it was geo.

I dont see anything in that article saying that the drive shaft wont get a replacement until 2012. I think you are speculating on a lot of things.

While we are on the subject of flight test woes, the F-35C might not be in the clear either.

A postscript to last week’s roll-out of the F-35C carrier variant: I noted a spoiler on the upper surface of the folded wingtip that I did not recall being mentioned before, and wrongly concluded it had been added to reduce carrier approach speed.

The spoilers have been installed as insurance against wing drop, the aerodynamic phenomenon that proved so time-consuming to overcome on Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

blog post photo
Jay Miller photo for Aviation Week

F-35 deputy program manager J.D. McFarlan revealed the reason for the spoilers at the AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference in Denver yesterday (August 4). Wing drop can occur at transonic speed as a fighter approaches high turn rates, he says. One wing sets up a shock at a slightly different location to the other wing. This produces a lift gradient, one wing drops and the aircraft rolls in the turn.

After the F/A-18E/F experience, Lockheed Martin conducted windtunnel tests specifically to look for wing drop. On the CTOL F-35A and STOVL F-35B, J.D. says, careful scheduling of the leading- and trailing-edge flaps looked to control the phenomenon, but on the CV F-35C the combination did not seem enough. So the decision was taken to add the spoilers, which pop up to disturb the flow over both wings and keep the aerodynamics consistent on left and right.

J.D. says the leading- and trailing-edge flap scheduling has been flight-tested on the first F-35A, aircraft AA-1, and shown to work. The spoilers on the F-35C are described as a flight-test mitigation. If they prove not to be needed, they will be removed on production birds and the wing cavities “scabbed” over. J.D. says the hydraulically actuated spoilers are about 18in long by 5in wide and add only 10lb.

Given the computational, windtunnel and flight-test effort that was required to analyse and overcome F/A-18E/F wing drop, Lockheed’s approach seems sensible to me. Just wish I’d asked the question last week…

I would certainly take a few actuator issues over a MAJOR wing drop problem. lets hope its not an issue.

Can you not see the irony in how deeply you are contradicting yourself here?

You are eulogising on the record of the fleet air arm, denigrating stovl, when it was a compromised stovl design that gave the fleet air arm their finest hour in recent decades!.

F-35B is still a low observable, supersonic, BVR capable fighter with advanced sensor fusion. Its scarcely comparable, relatively, to a fighter obsolete at the start of ww2 like the Roc!.

In reply to your comment about proper AEW. Its easier to field a few battery’s of double digit SAM’s than it is to field the capability to search and target a naval group at sea. Consequently we will need the ability to face advanced air defences more than we need hawkeye.

I might also add that it seems like 5th generation fighters are moving away from using a dedicated AEW aircraft to a more network centered set up.
if you have 1 awac its a large target. if you have 5 stealthy F-35s widely separated and on different vectors, then what 1 sees they all see.
There was a lot of talk in a Lockheed presentation awhile back about F-22s/F-35s still lingering around after having used up there missiles to relay target data to legacy platforms.

Pointing out all of the down sides of stovl flight, while ignoring positive things
Like stealth, survabiliy , BVR dominance, jamming, sensors, ect.
Booo bad form!

For a stand off attack mission with F-18 wont the Brits still have to certify stromshadow, or buy Jassm or Jsow or jdam? How are you gonna penetrate potential air defenses with no stand off weapons? IMO if they give up the F-35 they are gaining range and payload but losing sortie generation rate, and penetration. I’m just pointing out that there are problems with the F-18 as a be all end all solution. And you will get to 2020-2025 and still need another jet.
I would at least buy the F-35C version, that way you can be in the stealth game + have more range and payload than a F-18. The Brits will still have to certify weapons somehow some day no matter what they buy.