That's a San Antonio class amphibious dock/ship thing, DP, like the one that bumped into a submarine in the Strait of Hormuz a couple of years back. Pretty impressive IMHO. I'll hazard a guess at USS Arlington?

More impressive in pictures than perhaps in reality. The most problematic class in recent USN history - including LCS. Check the link below - scroll down to the "Is this acceptable?" header and gawp at the pictures....

Maritime News and Comment Oct-05

Yep San Antonio class :ok: my bad .... to big to be a skimmer ;)San Antonio class amphibious transport dock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Step change"!
 

In the article David Parry quotes, I really like A "step change" taking 7 years to complete! Does anyone actually think about these things when they write them?:{

More of a gently-inclined ramp change, then?

Cheers, mate.

Let us at least try to have some good news

Good news indeed!

"Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Tom Burbage said that night vision performance was the "only real question" left on the helmet"...

Sadly, that happens to be about the only thing that the amazingly complex WonderDome does, that the much lighter and cheaper Dash, Targo, JHMCS, Scorpion et al don't do already.

F-35A Operations Procedures June 2012
 

F-35A--OPERATIONS PROCEDURES 07 June 2012
AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 11-2F-35A, VOLUME 3

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/share...1-2F-35AV3.pdf (0.5Mb)

Extract from the above doc

INSTRUMENT PROCEDURES
4.1. Display of Endorsed Primary Flight Reference.
4.1.1. Anytime flight conditions (illumination, visibility, weather) or procedures (National Airspace System) require flight by reference to instruments, the pilot MUST select and continuously display an endorsed primary flight reference (PFR). The Standby Flight Display (SFD) and Helmet Mounted Display are not endorsed PFRs. Currently approved single medium PFR displays are heads-down, either:
4.1.1.1. Helmet Mounted Display Virtual Heads-Up Display (HMD v-HUD). Note that under some flight regimes, the horizon line and pitch ladder collides (coexists) with the airspeed, altitude and heading symbology, causing potential readability issues; or,
4.1.1.2. Full-color Electronic Flight Instrument (EFI). When using this display, pilots are prohibited from using the pop-up data entry keypad overlaid on the EFI.
4.1.2. The primary unusual attitude reference is the HMD v-HUD. Do not use the HMD or SFD to recover from an unusual attitude or when executing lost wingman procedures except when no other attitude reference is available.

Back in the 80s I wrote a paper that was later used at an AGARD confernce that was entitled:

Modern flight Instrument displays as a major military aviation flight safety weakness.

History is great stuff.

Ice, ice baby....

F-35 Aircrew Training & Evaluation Criteria PDFs
 

F-35—AIRCREW TRAINING 13 September 2010
AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 11-2F-35A, VOLUME 1 Flying Operations

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/share...1-2F-35AV1.pdf (0.7Mb)
_____________

F-35A-AIRCREW EVALUATION CRITERIA 30 September 2010
AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 11-2F-35A, VOLUME 2 Flying Operations

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/share...1-2F-35AV2.pdf (0.6Mb)

Generic NATOPS advice about HUDs
 

Generic NATOPS advice about HUDs.

NATOPS INSTRUMENT FLIGHT MANUAL 15 Nov 2006 NAVAIR 00-80T-112

Natops Instrument Flight Manual

14.2.1 HUD Limitations
HUDs not endorsed as a Primary Flight Reference (PFR) may be integrated into the normal instrument cross-check, but concerns about insidious failures and its use in maintaining attitude awareness and recovering from unusual attitudes preclude its use as a sole-source instrument reference. Improvements in information integrity and failure indications have increased confidence in the reliability of HUDs; however, the combination of symbology and mechanization enabling their use as a sole-source attitude reference has not been incorporated into all HUDs.

14.2.2 Global Orientation
Many HUDs are incapable of providing intuitive global orientation information because of the small sections of space that they represent. Also, because many HUDs provide only a partial picture of the aircraft attitude, a pilot who tries to use the HUD to confirm an unusual attitude may see only a blur of lines and numbers. In a fast-moving environment, the pilot may not be able to differentiate or recognize the difference between the solid climb lines from the identical, but dashed, dive lines in the flightpath scale. Any confusion or delay in initiating proper recovery inputs may make recovery impossible.

WARNING
Unless your HUD is endorsed as a PFR, do not use it when spatially disoriented, for recovery from an unusual attitude, or during lost wingman situations; use the heads-down display anytime an immediate attitude reference is required. Typically, heads-down displays are inherently easier to use in these situations because of the larger attitude coverage, color asymmetry between the solid ground and sky, and reduced interference from the outside visual scene (glare, optical illusions, etc.).

14.2.3 HUD Field of View
HUD symbology may also obscure objects within the HUD field of view. When nonessential HUD information is displayed or when the HUD brightness level is excessive, the probability of obscuration is dramatically increased. Proper HUD settings (including elimination of non-task-essential information and adjusting the brightness to the proper level) are imperative to prevent potential hazards to safe flight.

14.2.4 Conventional Cross-Check
Pilots should remain proficient in the conventional instrument cross-check for their specific aircraft. Regardless of the type HUD you have, it is important to fly an instrument approach or accomplish a level-off occasionally without using the HUD so you retain your proficiency in the event of a HUD malfunction. Using HUD information incorrectly or at the wrong time can actually increase pilot workload, but timely, proper use of it can help you fly more precise instruments on a routine basis."

F-35A and Generic LM F-35 Capability Brief
 

The F-35’s Race Against Time By John A. Tirpak 2012 Nov
Vol. 95, No. 11 Air Force Magazine Executive Editor

Article: The F-35

OR

0.5Mb PDF: http://www.airforce-magazine.com/Mag...112fighter.pdf

I'd say...

Marham...!!!! It's a fecking ****hole. Why do we continue to shut/rundown decent stations and base things in remote isolated ****pits?

I remember copping a lot of flack from the experts here when I told of the f-35 supercruising at M1.25, appologies will be accepted
http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...ml#post7329409

I just thought you would like to know that a dry thrust speed of M1.2 has been confirmed
The F-35

no doubt there will be more surprises to come

Further flack inbound as it still does not supercruise and you sir cannot read!

No doubt the eurocanard fans will arc up...but it supercruises at M1.2 as per the euro definition...the f-35A was at M1.25
also at the time no one made the point that dry M1.25 isn't LM supercruise and that M1.5 was LM definition

Downsizer - because the locations are cheaper. 'Nice' locations earn more from property developers... and the MOD is busy asset-stripping itself.

DD - I'd say that suits BAES very nicely thank you as they have plenty of employees in the area after Tornado gets cut. That means that the BAES workshare in F-35 continues, MoD continues to support British Industry, and the taxpayers money gets vaguely recycled rather than going into Fort Worth's banks.

It also may mean a European logistics hub in East Anglia with any USAF F-35A force at Lakenheath and maybe the Dutch too (if they end up buying more than the one currently flying).

Shorter flying time to the Carriers in Portsmouth, although the East Anglian airspace is not ideal for training in from what I understand.

Much better than a Scottish base, which may be an independant country by the time we get the F-35B force into the UK!