2/28/2024 0 Comments Real f 35 cockpitHowever, by April 2017 the variants were sharing at most twenty percent common design: Originally planned to keep development, production, and operating costs down, a common design was originally optimistically planned in three variants that would share 80 percent of their parts. The Joint Strike Fighter program was intended to replace the United States military General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet (excluding newer E/F "Super Hornet" variants) and McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II tactical fighter and attack aircraft, and meet anticipated performance expectation enhancements covering military requirements up to 2035. Main article: Joint Strike Fighter program The possible obsolescence of stealth technology was also criticized. A number of design deficiencies were alleged, such as carrying a small internal payload, inferior performance to the aircraft being replaced particularly the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the lack of safety in relying on a single engine, and flaws were noted such as vulnerability of the fuel tank to fire and the propensity for transonic roll-off (TRO or "wing drop"). By 2017 the program was expected over its lifetime (until 2070) to cost $406.5 billion for acquisition of the jets and $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance. The program received considerable criticism for cost overruns during development and for the total projected cost of the program over the lifetime of the jets. Despite being intended to share most of their parts to reduce costs and improve maintenance logistics, by 2017 the design commonality was only 20%. Three variants were designed: the F-35A ( conventional take off and landing, CTOL), the F-35B ( short-take off and vertical-landing, STOVL), and the F-35C (carrier-based catapult assisted take-off (CATOBAR), CV). It was developed in cooperation with a number of foreign partners, and unlike the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, is intended to be available for export. The F-35 was developed to replace most US fighter jets with variants of one design common to all branches of the military. The X-35 first flew on 24 October 2000 and the F-35A on 15 December 2006. Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II development started in 1995 with the origins of the Joint Strike Fighter program and culminated in the completion of operational testing and start of full-rate production in 2021.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |