F-35 Up Close @ Nellis

[JSFfan]

yep, that's the stuff, it's a shame the critical voices know nothing about the programme and think that the f-35b needs a 3000 ft cement runway to do a vertical landing..god knows how they came to that conclusion

[dat581]

Rubber VL pads

The rubber deck? Have they finally got it to work after sixty years!!!!

[SpazSinbad]

You missed the 'Ribber'. Good on Winkle Brown. Wot a cool dood. Most carrier landings - eva. 2,407 by all accounts.

[Courtney Mil]

Originally Posted by JSFfan

it's a shame the critical voices know nothing about the programme

Of course, anyone that doesn't share every ounce of your overstated blind faith in the platform and its systems is simply ignorant and, therefore, proven to be wrong at a stroke. So you must be right and they must be wrong and the programme is perfectly safe. That's that sorted, then.

[JSFfan]

my mistake

[just another jocky]

Originally Posted by JSFfan

.....like LO, you too think that the f-35b needs 3000ft of cement runway to do a vertical landing.....

Not that I wish to get involved in this, but.....LO didn't actually say that, you inferred it.

Originally Posted by LO

Fortunately, the JSF only requires a landing pad made of this stuff:

FIREROK

Which as we all know is universally used for 3000 foot runways in all the world's holes ending in -stan.

your immediate reply:

Originally Posted by JSFfan

why would the f-35 vertically land on a 3000 ft runway?

No suggestion the F-35B will need 3000ft of runway to do a vertical landing, just that the Firerok is often used to provide 3000ft of runway in certain parts of the world. Indeed, LO actually said in the quote above: JSF only requires a landing pad made of this stuff:

Just for the sake of clarity, you understand.

[JSFfan]

you are right, I read it wrong

[glad rag]

you are right, I am wrong

Fixed it for ya

[The Helpful Stacker]

Fixed it for ya....

I'm surprised he didn't use "you were right, I was, less right".

[Mk 1]

Surely guys, the point is that LO was incorrect. Testing so far shows AM2 as used by Harrier (AV-8B) is sufficient. So, we don't need to stop the war for a week, bring in the concrete mixers and put in place a Firerok pad.

[CoffmanStarter]

All is well with the Programme ...

Time for the badges



Our man receives his F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ‘patch’ following his first training sortie.

[Snafu351]

Not sure that the USMC agree with you MK1

"The pads are designed to take repeated beatings from F-35B landings, which generate immense heat and thrust that can erode regular runway surfaces."

Corps preps for F-35 with landing pads, hangars - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

[Mk 1]

SNAFU: That would be at a base where the aircraft are going to be operating from for the next 30 years. They are putting in the infrastructure now to avoid having to fix things in a few years. They are also replacing the hangers - not because they have to, because they chose to.

With austere basing the aircraft will use the AM-2 matting (providing the endurance testing proves it to be sound). It was one of the clubs used for F-35B bashing that it could not just be operated from the same hardstandings that the harriers used - it was also said that it could not operate from naval vessels without significant shielding being provided. It looks like both are being proven wrong.

[CoffmanStarter]

Take a close look chaps ... apparently this is a picture of one of our first UK Production Batch ...



MOD Press Release UK F-35

[peter we]

Its a two year old photo.

[500N]

"Its a two year old photo."

I was going to say the same thing although I haven't seen that photo before.

I seem to recall another photo was released last
year of one of the UK F35's ?

[SpazSinbad]

From the 'Snafu351' redirect there is this selective quote:

"...Despite plans for the vertical landing pads, the F-35B has not proven as unwieldy as critics of the program initially predicted. Some said, for example, that the F-35B would damage decks and injure crew aboard ships.

But successful sea trials conducted aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp in October proved them wrong. The trials were the first to see the aircraft land on a ship while underway and went without a hitch.

“There was no special pad required for the initial ship trials,” according to Victor Chen, a Naval Air Systems Command spokesman in Patuxent River, Md.

Although the aircraft can operate without them, construction of extra durable pads is also slated at MCAS Miramar, Calif...."

[WhiteOvies]

That's BK-1 (ZM135) rolling out of the Fort Worth factory, prior to her LO coatings. Now happily gracing the Florida skies alongside BK-2 (ZM136).

AM2 matting used at the 'expeditionary airfield' centre field at Pax River, right next to the ski jump. The test fleet have used it for some time now, including using it as a 'dummy deck' prior to initial sea trials.

That badge looks familiar, especially if you used to work on Harriers!

[SpazSinbad]

Another View of the Obstructed View

First International Student-Pilot Flies F-35 Mar/24/2013

First International Student-Pilot Flies F-35 - Southern Maryland News

"The first international student aviator at the 33rd Fighter Wing, training to be an F-35B Lightning II instructor pilot, completed his first sortie in the joint strike fighter here March 19.

United Kingdom Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Frankie Buchler flew with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-501...."

http://www.thebaynet.com//images/new...6CF72CB171.jpg {original}