Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Last edited by flyingdonkey on Apr 14, 2009 - 12:37 PM; edited 1 time in total

I found two pictures of AA-1 F-35. But, I found one curioous thing. Is that a new heat emission part? If so, doesn't it affect stealt?

Curious George, Newbie.

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flyingdonkey wrote:

I found two pictures of AA-1 F-35. But, I found one curioous thing. Is that a new heat emission part? If so, doesn't it affect stealt?

Curious Goerge, Newbie.

That's the APU. The auxiliary power unit. A small turbine used for providing power when the F-135 engine is not running. It is only used on the ground. It doesn't output anything while in flight or even when the aircraft is taxiing with the main engine running.

On the production airframes (AF-1 and later) this is moved to the underside.

dwightlooi wrote:

flyingdonkey wrote:

I found two pictures of AA-1 F-35. But, I found one curioous thing. Is that a new heat emission part? If so, doesn't it affect stealt?

Curious Goerge, Newbie.

That's the APU. The auxiliary power unit. A small turbine used for providing power when the F-135 engine is not running. It is only used on the ground. It doesn't output anything while in flight or even when the aircraft is taxiing with the main engine running.

Ah, I guessed it was APU. Sorry, I know APU. my background is avionics and design. Oh but not for mil planes.

dwightlooi wrote:

On the production airframes (AF-1 and later) this is moved to the underside.

I see. That's why I got confused. AA-1 and earlier test frames showed no such APU. That will be moved to undersided?

If so, what Lockheed announced is true? Some articles said that the overheating issue is critical in terms of IR singnal. Is that the reason they changed the frame slightly?

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

What is this? I found this picture while surf'n.