PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - F-35 Cancelled, then what ?
View Single Post
Old 7th Aug 2014, 12:31
  #5014 (permalink)  
LowObservable
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Far West Wessex
Posts: 2,580
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
The F-22 has an unbroken bubble - quite heavy, I believe - but a moderate birdstrike requirement because it's not supposed to spend a lot of time where birds live. Two-piece lids are considered anathema from the stealth viewpoint, although (so far) the T-50 has one.

Also because it's not designed for low altitude operations, the F-22 can afford to jettison the canopy before ejection. The F-35 has to provide for through-the-canopy ejection using explosive cord and breakers on the seat - another reason for that is the forward hinge, I believe, which militates against jettison, but was adopted to some extent so that the hinge would be common across three versions.

In other news:

"We're being very cautious right now in what we're allowing the operational users to do with the airplane, because we haven't quite gotten to why it happened yet," the general said.

Remember when this engine issue was isolated and it was all going to blow over in a few days?
LowObservable is offline