F-35A AA-1 Great New Picture

wolfsith · by **wolfsith** » 19 Mar 2009, 20:08

Just Thought this was a glorious picture to share

energo · by **energo** » 19 Mar 2009, 20:25

wolfsith wrote:Just Thought this was a glorious picture to share

Very nice. Thank you for sharing.

B. Bolsøy
Oslo

f22enthusiast · by **f22enthusiast** » 19 Mar 2009, 22:20

Do you have the link for the photo?

Thanks!

wolfsith · by **wolfsith** » 19 Mar 2009, 22:50

Hi there sorry, the link is below and there are some other great pics on there as well

http://www.jsf.mil/gallery/gal_photo_sdd_f35atest.htm

r2d2 · by **r2d2** » 19 Mar 2009, 23:04

Great link. Thank you.

StolichnayaStrafer · by **StolichnayaStrafer** » 19 Mar 2009, 23:16

Looks really cool, can't wait for full scale production of all 3 versions!!!

PhillyGuy · by **PhillyGuy** » 20 Mar 2009, 00:16

Even though this is AA-1 you can still clearly see the room available for future upgrades to the internal weapons load configuration.

beepa · by **beepa** » 20 Mar 2009, 08:23

I'm just an icecream licker but...seeing this is AA-1 which is a CTOL version then the gun is internal(ok, probably hasn't got one on AA-1), but, on the other two types they run a gun pod. On the Carrier variant will the doors be shorter or the pod be more aft as it appears the doors open leave not much room between them?? Two more silly questions...in the case of the STOVL variant, if there was a malfunction of some type and the doors fail to close and the pilot really needs his gun, will it still operate?..also can the pilot engage the lift fan with a weapons door failure??

dwightlooi · by **dwightlooi** » 20 Mar 2009, 10:03

beepa wrote:I'm just an icecream licker but...seeing this is AA-1 which is a CTOL version then the gun is internal(ok, probably hasn't got one on AA-1), but, on the other two types they run a gun pod. On the Carrier variant will the doors be shorter or the pod be more aft as it appears the doors open leave not much room between them?? Two more silly questions...in the case of the STOVL variant, if there was a malfunction of some type and the doors fail to close and the pilot really needs his gun, will it still operate?..also can the pilot engage the lift fan with a weapons door failure??

The gun pod fits in the triangular space between the doors.

Corsair1963 · by **Corsair1963** » 21 Mar 2009, 04:33

I've heard the external gun has little impact on RCS. Yet, I have my doubts............

dwightlooi · by **dwightlooi** » 21 Mar 2009, 17:34

Roughly how things may fit with a dual ejector. The fins are in a wrong orientation in the illustration, but the spatial approximation is more or less accurate.

psychmike · by **psychmike** » 21 Mar 2009, 19:12

Corsair1963 wrote:I've heard the external gun has little impact on RCS. Yet, I have my doubts............

I agree with you. When you look at the bottom of the F-22, F-117, and B-2, they are almost completely flat. It's difficult to believe that hanging a gun pod on the bottom, even a shaped one, won't result in significant increases in RCS when viewed from the front, sides, or below.

Viperalltheway · by **Viperalltheway** » 27 Mar 2009, 13:07

dwightlooi wrote:
beepa wrote:I'm just an icecream licker but...seeing this is AA-1 which is a CTOL version then the gun is internal(ok, probably hasn't got one on AA-1), but, on the other two types they run a gun pod. On the Carrier variant will the doors be shorter or the pod be more aft as it appears the doors open leave not much room between them?? Two more silly questions...in the case of the STOVL variant, if there was a malfunction of some type and the doors fail to close and the pilot really needs his gun, will it still operate?..also can the pilot engage the lift fan with a weapons door failure??

The gun pod fits in the triangular space between the doors.

DL, do you know if the F-35A will be able to carry the external gun? If yes, do you think the 2 guns could be used at the same time? ( for pure CAS )

dwightlooi · by **dwightlooi** » 27 Mar 2009, 22:46

Viperalltheway wrote:
dwightlooi wrote:
beepa wrote:I'm just an icecream licker but...seeing this is AA-1 which is a CTOL version then the gun is internal(ok, probably hasn't got one on AA-1), but, on the other two types they run a gun pod. On the Carrier variant will the doors be shorter or the pod be more aft as it appears the doors open leave not much room between them?? Two more silly questions...in the case of the STOVL variant, if there was a malfunction of some type and the doors fail to close and the pilot really needs his gun, will it still operate?..also can the pilot engage the lift fan with a weapons door failure??

The gun pod fits in the triangular space between the doors.

DL, do you know if the F-35A will be able to carry the external gun? If yes, do you think the 2 guns could be used at the same time? ( for pure CAS )

Technically I guess it is plausible since the A, B and C models all have that center line 1250 lbs hard point. However, I there is no intention mounting a gun pod on the A model or using that centerline station for anything at his moment.

Viperalltheway · by **Viperalltheway** » 28 Mar 2009, 13:17

The advantage is that it's a pod, meaning that they don't have to buy one per aircraft. They could get like 200 of them and any F-35 could use them. It would add a minimum of training for the pilot.

There's also the possibility of laser guided rockets.

When you think that they spend about 12 million per aircraft to upgrade the A-10s sometimes you wonder..