Joint Strike Fighter: Jet that’s a ‘spy in the sky’
As the most expensive defence project ever undertaken starts to come to fruition, the BBC has been given exclusive access to the world’s most advanced fighter jet, the Joint Strike Fighter or F-35.

Development of the next generation of warplane is already over budget and behind schedule.

Hidden in a hangar at the US Navy’s Patuxent River Air Base, in Maryland, away from prying eyes and shaded from the intense sun, US and British ground crew made the final preparations before the plane took to the clear blue skies.
Aerospace and Defence

* Dreamliner flies
* Will the world buy the A400M?
* Fighter jet that’s a ‘spy in the sky’
* Bombardier’s challenge

RAF and Royal Navy personnel are already working alongside American crews as they conduct the final trials before it goes into production.

There’s nothing particularly unusual about the Lockheed Martin JSF’s appearance. It looks like a modern jet fighter. It’s what you can’t see that makes it so special – its software and intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Squadron leader Steve Long is the first RAF pilot to fly the single-seat plane.

He says he can’t believe his luck. He’s like an enthusiastic boy who’s just been given a very expensive toy.

Sitting in the sleek cockpit he explains the plane’s uniqueness. He says the obvious advantage of the aircraft is its stealth – or low visibility. It’s like a well known brand of lager – it can reach parts of the world that others cannot.

But there’s much more.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Does Britain really need this kind of plane, and can the country afford it?”

End Quote Jonathan Beale

The JSF is also a spy in the sky. It can gather information from space, land and other aircraft – and then transmit that information to commanders on the ground.

The pilot has a “god’s eye” view at of the battlefield. Sqn Ldr Strong shows how, at the press of a button, he can activate a camera underneath that enables him to see right through the plane.

As for flying, he says its almost “brainless”. The plane knows how to go into a hover better than the best Harrier pilot. Instead of jockeying with levers the pilot is left focusing on its warfighting role.

Even someone with little flying experience – like me – could land the plane on an aircraft carrier. Admittedly in my case it was done on a simulator.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10654822

The Great Engine War Is Over

The Great Engine War Is Over
By Colin Clark Thursday, July 15th, 2010 5:58 pm
Posted in Air, International, Policy

If the value of the engine contracts for the Joint Strike Fighter ever equals the number of words offered in defense of the three companies and the concept of competition America will never be able to afford another weapon. But with the prospect of declining acquisition budgets and the pressures on the F-35 program, there is little doubt everyone will struggle until the issue is decided — for this budget cycle at least. The commentary by former F-16 pilot Robert Newton we ran a few days ago thrilled the partisans of a second engine. Congressional aides circulated it. Companies spread it far and wide. Now, inevitably, a Pratt & Whitney partisan, John Michael Loh, has penned a rebuttal. We are proud to sponsor the debate — and to stir the pot.

Former F-16 fighter pilot, Robert Newton’s piece on DoDBuzz about the desire to have an extra engine for the F-35 is a classic example of old fighter pilots’ tendency to fight the last war. But the one and only great engine war is over, and refighting it now will only cost taxpayer dollars we don’t have. He claims to speak for himself and other F-16 pilots that, together, agree the alternative engine is essential. He also claims the F-16 is the parent of the F-35 inferring that the F-35 then needs an alternate engine. Not so. The F-22 is the parent of the F-35. And the F-35’s F135 engine is a direct descendant of the highly successful F119 engine in the F-22, not the F100 engine. Thus, Mr. Newton’s argument is fundamentally flawed from the start.

The arguments set forth are more nostalgic than logical. Newton cites early F-16 problems with compressor stalls and afterburner blow-outs. These problems were in the F-15’s F100 engine and in the first few lots of the F-16A in the late 70s. They were fixed well before the engine competition that occurred later in the 80s. The real reason for the F100 engine competition was the extreme arrogance and unresponsiveness of the engine builder at that time. Costs were increasing and engine maintenance problems were ignored. The Air Force decided that a competition was the only way to fix that situation. No other military aircraft since then has been procured with an extra engine. There is no alternate engine for the F-22, V-22, T-6, or the F/A-18E/F, all developed after the F-16.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/07/15/the-great-engine-war-is-over/?wh=wh#ixzz0ttD950Zy

More after the link
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/07/15/the-great-engine-war-is-over/?wh=wh

Im sorry i meant as far as tech wise. Whos designs are superior.
and lets narrows it down to the last few aircraft generations.
Maybe since the 60s. i forgot Yak, Northrop, and a few others

F-35 testing ahead of schedule

July 13, 2010 (by Bjørnar Bolsøy) – The F-35 program continues an upwards trend as Lockheed delivers the last development jet, maintains its flight test schedule and prepares for additional first flights in the 3rd quarter.

AddThis Feed Button

CF-01 seen from below on Flight 9, July 7 2010, its second flight of the day.
The BF-5 STOVL jet rolled off the production lines on June 26 as the last of the 19 Systems Design and Development (SDD) jets. It will undergo systems checks and calibrations in preparation for first flight in the 3rd quarter. Preceding it will be AF-4, the fourth Air Force variant (CTOL), also scheduled for its first flight in 3rd quarter.

On Tuesday July 6 AF-3, the second “mission systems” jet, joined the seven jets currently flying at the program’s three test sites. Currently over 1000 personnel are assigned to the flight testing at Fort Worth, NAS Patuxent River and Edwards AFB.

A program total of 289 flights have been logged – 83 since May 10. June was a productive month with 43 flights of 28 planned. Recent accomplishments include; short take off and vertical landing, supersonic flight, engine out operation and high angle of attack flights. By the first two weeks in July the program had completed 146 flights of 128 planned and 1,438 of 1,255 test points of the 2010 schedule.

Flight testing will continue to ramp up as new jets are delivered to meet the year-end-goal of 394 flights.

The U.S. Navy carrier variant, CF-1, made a twin flight on Wednesday July 7 and another 0.7 hour sortie on Monday July 12. It has flown 10 sorties since its June 6 inaugural flight. Meanwhile CG-1, the ground test aircraft, recently completed the carrier drop tests experiencing no structural failures or load exceedances. It follows CTOL and STOVL static tests, also recording no structural failures and completed in less than half the time of typical legacy fighter programs.

At PAX River BF-1 made two notable flights on June 30 and July 1, its 51st and 52nd. It accomplished the program’s second vertical landing and first slow landing by a U.S. Marine Corps pilot, Lt. Col. Fred “Tinman” Schenk.

The CATBird – a modified 737 aircraft used as a flying test bed – is evaluating the F-35’s Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS). The sensor’s laser device, used for range finding and laser spot tracking, was ground fired for the first time on June 29. This was in preparation for integration on the “mission systems” jets, AF-3 and BF-4, with flight testing scheduled for 4th quarter.

The test firing was operated from the integrated F-35 cockpit located in the CATbird’s main fuselage compartment. This arrangement allows for realistic tests in an airborne environment and, as such retires risk in the program’s development phase. The CATBird has flown 115 sorties to date in support of the F-35 program.

The EOTS was recently installed on the CATbird having previously flown on a Sabreliner aircraft since May 2007. The first EOTS-systems were delivered in August 2009 from Lockheed’s Missiles and Fire Control production lines in Orlando, Florida.

http://www.f-16.net/news_article4137.html