Quick guide to the F-35 JSF versions.

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:38:59 -0500, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 00:14:35 GMT, "Frijoles"
wrote:

Whoa, easy there Ed. First gig him on the fact that it was Guadalcanal
not
Leyte Gulf. Then you are cleared hot on bringing him into the 21st
century
.


Gimme a bit of slack please. It's before my time (even mine!) and I've
always been a bit weak in Marine Corps history.

The point, of course, is that there's nothing wrong with the
technology development of the STOVL version. I'm skeptical but have
been proven wrong before. I'm not a great believer in vertical
aircraft--AV-8 has been troublesome and we probably don't want to get
into Osprey discussions.

You may be surprised to know that the USAF has resurrected the concept of
buying the STOVL version as part of its F-35 force. Announced this week, and
the marines are tickled pink because it may mean their unit cost could go
down.

You shouldn't be surprised the idea of a two version JSF will gain
ground, the carrier version and STOVL, with a possible hack for the
CTOL simply ("yeah right!" I hear you shout) by removing the lift fan
and putting in a fuel tank,
This seems the best way to cut costs, the CTOL version could benifit
from the increase fuel.
cheers

Brooks


I've got the feeling that a useful CAS platform might be easier to
develop, less costly and more maintainable with soft field capability.
The effort to get extreme short T/O and vertical recovery seems to be
so much whiz-bang. I'd like more payload and less pilot workload.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8