Sweet JSF Animation

While BF-1, the first production F-35B, has been relegated to strictly conventional flight to date, this super sweet animation from Stephen Trimble's blog does an amazing job highlighting the aircraft's future short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) capabilities. Combining the awesome footage with the cool soundtrack and this short vid clip got me all pumped up to see this JSF variant in action.

[The DEW Line]

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Lockheed flips the switch on first F-35B

Lockheed Martin announced today that they successfully completed the first power-on test of the F-35B which is the STOVL (Short TakeOff and Vertical Landing) variant of the upcoming Joint Strike Fighter. This milestone gets them even closer to a first flight scheduled sometime around early June. The test, which actually took place on April 18th, was the first time that the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine has ran while integrated to an F-35B airframe. BAE test pilot Graham Tomlinson was at the controls for the engine run that took the F135 all the way up to full military power without afterburner. Tomlinson, a Brit, will also be the first for fly the F-35B. Program officials were quite pleased with the engine run that lasted nearly one hour and included opening and closing the shaft-driven lift fan doors. Can't wait to see this baby hover.

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Northrop Grumman Touts Its N-UCAS

Northrop Grumman officials are promoting their unmanned strike aircraft being designed for the U.S. Navy as a “first-generation” unmanned combat aerial system (UCAS) with capabilities that include early missile defense intercepts.

The platform for a new strike fight design is based on the NG's X-47B, but NG is assembling an internal system that could fit into a variety of airframes. The aircraft could incorporate air-to-air refueling and advanced sensors, targeting, and weapons.

Officials are also contending that their F-35's and NG's UCAS would be a more powerful combination than Boeing's Super Hornet teamed up with the UCAS because of the F-35's ability to penetrate foreign airspaces in combination with the UCAS.

NG claims the UCAS would be capable of carrying a payload of electronic attack devices, which is important as the United States military (mainly Navy) is to begin phasing out its main electronic attack aircraft, the EA-6B Prowler, in 2012.

And, as you can see from the above picture, the aircraft will be quite stealthy, incorporating next-gen stealth technology.