The Navy’s F-35C variant made its first air show appearance at Andrews AFB this weekend, prior to heading for the test range:
Piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Eric “Magic” Buus, the F-35C flight commemorated 100 years of naval aviation by highlighting the future of tactical air power, the US Navy said in its website.
The flyover on Saturday originated from the F-35C’s primary test site at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. The aircraft, CF-2, flew within its approved flight envelope and was accompanied by an F-18 Hornet flying chase, it said.
The F-35C is a fifth generation strike fighter with stealth capability and has larger wing surfaces and reinforced landing gear for the demanding carrier environment.
Here’s the hi-res link to this photograph of the Charlie model, as taken from the cockpit of the chase FA-18 plane that accompanied it.
A lovely looking machine, to be sure. Couldn’t help notice that it’s something of a step backward from the perspective of over-the-shoulder visibility however. In the FA-18, some pilots complained about the size of the headbox – which contained the ejection seat’s parachute – but I didn’t mind: You could look over your right shoulder and see your left tail, so rearward visibility couldn’t be too bad.
Or maybe you don’t need that with all-aspect stealth and DAS, and so on.
Maybe.
“Maybe”
MAYBE…
360 degree visibility by the pilot from the cockpit would seem to me on the same level as having guns.
We’ve certainly been down that path: “Guns, we don’t need no stinking guns.” Until the magic missiles did not work, ROE changed, or it was a knife fight.
Yes, Ron, because a modern AIM-9X has exactly the same capabilities as the AIM-9E from 1967.
…And exactly how many aircraft have been brought down by air-to-air gunfire since the Vietnam War? I’m pretty sure it’s zero, unless you count the movie TOP GUN.
But much of that has to do with the ROEs, which themselves are much dictated by the geographical dispersal/siting of the opposing forces, Casey. In Vietnam s few times (don’t recall how many) a Thailand-based USAF Sparrow fired BVR at Migs off the radar plot ended up passing thru/near USN strike pkgs coming into tgt area from the opposite direction.
PS: But, yes, I will admit and aver that the improved “dogfight” “all-aspect” missiles now in service DO preclude many engagements which heretofore would have evolved into “gun-fights”..
Casey, stuff still happens, though I’m sure the current generation missile would have a much better kill ratio of appx. 15% that existed when I was in.
Wasn’t there a helo or an A-10 that scored an missile kill in the past few years?
“And exactly how many aircraft have been brought down by air-to-air gunfire since the Vietnam War?” I don’t know, I would have to ask the Israelies.
Ron, my main point is that we have moved several generations past the Vietnam experience (and I will wholeheartedly agree that dumping guns was premature in the early 1960s), and perhaps we might want to consider newer paradigms.
Hell, it gets up my nose as well that they dumped the internal gun for the -C, but I have to wonder if that’s a genuine requirement for today’s Navy. Is this a more-recent example of “the damn thing needs two wings to work!?” Recall the nostalgia for biplanes -and their maneuverability- just before WW2. IIRC, a WW1 German ace told Willi Messerschmidt that the Me-109 needed a second wing, or at least an open cockpit, to be a real fighter.
In other theaters, Martin Caidin related stories about resistance to the “hole in the radiator thing” with respect to the P-47. The IJN faithfully clung to low-weight, acrobatic designs despite their decimation by the unmaneuverable American designs.
Basically I object to overbroad, generic complaints about the lack of an internal gun, or to a single engine, when said complaints fail to address the overall design. I’ll admit I have definite reservations to said design, especially with respect to the reliability of inter-ship communication, reliability of the targeting/coordination software, and the whole “push a button, pick a menu” approach to air warfare.
Hell, recall how much grief the P-38 (ironically enough) went through before it finally became a balls-out, kick-ass air-superiority fighter.
Casey, I recall very well the F-111 experience, and was stationed at MHAFB when the squadron came there. The plane, varible wing aside, ad a negative image back then, but it seemed to turn out o.k. even though we did not use it enough given its proven capabilities.
It seems to me, and I confess as a non-subject expert, a plane should have guns and excellent physical pilot visibility (MK1 Mod1 type, electronic magic is a bonus).
Just as a rifle has to have the capability for a bayonet, and an essential element of boot camp should be bayonet training. I assume that exposure to gas is still part of the BC experience: how many gas attacks have our troops suffered?
I remember the first space capsules being designed without windows (we don’t need no stinking windows) until the astronauts prevailed.
And, witness AF, we have lost a lot of blood-earned experience from our SEA excursion. Relearning COIN -please, we and the British had that down rather well in WWII.
