Originally Posted by
Engines
LL and others,
Perhaps I can help here...
1. The jolt on launch is noticeable and is probably associated with the forces applied by the catapult shuttle on the nose tow bar, which compresses the nose leg as it starts the stroke. I've spoken to a number of 'old and bold' naval aviators, and there is a variety of opinions on how 'hard' the start of a cat stroke is. What I do know is that the US Navair teams are very experienced in this sort of stuff, and I am certain that they will have fully evaluated the forces applied to F-35C pilots' heads and necks during launch. So, my take: looks severe, but very probably OK. What IS interesting (at least to me) is that F-35C launches look as if they are 'both hands free', with pilots' right and left hands holding the handles on the cockpit arch during launch.
2. Maintenance of stealth coatings on board got a LOT of attention in the early days of the JSF programme. There was a recognition that the techniques used on B-2 and F-22 weren't going to 'cut the mustard', and a number of new technologies were developed for F-35. Now, most of this was kept 'US eyes only', but again, given the attention that Navair were giving to this subject, I'd expect that some form of workable solution has been developed. Again, rather a qualitative assessment, but the F-35's approach to physical signature reduction appeared to be less 'extreme' than some of the solutions applied to B-2 and F-22.
3. A/B on launch: the F-35C launches shown so far appear to be at relatively low weights, which is understandable. Also, the A/B on the F-35 does not deliver the huge increases in thrust that happened with aircraft like the F-4 - I believe that the difference between dry and full A/B is about 4,500 pounds. So, I'd expect fewer A/B launches with F-35C.
Hope this helps, best regards as ever to all those working hard to deliver the new aircraft to the front line,
Engines
Engines - thanks for responding to my somewhat layman-ish observations. Appreciated.