F35 B Vs C.....and Other Stuff...
Responding to MM:
It seems that sometimes the B/C debate is conducted solely on the basis of the uniform supposed (and I mean supposed) to be supporting them. Let's try looking at this another way...
F-35C is designed to land and launch from a USN CVN. Period. That's why it gets a big wing, so it can fly slow to take the wire. It also gets LOTS of extra metal inside to take the stresses of the carrier landing, plus those of launch. So, it ends up with a lot more fuel (bigger wing tanks), a bit better range, but it weighs much more, and is slower than the A or the B.
It does not have a short takeoff run, unless you use a catapult. If you want STO, buy a STOVL F-35B.
Have to comment on this:
Typhoon has better manoeuverability, supercruise, endurance and payload than all F-35 variants. F-35 will however have better sensors as it's a generation ahead.
Typhoon endurance and payload better than all F-35 variants? Er no, not at all.....
And I HAVE to respond to the F3/SHAR stuff - selective memory or what? The SHAR was knocking ten bells out of F3s when they just had AIM-9s, and AMRAAM SHAR vs AMRAAM F3 was, for quite some time, another unequal contest. I don't mind about the interservice stuff, but can't we just, for once, recognise how GOOD the Blue Vixen/AMRAAM combo was on FA2? And the JTIDS equipped FA2 was grounded by MoD order one day before first flight - how good that combo would have been....
Engines