![]() ![]() The radar cross-section is one of the world’s smallest even in a clean loadout, not to mention when the others start loading weapons on their wings which further increases the radar cross section of them compared to the F-35. The F-35 is not mainly built for high speeds, it is built as an attack aircraft (as well), like the A-10 Thunderbolt II and therefore needs low speeds to be able to shoot at the enemy on the ground for longer times before passing it. Radar cross section (without any external load) (in m^2): Below is a table that shows some other important figures. How does it compare to other fighters?īut there are many other factors that determine the skill and usefulness of a fighter. This was the original idea of the F-35 produce many, giving it a lower unit cost. The price per unit will be reduced when all the planned fighters have been built – currently 2400 to the US and a couple of hundreds more to foreign buyers. So the price is currently very high, but we must remember that the cost is (partially) this high because the engineers basically developed three different aircraft in the project. For instance, the Eurofighter Typhoon costs about $110 million dollars per unit, with a much lower maintenance cost ($18 000 per hour). The unit cost is currently about $150 million (for the VTOL version) and a maintenance cost of about $31 000 per flight hour is extremely expensive compared to the very capable 4.5 generation fighters out there. The one thing that usually downrates the F-35 the most is its huge price tag. The super complex engine of the F-35B, one of the main reasons why the project got so expensive Sprey is a former aircraft designer and defense analyst, he uses – among other things – the small-wing argument to explain that “the F-35 is a lemon”. One of the most aggressive critics is named Pierre Sprey. ![]() The shape of the body, rather than the wings (which it didn’t have) gave it the lift to fly, which makes the small wing area of the F-35 a number that does not really matter (but big wings can still improve the lift). It had its first flight in 1969 and was basically only a fuselage with an engine. But what they seem to underestimate is that actually, the body of the fighter increases the lift a lot, which was tested with the Martin Marietta (now a part of Lockheed Martin) X-24A. The critics say that small wings give the F-35 bad lift because the wing area is crucial for an aircraft to achieve a good lift. What many critics complain about with the F-35 is that it has too small wings (in order to be stored compactly on an aircraft carrier), which gives the aircraft little lift. Without enough lift, the airplane will simply fall to the ground, or it can use extra engine power to keep it flying, however, this decreases both the fuel efficiency and the range of the aircraft. One of the main features of an airplane is obviously lift. It required thousands of engineers and a huge budget to be built.Ī Canadian documentary about the F-35 buying process: To design that new engine and fit it into an already super advanced aircraft was a tricky task. But the problems started to pile up when they started to work on the engine for the F-35B which is supposed to be able to take off and land vertically, to be used on aircraft carriers. The idea behind that strategy was economies of scale – if they produce many of the same things it would be kind of like a mass production, which would massively lower the unit cost. That idea was to use a single airframe for the F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C, which will all be used in different parts of the US military – among others the Marines and the Navy. But it was also built with a special idea in mind. It features the generation five characteristics such as top modern weapons, stealth, and super advanced avionics. The F-35 was an entirely new idea of building an airplane. First of all, we will explain what the idea of the F-35 really is and why it has gotten so tremendously expensive. ![]()
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