F-35 is not a jack of all trades, its rather focused attack aircraft.
i think USN need 2 different types, a long range unmanned bomber/recce,
and a spiffy fleet defender not unlike PAK-FA in specs

50 deg AoA and you call that a Bomber ?!!! Yes, and Flying-Tiger P40’s were running away from G3M :stupid:

a backlog artificially sustained by the slow pace of production output… Don’t be mistaken by the nbr. Nor by the very weird financial incentives that led to the Egypt order. Although the situation is better than 2 years before (Raf line), a trend toward an equally slow pace decline can be outlined without being overly pessimistic.

Two (2) UK pilots were accredited to fly the jet (confirmation on Wiki):

during its service, two RAF pilots had formally evaluated the aircraft in 1986 as a reward for British help with the American bombing of Libya that year.[source]

and

F-117N “Seahawk”[edit]
The United States Navy tested the F-117 in 1984 but decided that it was not suitable for use on an aircraft carrier.[26] In the early 1990s, Lockheed proposed an upgraded, carrier-capable variant of the F-117 dubbed the “Seahawk” to the Navy as an alternative to the canceled A/F-X program. The unsolicited proposal was received poorly by the Department of Defense, which had little interest in the single mission capabilities of such an aircraft, particularly as it would take money away from the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program, which evolved into the Joint Strike Fighter. The new aircraft would have differed from the land-based F-117 in several ways, including the addition “of elevators, a bubble canopy, a less sharply swept wing and reconfigured tail”.[80][81] The “N” variant would also be re-engined to use General Electric F414 turbofans instead of the older General Electric F404s. Furthermore, the aircraft would be optionally fitted with hardpoints, allowing for an additional 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) of payload, and a new ground attack radar with air-to-air capability. In that role the F-117N could carry AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles.[80][82]

After being rebuffed by the Navy, Lockheed submitted an updated proposal that included afterburning capability and a larger emphasis on the F-117N as a multi-mission aircraft, rather than just an attack aircraft.[82] In efforts to boost interest, Lockheed also proposed an F-117B land-based variant that shared most of the F-117N capabilities. This variant was proposed to the USAF and the Royal Air Force;[83] in addition to several RAF exchange officers who had flown the F-117 during its service, two RAF pilots had formally evaluated the aircraft in 1986 as a reward for British help with the American bombing of Libya that year.[26] This renewed F-117N proposal was also known as the A/F-117X.[84] Neither the F-117N or the F-117B was ordered.

Source:
Wiki

I read with interest tonight in my son’s Guinness Book of World Records that Taranis is officially the first supersonic UAV….

It’s got to be true if its in the GWoR right?:angel:

Supersonic? Well, that will be an impressive achievement by itself (UAV, Stealth, tailless and Supersonic).

No it doesn’t. Look at the reaction time and cost induced to turn this into a credible defense system able to protect 24/24 7 days a week against even a small swarm attack… See, nobody in his staff or himself have though at it longer than it takes to write this.

In fact there are several possibilities to solve such problem. Most required extensive analysis that are better done once the configuration has been fixed.

For example, aside of electromagnetic dampening, I think that it was with the Corsair that Vought introduced dimples on the oleo legs to dampen the oscillation of the struts resulting from carrier deck landing. Playing similarly with the flex strain might be another solution.

Russian Nuclear-Capable Iskander Missiles in Syria

In a section of the iSi website called Insights, the firm shows an image over Russia’s Hmeymin base in Latakia, Syria of what it says are two Iskander-launching vehicles, each capable of deploying two of the 500-kilometer-range surface-to-surface missiles known to NATO as SS-26.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]250533[/ATTACH]

Source:
DefenseNews.com

*
Funny that not so long ago, our Military experts here sated vividly that there was no way we will have some serious situation on the Med shores and that airplane were to be good only to pound some Toyota’s, Stealth was over rated etc..

For sure, Insight will remain the most precious commodities in the 21st century

Very good find, but i want to add that Gripen NG has much higher wingloading than Gripen C despite practically the same aerodynamic configuration

IMHO he probably estimated it from airfoil chracteristics or took information from soviet aerodynamic booklet

M2K wing is a pure delta hence thin wing aero theory for delta wings applies (up to ~28deg AoA). Airfoill thickness is known and Cl component can be approximated.