I'm interested to see how the stealth surfacing holds up at sea. I read a while back that a good part of ground time on other stealth designs was maintenance on the surface to maintain stealth effectiveness.

I can't recall where I read that, so any input on the reality would be welcome.

Great vid!

Thank you for posting the Video.

Still find it odd that US Carriers don't follow the Ski-Ramp configuation for the VTOL aircraft though. Ashame the RN ones won't see Carrier born use for up to 10 years.

Chris

Now that the services are no longer "Don't Ask - Don't Tell" there is no need to hide the rainbow fuel.


Do they hang stuff on the outside or is it mostly carried in the internal bay? I'd guess that they would mostly use those 500 lb. JDAMs for precision strikes. My assumption would be that the JDAM is far cheaper than any guided type missiles.


That's the US Government you're talking about - they might *not* have that worked out yet.. Wasn't there something about the F-35 tailhook for the Navy variant having to be redesigned because it wouldn't work with the current or next generation arresting cables?


I noticed that wobble too. LOL.. Throw in a thunderstorm, rough seas, poor vis..and things could get interesting. What we are seeing in that awesome video (and really is good..props to the OP) is ideal circumstance footage. I'm sure they are easing in to what will be "normal" ops with it. Lots of challenges crop up in the development that the designers didn't plan for. I'm always amazed when one of these projects make it from paper (er..CAD) to reality.


Yeah.. Is it the same type of paint or some new type?

Again - great video..

BeachAV8R

Good video. I'd like to see those same videos when heavily laden with ordnance.

My understanding is it would be internal stores at the beginning of a conflict, then adding external when the anti-air threat had been reduced. They can also strap on a gun if needed.


If I remember, right, the hook is in an improper location, and would cause a problem between the landing gear, arrestor hook and cable. I don't think they've got that one sorted out yet.


The theory is that it is new and is supposed to be much more rugged, and they are even talking about using it on the F-22 to make it easier to maintain, but I don't know if anyone is certain about how well it will actually work.

Edit: And as a side note, I've heard that compared to the Harrier, the F-35 is much easier to fly, land and take off. I read somewhere that one of the testers, I think in that video, was an F/A-18 pilot who'd never flown a VSTOL aircraft before, and he had no problems landing it on a carrier.

It's used to re-direct air down into the Lift fan isnt it?

It looked like it was about to roll an ankle.

The carrier don't look like its moving forward