With a price tag of just over $100 million, the F-35B from Lockheed Martin is equipped with the most powerful engine of any jet in the world, as well as the most advanced sensor suite of any fighter jet in history. The Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina, is the sole location for the training required to fly this unique plane. This training is focused on teaching pilots how to perform short-distance takeoffs and how to land the plane vertically like a helicopter. Pilots also learn to master technology and utilize gear unique to the jet. In March, Insider was granted exclusive access to the Air Station, where we observed these pilots in training.
VIDEO HERE (10 minutes)
*****
A helmet worth $400,000.....
And yet, in a head to head dog fight, it still can't beat an F-16. No matter how badly they handicapped it - G limits, payload disparities, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnother over priced boondoggle that can't out perform old tech. Somebody is getting rich though.
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
Nor can it beat the F-22, its predecessor and probably not the Russian and/or Chinese reverse engineered or stolen technology equivalents of the F-22.
DeleteNemo
An F-4 could beat an F-16. Been there, done it.
DeleteMatt
Yeah, but when will we see the first transgender F-35B pilot?
ReplyDelete[rocketride]
DeleteA few milliseconds after the front lift fan starts shedding blades.
"How Fighter Pilots Train To Fly The Marine Corps’ F-35B"
ReplyDeleteStep 1. Update Netflix subscription for all the down time.
Step 2. Make sure SGLI is up to date for when it is finally time to fly.
Other than this video, I don't believe I've ever heard anything good about that aircraft.
DeleteStep 3. Intensively rehearse ejection procedures for when it gets shot out of the sky by previous generations of Russian and Chinese fighters.
DeleteIf anyone at the DoD and CIA had any brains, they would be sending multiple copies of the blueprints for this flying pig to both those countries, in hopes they'd emulate it.
It's times like these I wish I could post photos here. I saw one the other day that said in 2021, the F-22 was as far removed from the 1981 F-14 Tomcat as the Tomcat was removed from the 1941 F4F Wildcat.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, the F-16 can scoot; I like to think of it as a Super A-4 Skyhawk.
[rocketride]
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the first thing they learn is how to 'punch out'.
Come on guys, give credit to the graft and corruption this plane represents....I mean, 'Murica, ya' know?....
ReplyDelete"A helmet worth $400,000....."
ReplyDeleteThose helmets may be costing us taxpayers $400,00, but I do not think it is possible to ever convince me that a helmet is WORTH $400,000....just sayin'.
Tim in AK
If I recall, and I probably do; the F 14 was the only fighter aircraft ever to carry AIM54 Phoenix, a true stand off missile, and the radar to control it - or, six of 'em. F14 vs any of this new shit...? Goose gets radar lock at about 20 miles, and fox 3... the F-new fighter is blown to shit before he sees another fighter in the merge...
ReplyDeleteSure. "Advanced". If these assboles ever develop an aircraft that straight up 1v1 can defeat a well flown "teen series" fighter, let me know. I'll be over here focusing on what Kenny has left us with...
And don't tell me that F22 can defeat F16 or F15, until you've flown both. Fucking video games anyway...
F-22 has already smoked the F-15 in real life simulated combat. Badly. Eagle pilots never knew they were dead.
DeleteThe Phoenix was a "maybe would work" back in its day. Even way back then it was considered a very low-probability weapon. Now, and against something with an extremely low radar signature? Nah.
The mic knows its a boondoggle.
ReplyDeleteI poured the floors in the some of the hangers in the mid 70's. I'm sure the pads I worked on are long gone. IT WAS a blast watching those pilots take off straight up back then with the planes that they back then. BET it is crazy fun to watch'em now.
ReplyDeleteStarker here,
ReplyDelete20 years ago I worked with a "Retired" Marine who was a MGySgt or MSgt A&P Mech.
He told me how much easier it was to service and turnaround the FA-18 vs the F-14. Pieces were the same left and right, I believe it had just 3 or 5 fasteners. Actuators were the same. The guys wrenching loved them. The pilots had a hard time with the "Hand Off Stick" launches at first. They added a handle like Jeeps have.
http://www.check-six.com/lib/Drinks/JeremiahWeed.htm
ReplyDeleteInteresting story about my late Uncle. Clyde "Joe Bob" Phillips. He was a legend. I miss him very much.
Colesdad