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Sit in f 35 cockpit8/4/2023 ![]() ![]() It can produce up to 28,000lb (124.5kN) of dry thrust and an incredible 43,000lb (193kN) with afterburner. The F135 is a more powerful derivative of the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine, as used on the twin-engine F-22 Raptor. I may well run out of superlatives before I finish this article, but the motor really is a mechanical marvel, as is the remarkable LiftSystem. Additionally, the STOVL B-model being built for the US Marine Corps and the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy and which we are flying today incorporates the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem, and this combination enables the aircraft to make a very short takeoff, fly supersonic and then land vertically. The engine is the Pratt & Whitney F135, the most powerful jet engine ever made for a fighter. ![]() The wings, tail and undercarriage all look essentially conventional, although I know that the propulsion system on the F-35B variant is most unconventional.Ī USAF F-35A and RAF F-35B break for the camera during a recent visit to the UK for the RIAT and Farnborough airshows. This keeps the radar signature down, ensuring the aircraft is very stealthy. One of the first things I notice is that although there are hardpoints on the wings there are no pylons, as all the weapons are carried internally. In some respects it’s not entirely dissimilar to a scaled down, single-engine F-22, although in others it’s radically different. ![]() At 15.4m in length and with a wingspan of 10.7m it’s not as big as some fighters, but is quite tall at 4.3m. Consequently, if the pilot looks down in the cockpit, they ‘see’ what is underneath the aircraft in their helmet display!īefore sampling the simulator I took a leisurely walk round the full-scale mock-up. For me at least, the most amazing of these is the DAS, as the six sensors give a pilot 360° spherical day/night vision. They include an active electronically scanned array radar (AESA), an electro-optical distributed aperture system (DAS) and an electro-optical targeting system (EOTS). This is four times the amount used for the world’s first fifth-generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor, and reflects just how powerful the F-35’s systems and sensors are. Not surprisingly, this very advanced aircraft relies on an incredible amount of software, with over eight million source lines of code. More than that though, it may well be the last ever manned fighter. Not only will the F-35 eventually replace a significant percentage of the western world’s tactical aircraft, and will certainly be flying well into the second half of the 21st Century, but some of the incredible systems incorporated in the F-35 will also eventually filter down to airliners and business aircraft (for example, the 787 and many bizjets now have HUDs). However, when the opportunity arose to sample the Lockheed Martin F-35 simulator I seized at the chance. ![]()
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