Dave
Honorary Master
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I write more specifically about my experiences with the F-35 when it does end up in a dogfight. Again, I use the F-16 as my reference. As an F-35-user I still have a lot to learn, but I am left with several impressions. For now my conclusion is that this is an airplane that allows me to be more forward and aggressive than I could ever be in an F-16.
Now the F-35C needs new wings to be able to carry the AIM-9X on its wings -
http://www.realcleardefense.com/2017/02/20/f-35c_needs_new_outer_wings_to_carry_aim-9x_290542.html
It also needs two engines to make sense as a carrier borne aircraft.
Harrier only has one engine...
Harrier only has one engine...
You mean had. No-one operates it anymore because it was a extremely inefficient platform that guzzled immense amounts of fuel.
Did I say amphibious assault ship? And it is also one of the reasons the Harrier is considered the most dangerous military aircraft to fly. Single engined aircraft over the open ocean is a bad idea.
Umm...US, Spain, Italy & India (until just last year) and of course the British used for 40 odd years.
Semantics, the British operated them off carriers for 40 something years and the Spanish and Italians still do. Just because the Americans call them Amphibious Assault ships doesn't make the fact they are launched off a ship in the ocean any different.
You guys really think the US Navy is stupid enough to go with something they would know from the beginning would be a problem?
Name the last operational aircraft in the US navy that had one engine and then ask why the defacto standard for carrier aircraft is twin engined?
I know exactly why its the de facto standard. But then, why do you think so many other Navy's (and the USMC) use single engine aircraft?
And you haven't answered my question, why do you think you know more than the US Navy?
France's Super Étendard got replaced by a twin engined Rafael. Britain has no more operational carriers. Brazil just scrapped theirs. Russia uses their carrier as an aircraft transport ship. China uses a twin engined aircraft.
I have no idea what the US Navy selection criteria was but that the aircraft also had to satisfy the USMC and USAF. The decision to use a single engined navy aircraft will however kill pilots. Just note the US Navy specified two engines for their stealth aircraft concept A-12.
France's Super Étendard got replaced by a twin engined Rafael. Britain has no more operational carriers. Brazil just scrapped theirs. Russia uses their carrier as an aircraft transport ship. China uses a twin engined aircraft.
I have no idea what the US Navy selection criteria was but that the aircraft also had to satisfy the USMC and USAF. The decision to use a single engined navy aircraft will however kill pilots. Just note the US Navy specified two engines for their stealth aircraft concept A-12.
Needed in the old days, because reliability was an issue so needed over oceans. Just like 4 engines for commercial airliners over sea. But if you can get a more reliable and powerful engine, the advantages of single engine are significant: lighter weight hence more weapons and fuel, better range, easier and cheaper maintenance, etc.It also needs two engines to make sense as a carrier borne aircraft.
Many of the fast jets that were embarked on the Russia aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov have been flown to the main Russian air base in Syria, Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery obtained by IHS Jane's shows.
Two of its 15 aircraft crashed while trying to land on the carrier. In both cases, the pilots ejected and survived. The remaining planes operated for a time from the Russian air base at Latakia, on land in western Syria, rather than from the carrier.
Needed in the old days, because reliability was an issue so needed over oceans. Just like 4 engines for commercial airliners over sea. But if you can get a more reliable and powerful engine, the advantages of single engine are significant: lighter weight hence more weapons and fuel, better range, easier and cheaper maintenance, etc.
The F-35 moves beyond last-century thinking.
A very considerable portion of the F-35 dev cost is in that spectacular F135 engine. There's nothing like it anywhere on the planet. The best Russian engine has half the thrust, and the revved Saturn 117 has had embarrassing failures. The new Izdeliye 30 designed for the PAK, currently scheduled for 2020, has yet to fly.
Proper arguments? Russia transferred most of their carrier aircraft to the Syrian airbase after loosing two during carrier operations, that is 13% of its air wing. They flew most of their operational sorties from a tar runway. The carrier and its air wing is currently back in Russia for retrofit and with no timeline when its going to be "operational" again
Source
Source
You mentioned that Russia had a functioning carrier which is something the Russian media tells the world. The first aircraft to crash ran out of fuel while they were repairing a broken cable on the carrier deck if I recall correctly hence dual engine failure.
Single engined carrier fighters are cheaper to buy and fly (definitely not the F-35C) but they won't survive a flame out during catapult launch as in the following two examples F18 and
F14.