XQ-58A Valkyrie maiden sortie with F-22 and F-35. The Raptor is the air-superiority fighter made. While both aircraft have futuristic shapes and stealth technology, they were built for two distinct roles. The X-35 first flew on 24 October 2000 and the F-35A on 15 December 2006.The F-22 Raptor Vs the F-35 Lightning II. As we have already explained , in August James Geurts, the US Navy acquisition chief, revealed that the service has started the development of its own NGAD (previously named F/A-XX).Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II development started in 1995 with the origins of the Joint Strike Fighter program and is expected to culminate in the completion of operational testing and start of full-rate production in 2021. However the new aircraft is presumed to be the USAFвЂ™s first sixth-generation tactical aircraft after the fifth-gen F-22 and F-35 fighter jets.

The F-35 was developed to replace most US fighter jets with variants of one design common to all branches of the military. The goal was to demonstrate the capability of the gatewayONE payload to. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Marine Corps F-35B, an Air Force F-22 Raptor, and F-35A Lightning II took place over the U.S.

The JSF development contract was signed on 16 November 1996, and the contract for System Development and Demonstration (SDD) was awarded by the Department of Defense (DoD) on 26 October 2001 to Lockheed Martin, whose X-35 beat the Boeing X-32. George Standridge, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, predicted in 2006 that the F-35 would be four times more effective than legacy fighters in air-to-air combat, eight times more effective in air-to-ground combat, and three times more effective in reconnaissance and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses вЂ“ while having better range and requiring less logistics support and having around the same procurement costs (if development costs are ignored) as legacy fighters. The possible obsolescence of stealth technology was also criticized.An F-35 wind tunnel testing model in the Arnold Engineering Development Center's 16-foot transonic wind tunnelThe design goals call for the F-35 to be the premier strike aircraft through 2040 and to be second only to the F-22 Raptor in air supremacy. A number of design deficiencies were alleged, such as carrying a small internal payload, inferior performance to the aircraft being replaced particularly the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the lack of safety in relying on a single engine, and flaws were noted such as vulnerability of the fuel tank to fire and the propensity for transonic roll-off (TRO or 'wing drop'). By 2017 the program was expected over its lifetime (until 2070) to cost $406.5 billion for acquisition of the jets and $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance.

The development of the F-35 is unusual for a fighter aircraft in that no two-seat trainer versions have been built for any of the variants advanced flight simulators mean that no trainer versions were deemed necessary. It came as a surprise even to the company, which had been referring to the aircraft in-house by this expected designation. The designation of the new fighter as 'F-35' is out-of-sequence with standard DoD aircraft numbering, by which it should have been 'F-24'.

Also, it was decided to increase the size of the F-35B STOVL variant's weapons bay to be common with the other two variants. The top surface of the fuselage was raised by 1 inch (25В mm) along the center line. Correspondingly, the horizontal stabilators were moved 2 inches (51В mm) rearward to retain balance and control. The forward fuselage is 5 inches (130В mm) longer to make room for avionics. Design phase Based on wind tunnel testing, Lockheed Martin slightly enlarged its X-35 design into the F-35. The T-X was intended to be used to train future F-35 pilots, but this might succumb to budget pressures in the USAF.

Many of the changes were applied to all three variants to maintain high levels of commonality. In response, Lockheed Martin added engine thrust and thinned airframe members, reduced the size of the common weapons bay and vertical stabilizers, rerouted some thrust from the roll-post outlets to the main nozzle, and redesigned the wing-mate joint, portions of the electrical system, and the portion of the aircraft immediately behind the cockpit. The F-35B STOVL variant was in danger of missing performance requirements in 2004 because it weighed too much reportedly, by 2,200В lb (1,000В kg) or 8%. Because the X-35 did not have weapons bays, their addition in the F-35 would cause design changes which would lead to later weight problems.

BAE Systems provides the Flight Control Software (FCS1), the electronic warfare systems, crew life support and escape systems, aft fuselage, empennages as well as the horizontal and vertical tails. Northrop Grumman provides active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, electro-optical AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Communications, Navigation, Identification (CNI), center fuselage, weapons bay, and arrestor gear. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime contractor and performs aircraft final assembly, overall system integration, mission system, and provides forward fuselage, wings and aircraft flight control system. Air Force, the lead service for the aircraft, officially announced the name of the F-35: Lightning II, in honor of Lockheed's World War II-era twin-propeller Lockheed P-38 Lightning for the United States Army Air Forces and the Cold War-era jet, the English Electric Lightning for the Royal Air Force.

It was the first F-35 built at full production speed, and is structurally identical to the production F-35As that were delivered starting in 2010. On 19 December 2008, Lockheed Martin rolled out the first weight-optimized F-35A, designated AF-1. For example, Handling Specialty produced the wing assembly platforms for Lockheed Martin. The F-35 program has seen a great deal of investment in automated production facilities.

The program has undergone a number of reassessments and changes since 2006. Department of Defense officials. The program's delays have come under fire from the U.S. Program cost overruns and delays 2006вЂ“2011 The F-35 program has experienced a number of cost overruns and developmental delays. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed speeding up production for the U.S.

In February 2011, the Pentagon put a price of $207.6В million on each of the 32 aircraft to be acquired in FY2012, rising to $304.16В million (a total acquisition cost of $9.7 billion for 32 aircraft) if its share of research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) spending is included. USAF budget data in 2010, along with other sources, projected the F-35 to have a flyaway cost from US$89В million to US$200В million over the planned production run. In November 2010, the GAO found that 'Managing an extensive, still-maturing global network of suppliers adds another layer of complexity to producing aircraft efficiently and on-time' and that 'due to the extensive amount of testing still to be completed, the program could be required to make alterations to its production processes, changes to its supplier base, and costly retrofits to produced and fielded aircraft, if problems are discovered'. In 2010, acquisition chief Ashton Carter issued an Acquisition Decision Memorandum restructuring the F-35 program.

F 22 And F 35