I also have to wonder how bad the planning and coordination has to be if you're intending to fly C's and your test aircraft is a B. Could they not coordinate a trade with the Navy/Marines?
Uh nooooo! Why would the marines want the downgraded foreign version?
Exactly. It'll take ages to reapply the "real" stealth only the US jets will get, not to mention they'll have to remove all the trojans, backdoors, key loggers and black boxes the evil Americans put into jets they sell to foreigners...
Btw, the Government can't read my mind...
Sponsor
Posted: May 26, 2012 - 9:18 PM
F-16.net Sponsor
spazsinbad
Posted: Nov 23, 2011 - 05:32 PM
Elite 3K
Joined: May 05, 2009 - 10:31 PM
Posts: 4615
Location: OZ
I thought I recognised you Conan! Me long lost bruvver. Prolly couldna seen him before - due the stealth characteristics of crinkled aloominum.
"...The combat and mission systems of the ‘jump jet’ version of the F35 are all but identical, so British aviators will be using BK-1 as a crucial learning experience – not least as the UK’s first F35C won’t be ready for testing for a few years....
...Such leaps in technology mean there’s a lot for air and ground crew to learn about the Lightning II – and getting to grips with BK-1 is, in the words of Capt Dickie Payne, Deputy Assistant Chief-of-Staff Carrier Strike, “represents the first step in re-generating the UK’s carrier strike capability”.
Lt Matt Fooks-Bale, a former Harrier pilot and weapons instructor now on the carrier strike staff at Fleet Headquarters, added:
“The sooner we get involved in testing, the better.
“It’s important to learn how to ‘fight’ the F35, how to develop tactics. In a Harrier you would spend half your time simply flying the aircraft. That’s not the case on the F35.
“Getting our hands on BK-1 means we should be at the top of our game when the F35C is delivered, having had time to learn about the aircraft.”
The first naval pilot is due to fly BK-1 in the spring of 2013 and, from the end of that year, the JSF team will begin developing the tactics which front-line squadrons use when the jet enters service with the Fleet Air Arm and RAF in 2018...."
&
"...said Capt Jock Alexander, the Carrier Strike and Aviation advisor on the Naval Staff.
“The Joint Strike Fighter will be operated in a joint force with the Royal Air Force and young pilots joining the Royal Navy today can look forward to operating this world-beating aircraft from the deck of the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers.”...
Search
Register
Private Messages
Forum Guidelines
