|
|
Post by paddy on Jan 29, 2009 16:16:58 GMT 12
Funny how Bob Baldwin was a member of the Government that ordered the F35 and has only now discovered the noise since he went into opposition. I would of thought, since he was the member for Port Stephens, he may have been interested in the noise for his constituents while he could have influenced the decision instead of bashing Labor for his own parties decision.
Paterson MP and assisting shadow defence minister Bob Baldwin said there would be a definite noise increase when the Joint Strike Fighter arrived in Williamtown, and urged planning authorities to take a commonsense approach to future development that considered those noise impacts.
Politicians, they're all the same
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Jan 29, 2009 16:58:24 GMT 12
Paddy, politics is ultimately a stupid business played often by people who don't have a clue but I think Bob Baldwin as a Liberal is being kind to the Federal Labor Guvmnt IMHO. Bob urges a 'commonsense approach' (by the JSFs?) which caters for everyone I think so it is a smart remark for him to make that pleases everyone. Not that he himself can do much about it.
Surely I would think that protecting people from future noise by not allowing development too close to Willytown was a good thing. We all know how development too close to an airfield will kill it eventually. I guess that is why the lobby for close development is so strong. It is not only the development now but the development of the closed airport in future that is so valuable. Nothing else matters eh.
|
|
|
|
Post by corsair67 on Jan 29, 2009 17:34:39 GMT 12
Wow, the F-35 is a whole 4 decibels louder than an F/A-18A/B!  Gee, we'll be able to hear them down here in the ACT when they're taking off from Willytown!!!!  |
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Jan 29, 2009 18:30:57 GMT 12
Can't you hear the Hornets NOW?! Are you DEEF or sumpin? ;D CANBERRA |
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Jan 30, 2009 12:29:28 GMT 12
www.airframer.com/news_story.html?release=3792First avionics-equipped F-35 rolls outFORT WORTH, Texas, January 23, 2009 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has completed the first F-35 Lightning II equipped with mission systems, a milestone that will lead to the first avionics testing on board an F-35 aircraft. The short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 variant left the factory on Wednesday, Jan. 21, and goes to the fuel facility for functional fuel system checks before it is scheduled for delivery to the flight line by the end of January. Its first flight is expected this summer. Mission systems, or avionics, are the on-board sensors that enable the aircraft to detect, locate, identify, track and target adversaries from long ranges; detect fast-moving incoming threats such as missiles; and receive and transmit large amounts of battle-space information through secure data links. These 5th generation sensors and data links will be integral to providing the warfighter in the air and on the ground a fused picture of the battlespace. "Testing of this aircraft will represent the fourth tier of our avionics validation process, comprising ground-based laboratory testing, airborne lab testing of individual sensors on surrogate aircraft, airborne testing of the fully integrated mission systems package on the Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, and, finally, airborne testing of the integrated system on an actual F-35," said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager. The aircraft, called BF-4, will carry the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar and Integrated Communications, Navigation and Identification suite, and the BAE Systems Electronic Warfare system. The Block 0.5 mission systems software, which incorporates more than half of the combat-ready Block 3 software, will drive the system. BF-4 will be updated with additional equipment and software through Block 3, the last block in the System Development and Demonstration program. The jet is the latest addition to the fleet of five F-35s already undergoing testing. Earlier aircraft are validating F-35 subsystems and flying qualities while retiring technical risk. BF-4's first flight is planned for mid-year 2009, following a comprehensive series of ground tests. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136. Press release issued by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company on January 23, 2009
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 4, 2009 15:13:44 GMT 12
F135 Engine Cleared For F-35B STOVL Testing Feb 3, 2009 By Graham Warwick www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/F135-020309.xml&headline=F135 Engine Cleared For F-35B STOVL Testing Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine has been cleared for powered-lift flight-testing in the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Approval follows a review of design changes made to eliminate vibration that caused turbine blade failures during ground tests of two engines. The first redesigned engine was delivered to Lockheed Martin last week for installation in aircraft BF-1, the first short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B. Testing is expected to begin on the hover pit at Fort Worth, Texas, early this month, leading to a first vertical landing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., in June or July. The third-stage turbine-blade problem has delayed the start of powered-lift testing by four to six months, but has not extended the overall JSF flight-test program as other work was moved around to accommodate the delay, says Bill Gostic, vice president for the F135 program. The first turbine blade failed on Aug. 30, 2007 during powered-lift qualification testing of ground-test engine FX634. The second blade failed on Feb. 4, 2008 during proof testing of flight-test engine FTE06. The proof test was designed to determine whether the engine was susceptible to blade failure. The failures were traced to high-cycle fatigue cracking due to vibration caused when the blades struck the wakes from third-stage stator vanes upstream. The fix was to switch to asymmetric vane spacing, to disrupt the excitation causing the vibratory stress, and to redesign the blades to remove the stress concentration. Pratt conducted a series of ground tests to validate that the asymmetric vanes eliminated the vibration and did not interfere with turbine cooling, and has completed a new proof test on the redesigned FTE06 flight-test engine. This is the engine delivered to Lockheed Martin for installation in aircraft BF-1. The engine manufacturer plans an additional ground testing in May/June with strain gauges on the new blades to confirm the redesign has eliminated the stress concentration. “We’re confident we have sufficient margin,” Gostic says. F135 production is scheduled to begin in July with the first four engines for the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A. This will be followed by a second production batch of eight CTOL and eight STOVL engines."
