As a matter of interest, can the F-35B be catapulted?
If not, will our aircraft be able to cross deck with US carriers which (obviously) lack the ski ramp that our ships have?
No and depends on what the “coating” of the deck is.
As a matter of interest, can the F-35B be catapulted?
If not, will our aircraft be able to cross deck with US carriers which (obviously) lack the ski ramp that our ships have?
I would have thought that a "fail safe" system that was usually RETAINING the undercarriage, air brakes, drogue (para)chutes, would sense the loss of power, and (automatically), deploy all the above under the stored kinetic power in springs or whatever (compressed air), that would/could normally be used deploy them.
As a matter of interest, can the F-35B be catapulted?
If not, will our aircraft be able to cross deck with US carriers which (obviously) lack the ski ramp that our ships have?
As a matter of interest, can the F-35B be catapulted?
If not, will our aircraft be able to cross deck with US carriers which (obviously) lack the ski ramp that our ships have?
Yowzah!
I look forward to seeing photographs of them doing this through LFA7 (Mach loop) in Wales at some point.
The guy who videoed this normally posts from LFA7 so I'll keep an eye out for it.
Well @Magic_Mushroom a well cast fly deserves a strike.
I have indeed voiced an opinion that selling the F-35, one of the West’s biggest, most costly, most advanced, most sensitive weapon systems (cutting edge ‘crown jewels’) to Turkey, is a very bad idea.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30563.pdf
Yes, they are deeply imbedded in the program, but, they are not not indispensable.
Pakistan bought F-16’s that were never delivered.
The U.S.-Pakistan F-16 fiasco
Iran bought F-4’s and F-14’s that were delivered.
I wonder which one of those decisions has caused the US and its allies/NATO partners the greatest angst? Or is that really a serious question?
More than 40 years after Iran acquired F-4’s and F-14 Tomcats from the United States, some are still flying. In 1969, the Shah successfully negotiated a deal for 130 F-4Es, the latest variant of that type. The advanced reconnaissance capabilities faster and longer-ranged than any other comparable combat aircraft in that part of the world at that time were very impressive. In 1971 he had them.
Iran at the time was an ally, and operations over the USSR were in cooperation with the USAF with Operation Dark Genie at the start flown by mixed Iranian-U.S. crews. In 1973 the U.S. government organised a fly-off for Iranian shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of an F-14 against an F-15 and the Shah promptly placed an order for the Tomcat. One for 80 F-14 Tomcats another for seven Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS which was still in development the F-14 brand new.
Both orders faced fierce resistance in the U.S. Congress owing to cost and complexity but the Shah ordered the Iranian bank credit Grumman so that the company could build the 80 F-14s for Iran plus spare parts and 284 Phoenix missiles at a cost of $2 billion. Seventy-nine of the Tomcats delivered before the Islamic Revolution forced the shah into exile. in 1978 the Soviets attempted to retaliate by sending MiG-25s on a recon overflight of Iran, Iranian F-14s painted the MiGs with their radars and apparently no other flights appeared for the next 10 years.
The Iranian decision to buy these was made in the 60s, when the Iranians with huge oil and gas income decided to buy the best combat aircraft available. With Great Britain in the process of withdrawing from East of the Suez the Shah presented himself to the U.S. public as a protector of peace and stability in the Middle East who could fill the vacuum the British were creating.
The Iranians weren’t just buying aircraft but acquiring entire weapon systems, aircraft, avionics, weapons and support infrastructure and why Iran remains capable of operating its surviving F-4’s and F-14s today. In late February 1979, Iran had almost 223 operational Phantoms, though many are now grounded it may still have between 50–75 F-4s still in service. Among these some original F-4Ds updated with improved avionics, including limited look-down radar.
Tehran is believed to operate a fleet of about 60 F-14s even if its number of combat-capable aircraft is unknown. The Tomcats have been ‘modernized' to the F-14AM standard in order to extend their operative life until 2030. Domestic upgrades include avionics (radar and RWR). Weapons: R-73E, AIM-54A, AIM-7E and AIM-9J are among the air-to-air missiles adapted to the aircraft’s fire control system. They can also carry the AIM-54A+ “Fakour-90” missile: a domestically upgraded, partially reverse-engineered version of the AIM-54 Phoenix.
Iran, no longer under the Shah, is definitely not a Western ally, and certainly does not promote stability in the ME!! If anything it is a major headache!! And becoming more so by the day!!
Turkey, ally?? Certainly been a reluctant ally. As far back as 2015 doubts were being expressed. Nothing much has changed, if anything, got worse.
Turkey is no American Ally
While the F-35 was designed to be exportable, and reverse engineering is difficult, and there are measures in place to keep secrets inaccessible
http://www.militaryaerospace.com/ar...sue-5/special-report/mission-to_keep_the.html
The fact is that it was the ‘gift’ given to the Russians by the British Labour government and its pro-Soviet Minister of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, that provided technical information and a license to manufacture the Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal-flow jet engine. A move even Russians could hardly believe. This reverse-engineered engine then produced as the Soviet Klimov RD-45 jet engine powering the MiG-15 and cost allied lives in the Korean war, and who know how the course of history was changed.
History sadly has a habit of repeating itself.
U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp plans to offer Japan a stealth fighter design based on its export-banned F-22 Raptor and advanced F-35 Lightning II aircraft, two sources said.
Lockheed has discussed the idea with Japanese defense ministry officials and will make a formal proposal in response to a Japanese request for information (RFI) after it receives permission from the U.S. government to offer the sensitive military technology, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the proposal.
The proposed aircraft “would combine the F-22 and F-35 and could be superior to both of them,” said one of the sources.
Japan, which is already buying the radar-evading F-35 to modernize its inventory, also wants to introduce a separate air superiority fighter in the decade starting 2030 to deter intrusions into its airspace by Chinese and Russian jets.
Although the Japanese stealth aircraft program, dubbed the F-3, was conceived as a domestic effort estimated to cost around $40 billion, Tokyo has recently sought international collaboration in a bid to share the expense and gain access to technology it would otherwise have to develop from scratch.
Any aircraft built with international partners must have Japanese-designed engines and radar, however, and feature other components made locally, the other source said. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries tested a prototype stealth jet in 2016 that cost the Japanese government $350 million to develop.
“We are considering domestic development, joint development and the possibility of improving existing aircraft performance, but we have not yet come to any decision,” a Ministry of Defense spokesman said on Friday.
In addition to a proposal from Lockheed, Japan is hoping for responses from Boeing Co, which makes the F/A-18 Super Hornet multirole fighter, and BAE Systems Plc, which is part of the consortium that built the Eurofighter Typhoon high-altitude interceptor.
Not mine. I know nothing. Fact is they are still a capable platform, and, it is never sensible to underestimate enemies.Bit of an optimistic assessment of the Iranian F-14’s.
Undisputed...but...the question still unanswered after 36 years, is how Iran has managed to keep its F-14 Tomcat fighters flying since the Islamic revolution of 1979 given the highly specific characteristics of the aircraft, its systems, and the embargoes that were supposed to isolate its regime from Western democracies, especially, the United States.A very complex and maintenance intensive platform rather flat footed by the American advisors trashing key systems on their way out the door. It took Iran a very long time to successfully reactivate the knobbled ones.
...The rather lacklustre progress of the Russian FGFA project with India brings up the possibility of F-35 sales to India...
...a further development though still only conjecture, continuing murmurs of a possibly a more cost effective resurrection of an improved updated F-22 production in a US/Japanese collaboration...