Three years ago Lockheed Martin’s F-35 might not have even made the list. Its development was behind schedule, over budget, and plagued with technical problems to the point where the New York Times called it “dysfunctional.” However, since then the F-35 has been climbing to the top of the fighter jet pyramid.
The F-22 Raptor is also a serious contender for the top spot. By the latest reports, the F-35 has a maximum speed of only Mach 1.61 or about 1,235 mph, while the F-22 can reach Mach 2.25. The F-35 is also reported to be slightly less maneuverable than the two-engine F-22.
So, what breaks the tie between the F-35 and the F-22 Warrior asked the pilots?
“If I have to go to war, I'm going to be in an F-35,” Chris “Worm” Spinelli, F-35 Test Pilot, Lockheed Martin told Warrior.His colleagues agree. The deciding factor for them, and the reason the F-35 is the most technically advanced jet in the world today, is Situational Awareness (SA).
“The biggest, game-changing difference that I've seen…is the F-35’s fusion and integration of all of the different sensors from the aircraft,” Spinelli told Warrior. “It brings together a holistic picture that's quite amazing.”
To generate this picture each F-35 is equipped with a Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), and Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) avionics. Unliked passive array radar, AESA radar simultaneously produces multiple waves of different frequencies. These waves are directed electronically rather than by physically moving an antenna and are both transmitted and received by computer-controlled modules. These characteristics mean that AESA radar activity generates situational data more efficiently while also being harder to detect.
Allsalt Maritime is a design, manufacturing, and R&D firm specializing in marine shock mitigation technology whose mission is to create products that give our customers more days on the water.
Cameras and Vision Systems for Anything that Drives or Flies!
Kappa has over 40 years of experience with application-specific cameras and vision systems in rugged and certifiable design – in small and mid-sized series.
+90 3D Digital Factory has the largest 3D printing capacity in the Middle East with more than 10 large format industrial printers with different technologies and materials.
NTG5000 uses two wave ranges of infrared and visible light. it can be switched quickly with one key. It has the ability of detecting in all complex environment.
The Inertial Labs team of skilled engineers provides expertise to help users select and configure from the models available: MRU-B1, MRU-B1.1, MRU-B2, MRU-E, MRU-P and MRU-PD (with subsea models available).
Log in with Google