Can someone identify this aircraft.....

[love1u0]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

Not to thread crap but I love this plane

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l263/love1u0/P-51OverWater.jpg

 

[martinrab]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

JSF(F-35) current program is US built and the most technologically advanced aircraft ever. Will dominate the skies for decades to come. Will also be the last manned combat aircraft program for the US. Future leading efforts are expected to be remote platforms.

???

 

[projecthog]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

I'd love to have the Allison out of that P-40.

OK you take the Allison, and I will take the Hawk and fit a mercruiser in it, should get some kind of attention!

PH.

 

[angus63]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

???

DJ responded before me with a sour outlook on the current manufacture of military aircraft in the US. I was replying in the affirmative as to the US's ability to design and manufacture the finest aircraft ever built. My reply can be construed as subjective since my name is on several of the components that make up the F-35, and only time will be the judge of my claim. I'm rootin' for success.

 

[JB]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

???

All military air/spacecraft in development beyond the F35 are unmanned, Martin. They will be capable of actions that a live pilot could not survive and they will, of course, not place a pilot in harms way.

Without a pilot they can be as small as we like and thousands of pounds lighter without the systems necessary to support and protect a pilot.

The trends in technological warfare are to include (and risk) fewer and fewer people and to create a battlefield environment more and more deadly to any live enemy present.

What a war between equally technologically sophisticated forces would be like is something I hope our children and grandchildren never see.

 

[QC]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

Angus,

I understood that the biggest concern about the F35 was that the plan for it to be used by different branches of the Military lead to high costs to modify for each what is at best one big compromise. This resulted in something that missed on the savings and delivered a less than optimum plane for each branch. Is that general critique valid?

 

[JB]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

No. Not valid. There is not "cost to modify". There are three different versions.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

I'm not really very familiar with the F-35, so I just spent a little bit of time surfing info on the net. It looks to me like there is quite a bit of difference between the Air Force version and the Navy version. So much so, that you could almost call them different airplanes.

The one thing I couldn't find info on, however, is the refueling system that will be used for the Navy version. I presume that it will remain the probe/basket arrangement. I guess each service has its own argument for the system that they use, but it has always seemed dumb to me to have two different refueling systems.

 

[angus63]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

Three versions of the same platform was the goal from design stage. One is terrestrial runway TOL Air Force version, Navy carrier based with beefed up design, and Marine VSTOL with a fan for short takeoff and landing. Systems and parts are virtually interchangeable other than VSTOL fan components. I designed and made engine, navigation, communication, and weapon-system heatsinks and heat exchangers that were common on all three versions. Original plan was for all three versions to have retractable nose probe for underway replenishment. Not sure what the current plan is.

Air Force is payload dominant. Navy is impact/maneuverability dominant. Marine is armored/verticality dominant.

My exposure to the program was during protoflight stage. Things may be different by now.

 

[QC]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

There is not "cost to modify". There are three different versions.

Maybe I asked that poorly. My understanding was that the F35 was intended to be less costly than developing three different planes, but that it ended up almost as costly as developing three unique and more mission specific planes. So the idea of a "joint" strike fighter was somewhat lost and did not result in a savings or efficiency or any other tangible benefit. Annnd that each branch ended up with a little bit of a compromise. I am not even sure where I read or saw that.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

Love the P-40!

Met several of the original pilots, from the Chinese stationed Flying Tiger's squadron. They said that they overcame the dominant Zero, by flying higher..and attacking them from above, with the sun at their backs.

 

[angus63]

Re: Can someone identify this aircraft.....

I think the benefits will be realized down the road with common training, spare parts, upgrades, etc....

The new approach this program featured was "tech partnering". Instead of a single prime contractor winning the contract and managing all of the subs, there are several contractors (Northrop, Lockheed, Harris, etc...) all managing segments of the program. This approach led to high administrative costs (lotsa chefs and few cooks) and communication issues led to assembly problems and scrapping. I spent months in tech conferences in VA and FLA straightening out issues spawned by the "tech partnering" approach. It was supposed to shorten the build cycle (the root of cost), but actually caused more delays than traditional methods.