And, of course, weapons can be carried internally. The inlet itself has no boundary layer diverter channel, the space between the duct and the fuselage, to reflect radar energy. The engine face is deeply hidden by a serpentine inlet duct. The canopy seam and bay doors are sawtoothed. The fuselage and canopy have sloping sides. The leading and trailing edges of the wing and tail have identical sweep angles (a design technique called planform alignment). A quick look at the aircraft reveals an adherence to fundamental shaping principles of a stealthy design. Nozzle maximize the F-35's stealth features. This long-term planning is focused on making certain the F-35 is always the system of choice to satisfy customers' changing needs.Īn integrated airframe design, advanced materials and an axisymmetric Lockheed Martin and its partners Northrop Grumman and BAE SYSTEMS are also assessing F-35 derivative concepts such as a two-seat variant and an electronic- attack variant. This is driven by the long acquisition process associated with the planning, budgeting, contracting, development and production/retrofit incorporation of a given upgrade. While Block 4 is targeted for possible authorization in the 2009-2010 period, these plans typically look into the future 10 to 20 years. The Strategy Integration team supports the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office with long-range planning for major capability upgrades such as Block 4 and beyond. Earlier in the design phase, engineers also reduced the length of the engine's inlet ducts, thereby saving weight and improving performance. It added slightly more twist to the wing camber on the CV variant to improve both handling qualities and transonic performance, and slightly adjusting the positioning of the vertical tails to improve aerodynamic performance. The freeze raising by about one inch the top surface of the aircraft along the centerline, thus increasing fuel capacity by 300 pounds and extending range. The design had been evolving incrementally since the configuration that flew as the X-35 demonstrator.įinalized changes included extending the forward fuselage by five inches to better accommodate avionics and sensors, and moving the horizontal tail rearward by two inches to maintain stability-and-control with the newly extended forward fuselage. Design changes, though small, will bring overall performance gains to the stealthy fighter. The resulting "lines freeze" configuration is nearly indistinguishable from that of the X-35 JSF demonstrators that underwent flight testing in 20. On 27 June 2002, the F-35 program achieved its first major technical milestone, on schedule and under budget, when engineers finalized the external lines of the aircraft. The contractors did not invest a lot of money to develop new systems, but rather put the new technologies of stealth and the integrated avionics that are in F/A-22, into the JSF. These modifications and improvements will eventually come back and upgrade the F-22. But the F-35 does not have supercruise, it does not have thrust-vectoring, and it is not as stealthy as the F-22.Ī number of the systems for JSF are taken right out of the F-22, then modified and improved. The main advantages of the F-35 over the F-22 are that it carry a larger internal payload (2x 1,000 lbs vs 2x 2,000 lbs for F-35), and that it is far less expensive. Possible future versions of the aircraft include an electronic-attack variant, an uninhabited version, and an F-35 that incorporates a laser weapon. The F-35 is designed to accommodate growth in both mission and technology. The objective is to make the airplanes for about half of what today's airplanes cost. The design challenge of JSF is to find a way to develop a family of airplanes and attain economies of commonality and scale that drive down the costs of each airplane. Thus, fewer of the older close “dogfights” style operations will occur. In future most air-combats interceptions will be fought “beyond the visible horizon” (BVR). F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Lightning II Design
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