Ask your questions about the F-35

Funny, these were my questions too.

Frank C

in 2022, where is the F-35 in terms of planned capability? The early F-35s were less effective/capable than intended, largely due to immature software. Is the F-35 still a few years away from reaching it's original planned capabilities? Obviously there will be additional capabilities built into it over the airframe's lifetime, but would help to understand where it is on that curve today.

What are the parameters where the F-35 offers the biggest advances over the F-22? We know there are capabilities the F-22 has that weren't felt important to the F-35 design (supermaneuverability, supercruise, smallest possible RCS), where did the F-35 choose to excel? For example, "sensor fusion" - what is different about what the F-35 is doing vs the F-22 (which already blends together multiple data inputs from RWR, radar, AWACS)?

There's a long tradition of naval aircraft having dual engines for safety over blue water (F-4, F-14, F-18, A-6). Yes, there were single engined naval aircraft (F-8, A-4, A-7) but that always made naval aviators nervous. Is the F-35 significantly more reliable than earlier aircraft? If so, what makes it so? Or how else is the F-35 helping meet naval safety goals on a single engine design?

I heard that there is no safety wire needed on the hardware for the f35. Did you design it with getting rid of safety wire in mind or is that the new normal?

Brock Gouett

I have noticed that the process of development and introduction to service for new aircraft like 5th gen fighters (wither American, Russian, or European) is far longer and more difficult than the previous 4th gen fighters. With planned dates being routinely overshot. What are the biggest contributing causes to such growing development timelines?

Nicholas Mew

What are the important lessons to be taken away regarding the development process of the Joint Strike Fighter?

Nicholas Mew

It has taken me a long time to warm up to a single engine fighter. I've had to recall successful single engine fighters, A-4, A-7, F-8, F-16, AV-8. With that, I've accepted the single engine fighter once again. All (except F-16) were carrier based. So, I can't complain in terms of lack of coverage from the sea. @Dan (above) has a good question, a single airframe into 3 different implementations. One would think it would lend to cost savings, but these are terribly expensive. $35,000 per flight hour. The all glass cockpit is where aviation is and what aviators train for and expect. It just seem complicated for an old timer to accept.

Frank C

How big is involvement of maintenance technicians during the design phase? Or do they consult lots of technicians to see what works and what doesn't?

Panzerfan

What would they do differently "next time"?

Minion

1. What do they think about getting dunked on by the Super Hornets in Top Gun: Maverick? 2. Why did they go for a forward hinge for the canopy when all real fighters have a hinge at the back? maybe not the most serious questions.

In retrospect was it still a good idea to try for 3 airplane concepts in one air frame? How does the planes radar cross section compare to F22 Raptor? How is the plane being received by the other countries adopting it? What has been the biggest challenge incorporating stealth into their war gaming and plans? Is there a role in which the air plane excels? With the changes in missile and air defense/radar technology (iron dome) has the stealth advantage been lost?

Dan

1) What part of the development process would surprise someone not part of the development team? (that you can publicly talk about) 2) From your perspective is the F-35 program tax payer dollars well spent? Thx 👍

Nick Bayer

You might ask if the simulation work they did at NASA's VMS simulation setup in California was worthwhile? I'm curious to see what they might have to say about it these years later...

Dave D