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F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, X-35C
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Photography by Action Asia Photo |
The Joint Strike Fighter, or JSF, is being developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the United Kingdom Royal Navy. The stealthy, supersonic multi-role fighter was designated the F-35 Lighting II in July, 2006. The JSF is being built in three variants: F-35B - a short take-off and vertical landing aircraft - the STOVL
- for the US Marine Corps and the British Royal Navy; The JSF goal is to meet the needs of NATO allies with one aircraft. By using many of the same technologies already developed for the F-22, the F-35 will capitalize on commonality and modularity to give maximum affordability. The Lockheed Martin X-35 was chosen over the competing Boeing X-32 because of Lockheed’s lift-fan STOVL design, which proved superior to the Boeing vectored-thrust approach. The lift fan, which is powered by the aircraft engine via a clutched driveshaft, is technically challenging but has significant excess power - critical advantage given the weight gain of fighter aircraft during development. All variants have the same fuselage and internal weapons bay, common outer mold lines with similar structural geometries, identical wing sweeps, and comparable tail shapes. The weapons are stored in two parallel bays located aft of the main landing gear. The canopy, radar, ejection system, subsystems, and avionics are all common among all different variants as is the core engine which is based on the F119 by Pratt & Whitney. The Air Force variant CTOL will complement the F-22 Raptor and replace the F-16 as an air-to-ground strike aircraft. It is technologically the simplest variant of the JSF in that it does not require hover or aircraft carrier capability. The Navy variant CV has larger wing and tail control surfaces to enable low-speed approaches to aircraft carriers. The larger wing area also provides the Navy variant with an increased payload capability. To support the stresses of carrier landings and catapult launches, the internal structure is strengthened and the landing gear has longer stroke and higher load capacity. The Navy will use the new fighter in conjunction with the F/A-18 Hornet. The distinguishing feature of the US Marine Corps variant STVOL is its short takeoff/vertical landing capability. The USMC expects their variant will replace the F/A-18 Hornet and the AV-8B Harrier II. The aircraft being developed for the United Kingdom will be very similar to the USMC variant. First flight of the F-35X occurred on 1999. The aircraft is to be deployed in the year 2008. First flight of the Lockheed Martin X-35A CTOL variant was on October 24th, 2000. First flight of the X-35C CV variant on December 16th, 2000. The X-35A was then updated the X-35B STOVL configuration by addition of the lift fan system and other hardware, with initial vertical flight testing in June of 2001. The inaugural flight of the F-35 Lightning II, as AA-1 (STOL variant) took place on 15 December 2006. Crew: One
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