F-35C DT-II TESTING CVN

[spazsinbad]

Next I'm wondering at the potential thread derailment on what has become a thread about a very successful F-35C DT-II period aboard IKE these last few weeks. Why is this so? Why are F-35Bs on CVNs? Why are not F-35Cs ready to catapult from same CVNs with plenty of gas and weapons to deal with incoming that are not already being dealt with by already airborne CVN fixed wing jet assets? What early warning systems on ships and aircraft have failed to get F-35Bs on CVNs?

[KamenRiderBlade]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4bX8k6UdM4

Official YouTube video.

[spazsinbad]

Do we see the variable A/B starting up after the first milliseconds into the cat shot at 1min 48-49secs? Wanna see a slomo?

Various quality versions of the same Youtube video are available here: Best quality is 125 Mb .MP4

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/428539/f ... eisenhower

[spazsinbad]

[sdkf251]

Nice Videos Guys! Not bad music, makes the video feel like a movie trailer. Expecting an added text scroll in the end like "Coming to an operational theater near you"

[bring_it_on]

F-35C completes carrier tests aboard the Ike

Long article best read at source..


Test pilots found the jet’s slowest airspeed cat shot. Officials were not ready to reveal that number, but there were launches in which the F-35C dipped well below the flight deck. The Navy typically sets the standard launch speed at 15 knots above the minimum.

While the ship’s crew and JSF’s pilots put a future jet fighter to the test, one two-star pilot was engaged in a different kind of battle. Many media outlets reported earlier this year that the stealth fighter had lost in a dogfight with the Air Force's F-16 Falcon earlier this summer. Is the JSF inferior? Is it a waste of money? Did the designers fail to build a better plane?

Such assertions “makes me cringe," said Rear Adm. John Haley, the head of Naval Air Force Atlantic. "It makes me think the people that are looking at this don't understand what the future holds for us.”

“If you wanted us to design an airplane that optimized going out and beating an F-16 or F-15, we could do that. It wouldn't be this airplane. If you tell me to optimize an airplane that's going to do the mission we need to do, which is power projection and force protection, in a modern cyber and threat environment, this airplane does that without sacrificing your capabilities to do a close-in fight.”

Haley reiterated the JSF’s stand-off capabilities, unmatched situational awareness, and the fact that it won’t travel into the battlespace alone.

“With this airplane and how were going to fight with it, [a close-in dogfight] will not be typical,” he said. “I'm pretty confident I'm not going to have that happen. However, if it happens, we're not just going to stop training guys on [air combat maneuvering].

“I'm not saying that there aren't airplanes out there that can beat this thing if you put it in a bad position. I'm saying that the airplane had such great situational awareness, the chances of getting in that position are slim. An adversary coming off aspect would be identified long before he could recognize you.”

[spazsinbad]

Thanks 'backITbrung' - some more quotes I like... OH NOES - heating the ceiling - where's me THERMION....

F-35C completes carrier tests aboard the Ike
17 Oct 2015 Lance Bacon

"...The multifaceted two-week flight test was used to develop launch and recovery bulletins. The former focused on 55,000 and 60,000-pound catapult shots at military, the catapult shot with standard jet thrust, and maximum power....

...Development of recovery bulletins saw multiple wind scenarios — some as high as 40 knots over deck [with a crosswind component within limits sometimes as reported by others]. Cmdr. Christian “Wilson” Sewell, the flight test director, lauded "Delta flight path," in which flight controls capture the glide slope once the pilot has a center ball on their flight deck approach. The pilot then adjusts with minor tweaks via the stick.

“Easy,” Sewell said. “We put it on the deck exactly where we want just about every time.”

Sewell, who started off in F/A-18 Hornets, has been flying 16 years. He has roughly 40 shots and traps in the JSF, and another 230 in the Hornet....

...Yellow shirts said the JSF taxis and maneuvers well on the flight deck. Sailors found it to be similar to the F/A-18 Super Hornet — it uses the same repeatable release holdback bar, the Catapult Capacity Selector Valve is set the same, and suspend procedures are the same. The one difference is location of the intakes.

"Our hold back operators and topside safety petty officers have to approach the aircraft similar to the way they would approach a EA-6B Prowler or A-6 Intruder,” said Lt. Cmdr. Karl Murray, V-2 division officer and senior catapult and arresting gear officer, a.k.a. "Top Cat." "The intakes are closer to the nose launch bar, and some of these sailors aren’t used to seeing that."...

...“We are a single engine, but we are a single huge engine,” Sewell said. “A 10,000-pound engine presents some unique logistical considerations: how to get it aboard the ship, how to unpack it and move it around, where can maintenance be done, etc.”

The team did not do an engine swap, but simulated a swap of the power module, which is the largest component. The team also tested the integrated power package that provides electrical power to start the engine. While such gear is nothing new, the exhaust in this IPP points upward. The team ran the IPP for 20 minutes to ensure the hangar bay ceiling didn’t get too hot ....

...Final carrier tests are scheduled for late summer of 2016. This will include external weapons and the full joint precision aircraft landing system."

Source: http://www.navytimes.com/story/military ... /74015774/

[spazsinbad]

LOOK at he size of that front landing gear!!!! You could swap it out with a C-5 (exaggerating - only slightly!!!)

An explanation about the F-35C nose gear and main gear and the F-35 landing gear in general in this PDF attached from:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/174844675/F-3 ... I#download

[spazsinbad]

[spazsinbad]

I do not think these details were known before? Anyway here they are again....

Cats and Traps on the Ike
November 2015 UNK

"...The Pax River-based ITF has flown nearly 500 flights, logged more than 700 flight hours, and achieved almost 3,400 test points since January 2015, many in preparation for DT II....

...Aircraft CF-03 was expected to perform asymmetric flying qualities testing loaded with [internal] weapons....

...According to a Lockheed Martin press release, during DT I test pilots and engineers credited the F-35C’s Delta Flight Path (DFP) technology with significantly reducing pilot workload during the approach to the carrier, increasing safety margins during carrier approaches and reducing touchdown dispersion. The DFP was developed by BAE Systems at its facilities at Salmesbury and Warton in Lancashire, UK...." [CVF simulator at Warton can change roles from suitable for F-35Bs to suitable for F-35Cs for test purposes]

Source: Air International Magazine November 2015

[Dragon029]

Great new video from the Navy on DT-II:

[spazsinbad]

Thanks - great video. Check the first lady launcher - what a grin. And I'm pleased that details were given about 'crosswind' catapult launches up to fifteen knots (nothing about landing but certainly not 40k oft quoted). But youse knew that. Shirley the BATwing Duo break near the end has got to inform what the nickname might be? BAT baby.

[spazsinbad]

I would call this a FAN BREAK but YMMV - the BAT wing rools.

[spazsinbad]

F-35C VX-23 ITF EISENHOWER DT-II TEST USN OCTOBER 2015

[KamenRiderBlade]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btNicqVLrFw

Official LM YouTube vid