Originally Posted by sandiego89
Lots of interesting stuff in that report. Really highlights how much more still needs to be done/fixed, and numerous potential problems down the road.
For some reason empty weight caught my eye in making me truly appreciate how big and heavy this thing is- and I know there have been numerous debates about performance perhaps being lacking, but it is indeed quite impressive that anything this heavy can do what it can do on a single engine.
Actual empty weights as per the report:
A 28,999 pounds (AF-72)
B 32,442 pounds (BF-44)
C 34,581 pounds (CF-28)
Those empty weights are @ F-15E territory.
The report mentions that it is expected that F-35B will exceed its threshold weight numbers when incorporating modifications necessary for version 3F at the end of SDD.