F-35 Makes Headway Amid Criticism, US Budget Crunch -- Reuters
(Reuters) - The 16-ton fighter jet slowed to a stop off the warship's port beam, where it hovered like a floating rock as thousands of pounds of thrust from its engine and lift fan stirred up a cloud of mist from the Atlantic Ocean 100 feet below.
After a brief hesitation, the sleek, new gray airplane - a Marine Corps version of the radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - slipped quickly sideways over the amphibious assault ship and then dropped to the flight deck with a gentle bump.
"It's just an incredible feeling to have that kind of precision control over that kind of power," Lieutenant Colonel Matt Kelly, a test pilot, said after watching a fellow flier land the jet during recent sea trials of the warplane. "It's a pilot's airplane to fly. It does what the pilot wants it to do."
After a brief hesitation, the sleek, new gray airplane - a Marine Corps version of the radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - slipped quickly sideways over the amphibious assault ship and then dropped to the flight deck with a gentle bump.
"It's just an incredible feeling to have that kind of precision control over that kind of power," Lieutenant Colonel Matt Kelly, a test pilot, said after watching a fellow flier land the jet during recent sea trials of the warplane. "It's a pilot's airplane to fly. It does what the pilot wants it to do."
"It's just an incredible feeling to have that kind of precision control over that kind of power," Lieutenant Colonel Matt Kelly, a test pilot, said after watching a fellow flier land the jet during recent sea trials of the warplane. "It's a pilot's airplane to fly. It does what the pilot wants it to do."
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My Comment: The Chairman of the joint Chiefs says that the F-35 program is not going to be cut .... but at a budget that in the end will total $1 trillion .... in an era of restraint I think Congress will have other ideas.
Read more ....
My Comment: The Chairman of the joint Chiefs says that the F-35 program is not going to be cut .... but at a budget that in the end will total $1 trillion .... in an era of restraint I think Congress will have other ideas.