Years behind schedule and not without some controversy America's fifth-generation fighter jet represents the future of stealth aircrafts
This is the Four most interesting things we could learn about the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning to the brand-new super jet
Number 4 : F-35 helmets allow pilots to see through the plane visibility has always been a challenge in fighter, jets previous generations of planes have sometimes had multiple screens showing real-time imagery from four different directions but the custom-fitted $400,000.00 f-35 helmet shows real-time imagery from infrared cameras all around the plane in a seamless augmented reality display effectively allowing the pilots to see right through their own plane the display also shows them targeting information and interfaces with the communication system congratulations military you're one step closer to being Iron Man cage heads-up display check for no preferences from home interface will do so
Number 3 : the f-35 is the most versatile fighter jet ever built,
in 2001 the prototype of the F-35 the X35 was named as the victor of the Joint Strike Fighter competition which was created to find a replacement to multiple aircraft including the f-16 fighter the low altitude ground support A-10 and vertical take-off enabled Harrier jets, it's designed to perform bombing missions support ground troops and perform well in dogfights in theory the F-35 versatility should change the rules of modern combat but critics like defense analyst Pierre sprey are skeptical of this jack-of-all-trades concept spray argues that the technical requirements of each role are so inherently different that trying to design one plane to meet them all will only result in an expensive mediocre flying lemon, those critics might be right but unfortunately as civilians we don't have ax to the full range of test flight results so we won't know for some time
Number 2 : the F-35 lightning II is expensive,
sprays at least right about that part you know a plane is gonna break the bank when even the Helmet cost $400,000.00 but for the craft itself for the actual f-35 the price depends on the desired model the conventional F-35 for airforce purposes will cost 98M$ that's called the F-35 A the B version is capable of short takeoff and vertical landing and goes for a 104M$ finally the carrier-based F-35 is valued at one 116M$ a little more due to something called lift system which allows for vertical takeoffs this is a huge plus when being deployed from a carrier vessel compare these prices to the F-16 which these Jets are designed to replace according to Time magazine the Pentagon stop buying F-16s in 1995 and paid an average of only 17M$ each
Number 1 : the F-35 program is global,
Number 1 : the F-35 program is global,
well I guess one result of all that spending is that a lot of people get paid, the planes official website claims that it creates or supports jobs for nearly a 150.000 people in 45 different states and Puerto Rico in fact 9 international partners initially banded together for heightened global security the United States, Canada, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Italy which is home to one of the two final assembly and checkup facilities beyond US borders the other is located in Japan rather than seeing this international multi-state involvement as a positive thing some critics of the project say that spreading of the workload is just Lockheed Martin's way of making sure that it will never get cancelled
