The USMC's own Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)
Descended from the X-35 prototype, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is primarily funded by the US and UK in an effort to replace aging fleets across all services- lead contractor on the massive project being Lockheed Martin.
F-35B, JSF
To this point, only 13 test aircraft of all types have been constructed- most are in test/trainer service, and the stealthy single-seat, single-engine (Mach 1.6) fighters average $122M a copy. The Defense Department is planning to buy over 2400 planes, making it the most expensive defense program in US history... although they are expected to serve effectively as far into the future as 2040.
Yet while the RAF is predictably going with the same set-up as the USAF (F-35A), many were surprised to hear that UK Navy brass decided to buy the more conventional (and cheaper) carrier-landing F-35C -our own Navy's version- sacrificing the VTOL ability their own Harriers are famed for. The British are suffering woeful budgetary constraints, yet the Royal Navy has two very expensive new carriers under construction... seems they had to cut somewhere if they didn't want to scap one of those hulls.
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| photo: Aviation Intel |
So the USAF version -with conventional take-off/landing- is dubbed F-35A, while the Navy's F-35C is set up for carriers. The Danish Air Force actually have one test plane already, while the Canadians, Israelis, and others will have their own types as well.
But it's the United States Marine Corps who anxiously await the first deliveries of their advanced -and a bit more pricey- short/vertical take-off and landing (STOVL) F-35B, and this is the one that most closely resembles that famed British Harrier 'jump-jet' about to ride-off into history... this thing is really something else:
But it's the United States Marine Corps who anxiously await the first deliveries of their advanced -and a bit more pricey- short/vertical take-off and landing (STOVL) F-35B, and this is the one that most closely resembles that famed British Harrier 'jump-jet' about to ride-off into history... this thing is really something else:
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| Lockheed Martin |
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| photo: Defense Talk |
