Friday, May 30, 2014

F-35 and hot air

For anyone who still follows the very expensive comedy of errors that is the F-35, the latest news is that the air from the big hole what all the hot air blows out on the vertical take off/land "B" model is too hot for most landing surfaces.

Apparently it requires a special military grade concrete mix, or a special 30 ton  landing pad, which effectively negates the entire point of a V/STOL flying machine (i.e. operate in places of minimal infrastructure).

4 comments:

Steve said...

Just what will it take to kill this plane from hell? I sure hope Harper does not get his play toy.

On the other hand lots of people are making money already.
http://www.businessinsider.com/sukhoi-t-50-cant-compete-with-the-f-35-2014-6 152

The Mound of Sound said...

Didn't the Harrier have the same problem?

Boris said...

MoS, I don't know about the Harrier other than it had substantially less thrust, distrubuted through four nozzles, than the massive hot-air machine inside the F-35.

Steve said...

As I understand it the Harrier is smart car sized and the F35 is an SUV.