Quicksand Fans

B-model Shipboard Suitability Testing

Interesting video, but it sure looks like a complicated piece of kit, with all those doors. That nozzle also looks pretty close to the deck on rotation. Fingers crossed.

Awesome. Now all they have to do is add a remote control package and it'll make a great target practice drone for our F-22's.
Seriously, not bad. Wouldn't want to be the guy fixing/maintining all those secret doors but that was what? 50 ft of runway it needed to take off?

It's interesting that it uses a straight deck run rather than the ski ramp Harriers used.

kham wrote:It's interesting that it uses a straight deck run rather than the ski ramp Harriers used.

The ski ramp the Harriers needed on the rest of the worlds smaller carriers. Even the amphibious ships of the US "Gator Navy" offer more space than the British Invincible class or anything else out there. That and it screws up your compatibility with the full grown flat tops of the US navy.

Yeah, but the -B is only useful on the Wasp-class, America-class or strips ashore; it has no arrestor hook, so cannot land shipboard in the standard trap configuration. I wonder what the fuel load is, getting airborne with so short a run. Tanker support would have to be buddy stores on other -35B's or other assets.

kham wrote:Yeah, but the -B is only useful on the Wasp-class, America-class or strips ashore; it has no arrestor hook, so cannot land shipboard in the standard trap configuration. I wonder what the fuel load is, getting airborne with so short a run. Tanker support would have to be buddy stores on other -35B's or other assets.

I understand and I'm not saying it keeps the "B" model from operating on a big deck but a ramp might keep anything else from operating on the smaller one. As for the rest, come back in five years.

Am I the only one who finds the sight of a jet fighter taking off with full-down stabilators and what amounts to a deployed speed brake jarring?

No, several of the folks over at Lex's said exactly the same thing. Plus , that whole transformers vibe with all those doors and nozzles going is a bit eye opening. Not to kick Lockheed too hard , but they seem to have utterly abandoned the KISS principle.

Not to mention, most great aircraft always seem to follow the old saw "if it looks good, it probably is"
I'm not quite getting that vibe yet from this one. And I hope I'm wrong, since the CAF is buying 80-odd of them

DangerGirl wrote:Am I the only one who finds the sight of a jet fighter taking off with full-down stabilators and what amounts to a deployed speed brake jarring?

I don't know. Things without rotors or James Bond aren't supposed to go up and down like an elevator to begin with.

It is an awesome airplane - just wait when more information comes out on it.

Enjoy your Christmas.

Jim