane to turn, especially kulbit´s aerial maneouver type. In order to gain airflow to the engine, most fighters uses variable-geometry air intakes or moving air intakes that we could found in F-22, Su-27, MiG-29, or any other fighters. Fighters such like F-35 doesn´t need any moving parts because it uses DSI. DSI automatically gain airflow to the engine in supersonic flight regime.

A Diverterless Supersonic Inlet (DSI) consists of a "bump" and a forward-swept inlet cowl, which work together to divert boundary layer airflow away from the aircraft's engine while compressing the air to slow it down from supersonic speed.

The small "bumps" just forward of the engine air intakes form part of the diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) . These inlets also crucially improve the aircraft's low-observable characteristics. The inlet itself has no boundary layer diverter channel, the space between the duct and the fuselage, to reflect radar energy.

 The DSI can be used to replace conventional methods of controlling supersonic and boundary layer airflow for speeds of up to Mach 2, such as the intake ramp and inlet cone, which are more complex, heavy and expensive.

Research into the DSI was done by Lockheed Martin in the early 1990s. The first DSI was flown on 11 December 1996, installed on a F-16 Block 30 fighter and replacing aircraft's original intake diverter. The modified F-16 demonstrated a maximum speed of Mach 2.0 and handling characteristics similar to a normal F-16. It was also shown that subsonic specific excess power was slightly improved. A DSI was later incorporated into the design of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

The JF-17 Thunder, developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) as a joint-venture between China and Pakistan, was the world's first fighter in service to employ DSI technology.  The Shenyang J-31, the Chengdu J-10B, the Chengdu J-20 and the Guizhou JL-9 also incorporate DSI.

*Note.-

The "Kulbit" (also known as "Frolov chakra", named after Evgeny Frolov, Russian test pilot) is an aerial maneuver developed by Russian pilots, in which the aircraft performs an extremely tight loop, often not much wider than the length of the aircraft itself. It is an example of post-stall maneuvering, a type of supermaneuverability. Like most post-stall maneuvers, it demonstrates pitch control outside of the normal flight envelope wherein pitch control is made possible by having aerodynamic flow over the aircraft's elevators or stabilators. The Kulbit drastically decreases the aircraft's speed and could theoretically be used to cause a pursuing aircraft to overshoot its target. The maneuver is closely related to the famous "Pugachev's Cobra" maneuver, but the Kulbit completes the loop that the Cobra almost immediately cuts off.

Turned on debate.-

Un poco de chapa y pintura.-

Es todo lo necesario para modificar este F-35. ¡A ver quién lo hace más furtivo!.

PS.- Banco de pruebas del Ligthning sobre un 737, llegando a Edwards.

F-35, 2011 Year in Review.-

The F-35A flight test team at Edwards AFB, Calif., recounts 2011, a productive year of test that they call "the year of the firsts." From flight envelope expansion to mission systems and KC-10 fuel testing to sensor fusion, the team made great strides in 2011.

The F-35 Integrated Test Force at NAS Patuxent River looks back at 2011's test milestones and progress toward delivering the F-35B and F-35C to the fleet. Video produced by the Patuxent River F-35 ITF.

Why the F-35? (A norwegian vision).-

El pulmón de la bestia.-