The part that I think is consistently missed is that this is an attack plane with a large fuel load as well as long range. For example, some of its competitors can only match The F-35 range if they have external fuel tanks that degrade their performance. Some other air superiority fighters have very small fuel loads... when the F-35 is loaded with a similar weight in fuel its performance improves.

 

Where I am going with all this is that I am assuming that the F-35 made those numbers with a fuel load similar to that of the F-16. And that is OK since it would be like that in the air superiority role. In the attack role it would have spent half its fuel getting to the target, unloaded its bomb load and then thus lighted of weight fight its way out... with F-16 type of maneuverability and fleeing at high speed.  For an attack plane this is awesome.

 

 

Here is another point HR. The Plane went to 110 degrees AOA. If you can throw the plane into that high of an AOA is a cobra inconceivable? Are J-turns and Hornet style  Manuvers out of the questions. Pirouettes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information Overload Could Complicate F-35 Deployments Aboard Ships
08 Apr 2015 Sandra I. Erwin

"The Marine Corps is eyeing the first real-world deployment of F-35Bs aboard big-deck ships around 2018. Marine and Navy officials are confident the ships will be ready to handle the next-generation aircraft, but there are still questions about how the fleet will manage the massive loads of data that will be generated by the joint strike fighter.

The F-35 has been called a flying supercomputer, as it is underpinned by 8 million lines of code, in addition to several more million lines of code associated with its support systems, notably the software that manages fleet logistics.

“The systems are eye watering,” said Rear Adm. Peter Fanta, the Navy’s director of surface warfare. Fanta is a key member of a high-level team that is overseeing the daunting task of making sure big-deck amphibious ships are properly equipped for F-35B operations....

...Marine aviation will be jumping ahead several generations of technology.

New ships will be built with the necessary bells and whistles to be F-35 compatible. The USS Wasp was used for F-35B development testing and received new upgrades for upcoming operations tests. One of the Navy’s brand-new amphibious assault ships, the USS America, will be retrofit beginning next month. It will spend 40 weeks in the shipyard to receive F-35-specific modifications, including a host of advanced new weapons, sensors and flight deck upgrades, said Rear Adm. David Gale, Navy program executive for ships. The next ship in the class, the LHA-7 USS Tripoli — now under construction and due for delivery in 2019 — is being built with F-35-specific features.

More at the link

 

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/ ... px?ID=1794

 

Im shocked that no one, has come up with the idea of putting the F-35s sensor suite in a plug and play shipping container on a ship. Maybe to allow it to talk seemlessly with the F-35. Since your going to use the plane as a forward node, it woudl cutt down bottle necks.

 

 

I also suspect that the amphibs having always used the older technology Harriers do not have the same communication, command and control features as the carriers who have always had AWAC as well as modern attack planes. So now they both have to have capabilities that are more aligned.

 

I do not think the AOA is 110 degrees. The more critical one would be on approach to a landing and who knows... that would a lot lower. Maybe 10 degrees.

Go look at the Videos, The Plane has extreme AOA. Infact I think the requirment is for 50+ but it has exceeded that.

 

“Pilots really like maneuverability, and the fact that the aircraft recovers so well from a departure allows us to say [to the designers of the flight control system laws], ‘you don’t have to clamp down so tight,’” says Nelson. Departure resistance was proven during high angle-of-attack (AOA) testing, which began in late 2012 with the aircraft pushing the nose to its production AOA limit of 50 deg. Subsequent AOA testing has pushed the aircraft beyond both the positive and negative maximum command limits, including intentionally putting the aircraft out of control in several configurations ranging from “clean” wings to tests with open weapons-bay doors. Testing eventually pushed the F-35 to a maximum of 110 deg. AOA.

I would Not rule out, a Cobra manuver or J-turn at this point.

 

New Fighter Jet: Controversial Future of the U.S. Fleet
07 Nov 2008 Dave Majumdar

“...Having previously been only the second man ever to have flown the F-22 Raptor, Beesley became the first pilot ever to fly the F-35 in late 2006. As such, Beesley is intimately familiar with both programs. According to Beesley, the four current test pilots for F-35 have been most impressed by the aircraft's thrust and acceleration. In the subsonic flight regime, the F-35 very nearly matches the performance of its' larger, more powerful cousin, the F-22 Raptor, Beesley explained. The "subsonic acceleration is about as good as a clean Block 50 F-16 or a Raptor- which is about as good as you can get." Beesley said.

The aircraft flies in "large measure like the F-22, but it's smaller, and stiffer" than the Raptor however, Beesley explained, adding that the aircraft handles superbly. The reason for the similar flight characteristics, explained the test pilot, is because the man who designed the flight control laws for the Raptor, is also the same man who is responsible for the flight control software for the F-35. As Beesley explains, the flight control laws of modern fighters determine to large extent the flight characteristics of a given aircraft. Beesley said that the aircraft is so stable and so comfortable that the test pilots find themselves inadvertently drifting too close to their wingmen in formation.

What Beesley expects will surprise future F-35 pilots is the jets' superb low speed handling characteristics and post-stall manoeuvr-ability. While the F-22 with its thrust vectored controls performs better at the slow speeds and high angle of attack (AOA) flight regime, the F-35 will be able match most of the same high AOA manoeuvres as the Raptor, although it will not be able to do so as quickly as the more powerful jet in some cases. Turning at the higher Gs and higher speed portions of the flight envelope, the F-35 will "almost exactly match a clean Block 50 F-16 and comes very close to the Raptor", Beesley said.

 

 

HR, Whats the best way to utilize, and fighter that recovers good, with good transsonic acc, but at the same time can go 50+ degrees aoa? Im not sure, airshow manuvers ala J-turns, and cobras will cutt it. Is the High AOA, simlpy for snap turns/ Snap missile shots?  And If Both the AMRAAM, and the AIM9X are both hobs capable, then why does it matter?