Here are the 10 Amazing & Interesting Facts F-35 Lightning II Stealth Fighter Jet
1. Global Program & Funding
F-35 unites U.S. Air Force, Marines, Navy, twelve international partners including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, UK, and three foreign military sales countries. The only three factories are located in USA, Italy & Japan. The project is principally funded by the U.S. with additional funding from partner countries.
2. Millions of lines of Codes
An average F-35 fighter jet has more lines of code than what is needed for a successful space shuttle launch. Well at 24 million lines of code, the F-35 fighter jet also requires far more code than the F-18 jet fighter, which only includes about 4 million lines of software code.
3. Stealth
F-35, Unlike its opponent, has been designed to be stealthy from all sides. This jet is stealthy against latest radars while having a low I.R. signature & reduced visibility. The F-35 includes a laser designator that helps it drop smart bombs from the air without sacrificing stealth operations. Moreover, the fighter jet can jam opposing fighter jet’s radars including F-22 Raptor.
4. Variants
In addition to the standard F-35A model, there are two more variants including F-35-B & F35-C. The F-35A is built for conventional takeoffs and landings where the full runway is available. The F-35B is designed for short takeoff and vertical landings like helicopters. While F-35C is designed to land and take off from aircraft carriers. This variant has foldable wingtip sections and tail control surfaces for better control and landings under low speeds on aircraft carriers. F-35C is the costliest and it’s the first 5th generation aircraft to come to the carrier deck.
Related link: Interesting Facts about F-22 Raptor That Will Blow You Away
5. Cockpit
The cockpit is also state of the art delivering a full panoramic glass cockpit display, allowing unparalleled visibility. A helmet-mounted display system will be fitted to all F-35 variants. Speech recognition systems also offer audio control of various functions available on the pilot interface.
6. Sensors
F35 does provide an amazing state-of-the-art sensor system that can give fighter jet pilots a complete 360-degree view of their environments. This keeps them from having blind spots where enemies can take advantage of their inability to detect them.
7. Armament
Asides from a stock quad-barreled cannon and advanced armaments, the F-35 is capable of carrying almost every legacy weapon that is carried by the previous generation of fighter jets.
8. Unique Lift System
Not every F-35 requires a full runway or any runway at all to get into the air for action. The F-35 actually has new technology known as Lift System made by Rolls Royce. This Lift System is an innovative propulsion system that allows the main engine exhaust to be redirected for direct vertical lift, which is perfect for carrier deployment.
9. Power plant
F 35 is powered by an F135 afterburning turbofan, which delivers 19,500kg of thrust, allowing a top speed of over 1,930km/h. This is the most powerful engine ever installed in a fighter aircraft.
10. Parts and Cost
Technology like the F-35 is understandably extremely advanced and requires a lot of partners working together to make it all happen. Each F-35 is made up of 300,000 parts procured from over 1,500 suppliers. The f-35 program is the most expensive project in the history of the US military. Three different models of F-35 range from $100 million to $120 million each. With amazing F-35 capabilities, many defense analysts believe that the jet is worth its high cost.
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