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F-35A Seen Rolling Out
This is one cool airplane
Being a private pilot, I always like to keep my eye out for new airplanes. Flight Global recently spotted the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) rolling out, getting ready to start making test flights. The plane you see is not the production model -- to save weight they eliminated the Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing equipment (STOVL). But everything else is in there, including avionics and flight systems I'd love to get my hands on.
Wiith terrorists using 10-dollar cell phones to blow people up, our strategic nuclear force doesn't really deliver the returns it once did. But fighters and other ground support aircraft?" That's a different story entirely. I would like to see the military develop a sub-orbital cargo capability. (That means being able to deliver men and material anywhere in the world within an hour)I think it's very doable and if they are not careful, the commercial sector is going to develop it and they are going to get caught with their pants down. Let's hope somebody is listening. With all of the money spent on bombers, the military really dropped the ball when they did not proceed with hypersonic technology in the 1960s. The cynic in me wonders why goal of speedy movement of men and materials was forgotten. Or if it was really forgotten. Seems to me one of the absolute basics of warfighting -- maneuver.
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