I cannot imagine a fighter pilot, manly men though they are, happily taking a plane up where combat may occur, in a plane without guns. They would, of course, though not as a preference if their opinion mattered, and it should IMO.
New models, improved technology & capability? Sure, but don’t throw away lessons learnt, in blood, by generations of fighters.
Visibility mebbe not such a problem – with HMDS, wourd has it that you can see “through” the airplane.
http://www.vsi-hmcs.com/index.php/f-35-hmds
Until it doesn’t work SJ -then I would think most pilots would like to be able to swivel the old MK1 Eyeball around 360.
One thing you have to say about Murphy -he doesn’t take any time off.
yeah! That Murphy guy is very hard working, as is the Good Idea Fairy.
Its all in the DAS…
http://www.es.northropgrumman.com/solutions/f35targeting/assets/eodasvideo.html
Claudio, I am still hearing, “as long as it works”.
Not that any electronic component would fail, especially under combat conditions.
Fancy PR, Powerpoints and videos though. Follow the money.
With all due respect, the decades have jaded me to manufacturers and PR firms claims. The grunts (and pilots in this case) will be paying the price when the whiz-bang gizmos do not work as advertised.
So, what do new fighter jets smell like? Anything near as good as ‘new car smell’? Certainly is a good looking plane.
“Piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Eric “Magic” Buus, the F-35C flight commemorated 100 years of naval aviation by highlighting the future of tactical air power, the US Navy said in its website”
They commemorated over a freakin’ AIR FORCE BASE?
It’s actually, in the strange parlance of our times, “Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility Washington”.
I presume these are the ones the UK have agreed to acquire and which is why we had to pay off our carriers and the RAF Harrier squadrons – in order to pay for it?? Or maybe by the time the final bill comes in we’ll just have enough for one on every frigate – they do VTOL don’t they? I’m just a cynical old Buccaneer/F4/big deck/fast jet/50′s child kind of chap.
Dinsosaurs aren’t extinct as there many of us here
Hey QM, “Experienced, Seasoned” persons if you please.
“Dinosaur” is fine by me, as long as you remember that I never have placidly munched lily pads in the shallow end.
New small species, they’re what’s for dinner.
God created Carnivores for a reason.
So, are those Magical Elevators? Or is it just me. I cant seem to find the axis. Or even an edge for it.
Hey! T-Birds on the ramp! Cool.
“You CAAAAAAAN’T have it!”
– The Who
I like the sexy grey plane just about under the nose of the F-35C.
Gotta be a stealth hook. Can’t find it anywhere, even though on the aft end it does say DANGER ARRESTING HOOK with an arrow pointed at the right place.
It’s embarrassing, nothing to distinguish it from the boys (and girls) in blue.
Sigh.
Da Hook: http://www.jsf.mil/images/gallery/sdd/f35_test/c/sdd_f35testc_002.jpg
I can’t, unfortunately, claim the professional experience of many or most here, but still, I can’t help but feel some unease looking at that single tailpipe. Seems an unseemly bit of retro-ness, of a piece with Lex’s observation regarding rearward visibility.
Is the Lt Cmdr even OLD ENOUGH to remember “Magic Bus”? Or does his unit just like the Oldies?
That was in ’68, back in the day when it was released as a 45rpm single. That’s before 8 track for those following this. Nice call sign but awarded by someone who likes oldies.
Could have been worse. Call sign could have been “Short”.
I still have my teak Buddha statue, but darned if I know what happened to the SLR camera or reel-to-reel that I was so proud of. Ex has (had) them I guess.
It’s worth remembering that the “F”-35 is an attack aircraft first. The limited field of view aft is less of a drawback in that mission.
Mike: It is also worth remembering that it depends on which Press Release you read.
From our good friends at LM-
“The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability.”
“George Standridge of Lockheed Martin has said that the F-35 will be four times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-air combat, eight times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-ground combat, and three times more effective than legacy fighters in reconnaissance and suppression of air defenses – while having better range and requiring less logistics support and having around the same procurement costs (if development costs are ignored) as legacy fighters.”
Wonder if the A-10 community thinks that they are only 1/8th as effective as the F-35 may be, might be, will be someday?
Interesting that every airborne shot over an air show displays the necessary Porta-Pottis, aligned in just such a way to look like the eventual hangers for personal jetpacks.
Those same jetpacks that according to Popular Mechanics going back to the 50s, everyone should have by now.
….I am now disappointed that family business had me miss miss the open house this year. While I’ve seen an F-35A full-scale mock-up, I’ve yet to see the real thing in any form.
EODAS is your friend, your trustworthy friend. EODAS has your back.