A community portal about Fighter aircraft with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to...
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A community portal about Fighter aircraft with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. Fighters are comparatively small, fast, and maneuverable. They were developed in response to the fledgling use of aircraft and dirigibles in World War I for reconnaissance and ground attack roles. These early fighters were mostly wooden biplanes with light machine guns. As aerial warfare became increasingly important, so did control of the airspace. By World War II, fighters were predominantly metal monoplanes with wing-mounted cannon. Following the war, turbojets replaced piston engines as the means of propulsion, and missiles augmented or replaced guns. For historical purposes, jet fighters are classified by generation. The generation terminology was initiated by Russian defense parlance in referring to the F-35 Lightning II as a "fifth generation" plane. Years are not exact and intended as a guideline. Modern jet fighters are predominantly powered by one or two turbofan engines, armed primarily with missiles, with a cannon as backup armament, and equipped with a radar as the primary method of target acquisition.
Brazil has set a deadline for French manufacturer Dassault to finalize its bid for a multi-billion-dollar fighter jet contract, also increasing pressure on competing offers by Swedish and US firms. Dassault has until September 21 to "formalize before the Brazilian Air Force a commercial proposition for the Rafale fighter jet consistent with the parameters set by French President Nicolas Sarkozy," the Defense Ministry said in a statement late Friday. Lula has already indicated that Dassault... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday $560 million to continue work on an alternate F-35 engine being built by General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc, defying a White House veto threat. The legislation passed by a vote of 281 to 146, despite the Obama administration's attempts to shut the second engine program down. The bill also would fully fund the Pentagon's $6 billion request to buy 30 F-35 fighters, built by the Lockheed Martin Corp. The... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co <GE.N> and Britain's Rolls Royce Group PLC <RR.L> said on Wednesday they have halted tests on an alternate engine for the F-35 fighter jet after damage was found to some turbine blades, and no timetable was given for the tests to resume. Tests in Cincinnati last weekend revealed "dings and nicks" on the turbine blades but no damage to the compressor or the fan. The engine was running normally at the time of the shutdown, GE and Rolls said in a joint... Read Full Story
F-35 Lightning II
F-35 ‘Deeply Concerns’ US Senators On Cost And Schedule — Flight Global
Two US senators – Carl Levin and John McCain – have expressed deep concern about the Lockheed Martin F-35 programme’s “growing costs and apparent delays”, as the Department of Defense works to restore confidence in the development project.
The joint statement by the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee, came after a closed hearing about results from... Read Full Story
US defence group Lockheed Martin has won a contract worth $841.9m (£528.2m) to supply Morocco with 24 F-16 fighter aircraft and support equipment. The contract builds on a smaller deal struck by the two partners last year. Lockheed beat France's Dassault Aviation, which makes the Rafaele jet fighter, to the contract. Read more Read Full Story
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Wednesday that Brazil will continue to negotiate with the three companies competing to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets. Brazil's selection of a fighter jet has "not yet finished," Jobim said Wednesday, after France's Rafale had earlier been seen as the winner. "The selection process of the FX-2 project (to acquire 36 fighters), led by the Air Force, which is not yet over, will continue with negotiations with the three participants; they will be... Read Full Story
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq is negotiating the return of 19 fighter jets that Saddam Hussein's regime sent to Serbia for servicing at the end of the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said. A delegation had gone to Serbia to start the process and to "recover the money misspent by the former Iraqi regime," the ministry said in a weekend statement. Sanctions slapped on Iraq because of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 would have made it impossible to bring the MIG-21 and... Read Full Story
Lockheed Martin X-35 Prototype Demonstrator for F-35 / Two (2) built
Photo – Tom Reynolds / USAF
F35 Joint Strike Fighter Program data is still secret
On April 21, 2009, the Wall Street Journal (USA) reported that computer spies had hacked the US DOD computer system and stolen highly classified data from the world’s most expensive weapons program – the Joint Strike Fighter Program. This Lockheed Martin fighter, the F-35 Lightning II, accesses 7.5 million lines of computer code, more... Read Full Story
ANALYSIS: JF-17 Thunder —Ikram Sehgal
One must not forget to mention all those airmen who remained associated with the project since its inception and their constant belief that such a monumental task could be achieved
Air power has a dominant role in
modern warfare. Unable to defend itself against air assaults of its adversary, the nation will be at a serious disadvantage in any conflict. Modern-day warfare has seen a paradigm shift, with unconventional warfare replacing conventional... Read Full Story
A BAE Systems led test team has welcomed the short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 Lightning II (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter) to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for flight testing. The first F-35B aircraft, designated BF-1, arrived at Patuxent River on 15 November. The Integrated Test Force team at the station will now begin a carefully planned programme of flights that will see the aircraft begin steeper and slower descents before achieving the... Read Full Story
