Penagon Replaces 400 F/a-18 Hornets

[sparkx 0]

Penagon replaces 400 F/A-18 Hornets with STOVL (short-takeoff/vertical-landing) jets. The new F35B is the best fighter plane yet. Containing many features like Radar, Vertical Lift and a 43,000 pound/ft thrust allows it to be compaired to larger jets. This should be good for the Airforce


Here are the specs:

Size: Length, 51 ft.; span, 35 ft.

Wieght: 55,000 lbs

Cost: around $110 million each

Max. Speed: 990 mph

Cruising Speed: 600 mph

Range: 450 nautical miles

Forward thrust: 43,000 lb.-ft

Vertical thrust: 15700 lb.-ft from main engine, 20,000 lb.-ft from lift fan, and 3700 lb.-ft from roll posts under winds.

Weapons: Two 1000 lb joint attack munition GPS-guided (global positioning guilded) Bombs and two AMRAAM (air-to-air
missiles; 25mm four-barrel gatling cannon.

Minimume take-off distance: 300 ft.

Minimume Landing Distance: 0 ft.

Thanks for reading. I only posted a small summary of the story. Read: JSF for more info.
Sparkx
Resoures:
-Popular Science Magazine Abril 2007
-JSF
My appology for any grammar and spelling errors

Edited March 10, 2007 by sparkx (see edit history)

[unimatrix 0]

Not unexpected. Some of the F/A-18 frames are 20+ years old with a lot of hours. Hours is a problem with a lot of the planes we're flying these days. Especially the A-10's which are 30+ years old and some of the F-15's in the Air force inventory. Plus the F/A-18's have to take the brutal force of carrier landings and salt water which doesn't add life to their lives either. I still don't see the F/A-22 and F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) being produced in extremely large quanities as drones are the future of arieal combat. That much is clear.