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 9, 2009 17:20:08 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 18, 2009 7:57:59 GMT 12
STOVL F-35B Ready To Begin Hover Pit Tests Feb 17, 2009 By Graham Warwick www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/F35B021709.xml&headline=STOVL F-35B Ready To Begin Hover Pit Tests The first short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could begin powered-lift testing on the hover pit at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant as early as this week. This will begin perhaps the most critical phase of testing for the F-35 program. About a month of hover-pit testing is planned before the first F-35B, aircraft BF-1, returns to the air to begin STOVL flight testing, says J.D. McFarlan, F-35 air vehicle development team lead. This will build up to the first full vertical landing, expected to be performed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., in June or July and a key milestone for the program. Hover pit tests will check performance and operation of the propulsion system up to full vertical thrust. In powered-lift mode the forward shaft-driven lift fan is engaged, the rear three-bearing nozzle swivels down and roll posts in the wing open. BF-1 will be tied down over the open pit to measure forces and moments generated by the propulsion system during manual and automatic conversions between conventional and STOVL modes. Later the pit will be covered with steel plates to allow measurement of the ground environment and inlet temperatures and pressures during a vertical landing, McFarlan says. Pit tests also will allow Lockheed Martin to measure the installed thrust of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine and Rolls-Royce lift fan. This is key to confirming that the F-35B will achieve its STOVL performance objectives. McFarlan says the company is confident of achieving a minimum 40,550 pounds of vertical thrust, enough to enable the F-35B to meet its requirements.
|
|
|
|
Post by Naki on Feb 20, 2009 20:05:38 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 20, 2009 20:24:10 GMT 12
Naki, thanks - some great videos on that page. A similar but different video from page 15 of this thread is at: Probably the videos Naki points to are much better quality than any Utube videos. Here is a list from his URL above: (plus the EOTS DAS video at URL) www.es.northropgrumman.com/solutions/f35targeting/assets/eodasvideo.html•Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) •Longbow Fire Control Radar •AESA Radar |
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 25, 2009 7:27:19 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by yak2 on Feb 25, 2009 8:59:40 GMT 12
I don't think this thing looks right. Looks more like a Hollywood prop than a real aircraft. Perhaps it is for stealth reasons, but the nose and canopy look like a WIP job rather than the real thing. This may be a prototype, but does anyone else think it needs a nose job  |
|
|
|
Post by Leyland P75 on Feb 25, 2009 9:17:57 GMT 12
Yak,
It appears as though it has a smaller nose than other pics that I've seen. Probably because there ain't do 'dar underneath it.
Whatever, one thing I think we can all agree on. Wait, let me take that back. One thing that I think..... no F-35 is going to be winning any beauty contests....
|
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Feb 25, 2009 10:40:30 GMT 12
bit of a "Westie" paint job too....  |
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 25, 2009 11:20:58 GMT 12
Bruce, doan nock 'westies'. I used to be an 'inner' now I'm an 'outer' of the Greater Sydney. ;D To me it looks like the extreme telephoto lens and the angle of the aircraft (moving quickly in a turn) have produced the odd photo. Any aircraft looks good in my book - except for the one in my six.
|
|
|
|
Post by yak2 on Feb 25, 2009 14:26:17 GMT 12
Like there are no bad beers FN.....just some taste better than others.  Maybe time for a new thread on ugliest aircraft? |
|
|
|
Post by corsair67 on Feb 25, 2009 15:25:04 GMT 12
What, like the F-35 Helen Clark? ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 25, 2009 20:48:30 GMT 12
So the JSF really is a 'dog looking' fighter? Kewl.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leyland P75 on Feb 27, 2009 10:09:09 GMT 12
Ugliest aircraft?
I'll kick it off with BAC Lightning. With overwing tanks for extra bumpy ugliness.
|
|
|
|
Post by FlyNavy on Feb 27, 2009 10:22:20 GMT 12
So the "Lightning II" is an aptly named 'plug ugly' family. ;D
|
|
