Fighter "F-35B". What journalists do not realize
The other day, the naval forces together with the US marines held a show for journalists: the F-35B fighter was demonstrated, its takeoff and landing aboard the USS Wasp universal landing ship.
The F-35B made short-range takeoffs and vertical landings on the ship's deck, originally designed for helicopter-based helicopters.
The tests for Lockheed Martin were of particular importance, because even earlier, General Martin Dempsey, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Army, told Congress that the American army was not in a position to acquire all three versions of JSF. And the most suitable candidate for reductions for the Marine Corps is F-35B.
Without taking into account the positive feedback from journalists on the conducted demonstration flights, experts from the Center for Defense Information without much enthusiasm about the combat aircraft and the powerful ship saw a number of problems regarding the nuances of the F-35B refinement.
One of the nuances in the first place was the fact that two F-35B, which took part in demonstration flights, flew to Patuxent River for routine repairs, which USS Wasp technical personnel could not cope with. Apparently, the transfer of demonstration flights to the week was connected with this.
Immediately after the journalists left the airshow, one of the fighters under the number “BF-4” failed the drive of the flap fan gate, providing vertical thrust during takeoff and landing modes. There were already problems with this mechanism, however, as the developers stated, they have already been solved, but it turned out, not completely.
Despite the impression that the BF-4 was landing, very smooth and precise, the ship had to lower the speed below the planned one. The reason for this was the design of the ship, when it goes at high speed, air turbulences are created. They were calculated incorrectly. To aviation the incidents were completely ruled out; “Wasp” had to reduce his speed.
If we take into account that "F-35B" actually constantly pursue various problems, then due to the fact that budget allocations are reduced, it is most likely one of the most technically complex "F-35" with vertical takeoff and landing to get into mass production almost no chance. This is an insignificant loss for the American army - the Marines will be able to buy the F-35A for themselves with a standard landing and takeoff. Most of all can suffer the army of Great Britain. She plans to replace the Harrier attack aircraft with the F-35B fighter jets. The risk for the British military to remain out of work is extremely high: the JSF program has already surpassed all records in price increases. The total cost of the program over a ten-year period has reached more than 60 billion dollars. The 5 nuclear aircraft carriers of the Nimitz class together with the 700 F / A-18E / F fighter jets or, for example, the 150 very expensive fighters of the newest generation F-22 could have purchased for such money.
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