F35 Video

[zwerge]

This is interesting .F-35B Ship Suitability Testing - YouTube

[big ned]

It looks good doesn't it?

Shame it's going to end up a bit of a dog though. Especially as far as part of the U.K. JSF project to re equip the FAA/Navy are concerned since the goverment sold off the Harrier for peanuts and there is no sign of this aircraft coming online anytime soon.

There are just to many inherent problems with this pup. The F-35B is a design which compromises range payload performance in favour of a complex lift system that
is dead weight for all phases of flight except short take off and vertical landing, when all mechanical lift systems must work in sequence with 100% reliability, 100% of the time. When in the history of air warfare, nay, manned flight, has this ever happened?

It may be able to do a short take off and land vertically (STOL) but it can't land with a full load of weapons like the Harrier can, it has to jettison them, think of the cost everytime that's gonna occur....

As far as the U.K. is concerned, it's my view that we would be better buying the F-18 Super Hornet, it's cheaper and could do the job better. Remember, for the cost of 100 F-35's you could buy nearly 700 Super Hornets, so no spares problems there then.

The USMC are committed to the F-35 now as their main weapon of choice in global conflicts, I think there's a few squeeky bottoms in the Pentagon right now, but it's too late. Oh, and it's out performed by older Soviet designs like the Su-30 and others that are in service with potential enemies of the U.S. before it's even entered service.

With the way things are going here in the U.K, the cost of the new carriers having trebled to nearly £12Bn, JSF not getting the nod for the Navy until after the next election in 2015, and the continuing advances in UAV design, the F-35 may be obsolete before it has shown it's teeth. The whole sorry tale is a continuing clusterf***.....
And we the taxpayers are paying for this folly. Rant over.

Regards, Ned.