F-35B goes VTOL

smallercrawler · Jun 3, 2013

F-35B VTOL test at Pax River a few days ago, enjoy:
Untitled URL Link

RayP(MI) · Jun 3, 2013

Interesting = thanks for sharing.

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 3, 2013

Impressive feat except the note that it can't be done with combat fuel / armament load. From a design perspective, massive amount of money went into designing a feature that probably will rarely be used and likely porked up the airframe quite a bit.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 4, 2013

The guys at Lockheed claim they built the first American jet fighter, the P80, and that they are building Americas last jet fighter, the F 35. It seems the future of air combat belongs to drones and airplanes like the AirTractor AT 802.

Zachary Hoyt · Jun 4, 2013

Seems like the British did that about 30 years ago, didn't they?
Zach

greygoat · Jun 4, 2013

Why build it here..when they could buy British
Surplus ones !
So, how many millions did they spend, to do what
already has been done...Years ago ?

smallercrawler · Jun 4, 2013

Ken, agreed; we used to call similar "tradeoffs" ingenious solutions to nonexistent problems. Also recall that a camel is a goat designed by a commitee to please everyone. LOL.

Busflyer · Jun 4, 2013

McDonnell Douglas used to build Harriers in St. Louis. Used to watch them doing "push ups" on the test pad all the time.

That said, there is a lot of difference between a 30 year old Harrier design and current technology. Huge advances in electronics and avionics and new engine technology just to name a few. Yes it's expensive but after a certain amount of time you have to upgrade and replace things.

F-35B goes VTOL

smallercrawler

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