Posted on 02/24/2015 5:54:19 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Feb 24 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will start "ski-jump testing" at a Maryland air base this week, while another B-model jet wraps up six months of tests at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) to as high as 120 F (49 C).
Two UK pilots will test the ability of the new warplane to take off from upward-sloping ski-jump ramps used on aircraft carriers like those operated by Britain and Italy. The ramps launch the jets forward and upward, reducing the thrust needed.
Sylvia Pierson, spokeswoman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office, said two British pilots, one from BAE Systems Plc and the other from the British Royal Navy, would use the first UK F-35B jet to complete the testing through late May.
The F-35 is also finishing six months of tests at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory in Florida, another key milestone before the U.S. Marine Corps declares the jet ready for initial combat use in July.
After 14 years of development, early cost overruns and schedule delays, the $400 billion F-35 fighter jet program is becoming an operational reality for the U.S. military. Over 120 jets are flying at nine U.S. bases.
Richard Aboulafia, analyst with the Teal Group, said the program has stabilized but it is unclear whether the Air Force will stick to plans to buy 1,763 F-35 A-models through 2037 even as it ramps up work on a new bomber and a "sixth generation" jet.
The F-35 climate testing has been closely watched by the U.S. military and nine other countries that have placed orders: Britain, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Norway, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and Israel.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Its probably obsolete already.
I still get annoyed it’s not referred to as the F-24.
Way to utterly screw up the tri-service designation scheme.
TURKEY..?
Wow.
The flying anvil does a pirouette for the John with the dough...
The F-35 is one of the saddest stories in aviation history.
Daddy worked at the Climatic Laboratory which is at Eglin.
They could get the entire hangar down to 65 below zero and rooms large enough to hold a fighter, way colder than that. They kept parkas with wolf fur whenever they went inside the cold.
That thing must have been built in the 40s or 50s. Amazing technology for that time.
Ski Jump and training wheels
that sounds awesome
This plane is heading for the ski jump? Get back to work, F-35! Leave those ski vacations to the Kardashians! Next thing, the F-35 will be sitting in a hot tub drinking hot, buttered rum with some girls from Vermont.
before the Marines adopted the AV-8B, a Marine pilot taking a test hop in a Brit Harrier off a ramp was told: Takeoff will be uneventful, but if it is, there will be NO time for communication and you will immediately see me eject, that will be your que to take it all is no longer well...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it could be summed up as the poofter politician's ponce.
Pukin Dog memorial ping.
For those new to FR - Pukin Dog was an ex-navy pilot who posted here and for a long time claimed inside information that the F-35 program would be cancelled, and that it would never see service with any of the branches.
Just because you have inside information doesn’t mean it is good inside information.
>>Correct me if I’m wrong, but it could be summed up as the poofter politician’s ponce.<<
Today has been “tagline temptation” day! Yours is the 3rd (but I will stick with the current one — res ipsa loquater)
>>Pukin Dog memorial ping<<
Did he pass? Jeeze, I loved that dude. Never a doubt in his mind about what he posted.
Just dang!
>> Next thing, the F-35 will be sitting in a hot tub drinking hot, buttered rum with some girls from Vermont.<<
That is MY plan :)
I don’t know. He departed the board about 10 years ago. He seemed unhappy about almost everything at that point.
Direct inquiry says he was suspended — search says he does not exist.
Wow, over 10 years ago. I guess I am an old-timer here ;)
I’m sure he exists out there somewhere. And old the old archives in John Robinson’s closet. BTW I haven’t seen john Robinson post in a good while either
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