Who knows, the US military spends tens of billions on black project per year. Following what gen Hostage said, maybe it is a secret project.

If really it turns out that 6 internal missiles is impossible, the originial specifications were dumb because it was sure that there was enough space for 6 missiles. Why wouldn’t you want to carry 2 extra missiles if it has no effect on drag and stealth?

On the F-22 each missile is on its own launcher so there’s no problem. For the F-35, making a double launcher to eject a 350lbs missile at high supersonic speed, high Gs with strong turbulences inside the bay may not be trivial at all.

I think using JSM is a better option, smaller, already have iir seeker +2 ways data link
the think I hate about IIR AtG missile is that there already many kind of coating to reduce Ir significantly ex :intermat so they are very unlikely to be useful
anyway aim-9x can attack ground target and block 3 promised max range of about 55 km again air target, so range again ground target probably alot higher

Like we have discussed before the 9X is not completely stealthy. If you really want as much stealth as possible to enter the enemy airspace it might not be the right idea.

JSM yes, if it is integrated ( at block 4 ).

I am wondering whether loitering weapons are not superior to supersonic ARM. The HARM has had a pretty poor record so far. The AARGM would hopefully fare better, but a loitering weapon can be given approximate target location from the stealth plane at long range and search for the radar itself.

The F-35 has a weapon weakness against the most powerful radars since the cancellation of NGM, but against others radars it would be well armed with 8 munitions carried internally. Spear 3 range is up to 120km:

http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Brimstone_(missile)

At the same time MBDA were awarded an Assessment Phase contract for SPEAR Capability 3[19] (formerly SPEAR Drop 2). This requires a 75 miles (120 km) range[22] missile with a 100 kilograms (220 lb) warhead[14] to be integrated onto the F-35 Lightning II. Spear 3 may use some modules from Brimstone, and will have flight trials by 2014.[21]

I can well imagine the F-35s carrying a mix of relatively low cost SDBs and Spear 3s for SEAD/strike on the same launchers for strike missions.

Perhaps they can launch a JASSM and remote control it from an F-35. The JASSM has a terminal seeker for terminal guidance and a dual way datalink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-158_JASSM

Target recognition and terminal homing is via an imaging infrared seeker. A data link allows the missile to transmit its location and status during flight, allowing improved bomb damage assessment.

The JASSM also has a new seeker for the LRASM:

The JASSM-ER is also the basis for Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, which is a JASSM-ER with new seeker

I may be misunderstanding you, but I was was responding to Mig-31bm’s post about adding weapons to the outer doors. The Aim-120’s are on a pneumatic launcher that rotates down to push the missile clear. The Air to Ground station ejects the weapons straight down. The missiles on stations 7 and 5 do not have to be launched to deploy weapons from stations 8 & 4. ( I apologize ahead of time if this was what you were saying). When 6 Amraams are integrated, there will have to be a new ejector ( that does not exist yet, to my knowledge) fitted to the air to ground station.

I was just speculating on new hardpoints on the other door, something similar to the SH’s weapon pod. Basically the same as stations 5 and 7. It was a wild guess forget it…

Mig-31bm,

The first pic is a mockup. The missile and the SDBs are not at the right scale. The second pic may be more accurate it is hard to tell.

On the third pic note that the AMRAAM has long fins, it’s a 120A/B. I didn’t even know the F-35 could carry it. The 120C has smaller fins.

It is hard to tell if 1 meteor and 2 AMRAAMs would fit. They don’t just have to fit, they have to have enough space between them and be ejectable.

The configuration of 1 meteor on the a/a station and 2 AMRAAMs on the a/g station might not be the only possibility. ( it might work I am not sure.)

If you look carefully at the meteor, you can see that the intake is getting narrower towards the end. That would mean that possibly the AMRAAM could be carry next to it in a staggered position the same way the AMRAAMs are carried. The AMRAAM’s wing would be in front of the meteor’s intake. So you wouldn’t waste much space vs 2 AMRAAMs, maybe 1” or so.

The meteor would be carried on the exterior position of the bay at the rear. An AMRAAM would be carried next to it in a staggered position ( the 2 on the double launcher ). And the third AMRAAM on the a/a station.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]231162[/ATTACH]

I admit it is not sure it would work.

the bad new is that if f-35 carry air to ground weapon then it be limited to only 2 aam
f-35 may be able to carry 6 AAM internally in future but that will still be limited to aim-120 or Aim-9, it can’t carry 6 Meteor internally, which is really a shame cause Ramjet AAM will be a lot more effective

The F-35 is stealthy so 2 missiles is likely to be enough. If you want more you can configure more F-35s in escort cofiguration with 6 AAMs.

A combination of 2 meteors and 4 AMRAAMs is likely to fit and it would already be quite good. The F-35s can use their meteors for their first salvoe, then they have a significant advantage to continue the fight with their AMRAAMs.

And in fact 4 meteors with smaller control surfaces and 2 AMRAAMs might even be possible, it is hard to say, but the bay is quite wide because of the 2000lbs JDAM requirement.

And I doubt typhoons would carry a lot of meteors because they are very expensive. A mix of meteors and AMRAAMs is more likely operationnaly.

A ramjet missile could be designed with the intake below the missile instead of 2 intakes on the side. That would allow more missiles to be carried side by side. I don’t remember where but I’ve already seen a design of AAM like that.

It was one of the FMRAAM designs I think.

I suspect that an AIM-9X and pylon would have a fairly large if not dramatic effect on RCS.

Supposedly the missile’s RCS is small and the pylon has RAM coating. It would increase the RCS but it might be a good trade-off in the defensive counter air mission. For missions over enemy airspace it would be a bad idea I think.

In DCA, the enemy planes would probably be detected first by on-board and off-board sensors. Then the F-35 can point in the direction of the target to attack which would have the effect of reducing the RCS of the missile and pylon.

Possibly even the pylon could have the same angle as the fuselage for better facetting, I don’t know if that would be possible.

ok what i mean is : F-35 kinematic is not great compared to EF-2000 , F-22 , PAK-FA , Rafale , Su-27 ..etc , but it have really good stealth + SA so it should focus on BVR combat , better off carry more long range AAM like Meteor , AIM-120D , T-3 rather than short range AAM
aim-9x block III isnot going to have BVR performer of AIM-120 or meteor because it was designed mainly for WVR combat so still better to carry aim-120D or meteor

Carrying the 9X is not optimal in stealth mode but it’s a good idea when external hardpoints are used.

However, in stealth mode maybe it would have been a good idea to have only one external 9X on either station 3 or 9 on a small pylon ( to have a less asymmetrical load ) . This way the F-35 would have had a significant WVR capability with minimum impact on the RCS. At least it would have something to shoot at close range when the AMRAAM cannot be used effectively.

It might be an even better idea than trying to integrate the 9X internally, because if it’s carried externally it can be locked before launch, which probably increases the pk.

Besides the 9xbl3 has a significant range so the F-35 can launch it in BVR if the situation presents itself.

This being said, it is clear that the F-35 needs long range missiles and I wouldn’t be surprised if the meteor had a significant success on the international market. Of course it makes sense to exploit the F-35’s stealth and to use it as a sniper at long range.