Awesome aircraft.

Unlike the Harrier jump jet, that directs the jet exhaust through many ducts downward and sideward, the F-35 has a giant fan behind the pilot that is several feet in diameter (you can see it in one sequence). The clamshell is the air intake for the fan.

The Jet exhaust vectors downward at the rear, and the fan supports the front of the plane. There is a duct into each wing pointing downward for control.

There are different versions.

1. conventional take-off and landing (no vertical operation).
2. short take-off and vertical landing

Does not do a vertical take-off. It's a very heavy airplane.

Yeah, the Boeing/MacDonald competitor was a real looser. One glance at a picture of each and it was all over in my mind....not to mention the BMD STOVL jobbie couldn't get over supersonic by the deadline & the vectored thrust was a re-make of the Harriers version. The right PLANE won but since the DOD uses OPM they don't care what it costs.

thanks chief.
old navy. ;)
One US Aircraft Carrier Has A More Powerful Air Force Than 70% Of All Countries [VIDEO]

And we fund 11 of them. Sounds like a good fiscal plan!

I know all that, been following this project for several years.

Look at the label called "Lift Fan Doors".

When did they switch from doors to door?

http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/f-35b-lightning-ii/f-35-cutaway/
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/w...35-cutaway.jpg

http://operatorchan.org/v/res/51079-100.html
http://operatorchan.org/v/src/v51084...ift-Fan_lg.jpg

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread274774/pg4
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...nes/f35b-1.jpg
Guess that last caption answers my question.

Cool plane,looks like a swiss army knife coming aboard

Very cool. I noticed that they were USAF pilots. How common is it to have USAF pilots land aircraft on USN aircraft carriers. I realize that these are trials, is that why they were USAF pilots? Must be a better way to land than the carrier arrested landings we've done up until this...

Is there any reason we need a plane like that? I can't think of any.

close air support for the gyrines.capable of landing at a forward area to refuel and rearm

China is building a blue water navy. Time for us to cut back?

The intake looks like it's on the top during lift-off proceedures.
This was a major difference between the Mig-29 and the F-15. The mig could take off from a dusty field without ruining the complicated turbine.

I have a video of WW2 Aleutian Islands.....where P-39's, P-38's, and bombers would be taking off in what appeared to be two feet of water. The spray from the front wheels completely hid the aircraft from sight. Tricycle landing wheels were essential for stability.

Aircraft carriers are an awesome developement of warfair in terms of holding so many aircraft in close proximity(nice target for a single exocet;)), but so many other factors are involved.

Good grief. That thing is so complex it makes human DNA look like the Sunday crossword puzzle.

That strategy worked so well for the Soviet Union, didn't it. Yeah, we should borrow more money from the Chinese to enter into an arms race with them. Brilliant. What could go wrong?

THAT's funny! :)

Had we spent our cold war defense budget on social programs as opposed to defense, things might have ended up much differently.

Interesting stuff. I understand the need for troop support but is the primary reason for this plane it's short landing/take off capability? Is that based on the future carrier being smaller?

The unmanned stuff seems to be where it's at, hard to believe how far that has come so fast. What worries me about that is the Skynet idea, anyone see any of the Terminator movies? Sure movie stuff, but what if, hopefully a big IF, some one/thing gets control of one of those things. Scary stuff.

When will the Chinese have theirs operational ??

The F-22 Raptor had better stealth, range, and cruized at mach+ without afterburner. Very expensive though for pure air-superiority using aircraft.

The F-35 has many of those qualities, and suits the conventional ground support role better.
Missiles for the other tasks.

It's P-80 vs P-48. Thunderbolt does more jobs.

no, it is just the reverse

insects and birds are much more advanced than any plane we can build -- but each generation gets a bit closer, partly b/c we are now starting to study biological organisms with a view to making our machines more complex and flexible