Joint Strike Fighter: Air Force Wants Boeing To Stop Talking Smack

Ok, that is not a direct quote.  Major General Charles R. Davis, USAF, the Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Lightning II Program Office, is far to articulate, educated, and gentlemanly to utter such a comment.  But, reality is not that far off.

According to Flightglobal, LtGen Davis is not pleased with, what he characterizes as “lies and half-truths,” being spread by Boeing about the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

“That’s just pissing us off,” Davis says. “If Boeing has to say something negative about JSF to sell their aircraft, that tells me there is something wrong with their aircraft.”

Davis specifically faults Boeing executives for predicting further cost overruns and delays for the F-35 programme. By comparison, Davis says, he has heard BAE Systems make no such predictions in their efforts to sell the Eurofighter Typhoon.

However, it was pointed out to Davis that Boeing had delivered hundreds of F/A-18E/Fs on time and on budget, while the JSF programme has reported a 50% cost increase and an at least 18-month delay during the first seven years of development.

Davis acknowledges the F-35’s record, but refuses to back down in his criticism of Boeing.

Marine Corps Joint Strike Fighter F-35B Makes First Flight

The Marine Corps version of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) – aka the Lightning II – the F-35B , is the version of the JSF intended for vertical takeoff and landings.  According to Aviation Week,

Lockheed Martin has flown the first short-take-off-and- vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, in conventional-take-off (CTOL) mode, clearing the way for funding to be released for production of the first six U.S. Marine Corps aircraft.

The 44-minute flight of aircraft BF-1, the first production-representive F-35, from Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas, plant also marked the start of a five-year, 5,000-plus test program involving three variants of the Joint Strike Fighter: the CTOL F-35A, STOVL F-35B and aircraft carrier-capable F-35C.

yojoe (in STOVL mode) out

Video: Test Of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

This video is of the Marine Corps’s version of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35B.

yojoe out

Marine Corps: Demonstration of F-35B Joint Strike Fighter

On 18DEC07, Lockheed Martin gave a demonstration of the F-35B, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), to the U.S. Marine Corps. The F-35B uses short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) to allow it to launch from either a short runway or to launch vertically. The F-35B will replace the AV-8B Harrier. Lockheed Martin is scheduled to make its first delivery of F-35Bs to the Marine Corps in 2012. That is if Lockheed does not experience further redesigns, as it was forced to do three years ago.

The F-35B is one of the three variants of the JSF: