Interesting tidbit. Craig Hoyle over at the Dew Line reported today on the production rate of the Rafale. If his numbers are correct (and I believe they are) then the F-35 has achieved a production rate almost 3 times higher (if not more) than the vaunted Rafale program. The only thing left for the critics to do is to state outloud..."we were so wrong!"
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| Lockheed Martin test pilot Al Norman flew F-35B BF-15 (US Navy Bureau Number 168312) on its inaugural flight on 26 July 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas. The aircraft will be assigned to VMFAT-501 at Eglin AFB, Florida. |
LM may be producing 3 times faster, but they are all MISTAKE JETS!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd beat the naysayers to the punch. :)
Here are a few things from a Farnborough F-35 Presentation Q&A with some pilots:
1. Ship trials included a few VL --> takeoff --> go around --> VL.
2. Hehe... first question from China News Agency was... Do you have a comment o the J-20? I kid you not.
3. Blk 2A more stable than 1B which was more stable than 1A.
4. SRVL and Ski Jump takeoffs this year. SRVL let's them recover about 2-3k lb more and approach 35kts faster. Ski Jump allows for larger loads and saves 150ft of deck run.
Lots more after the jump and yes, the audio is really screwed up (lost 3 minutes by the end of the hour long vid).
http://vimeo.com/46435390
Solomon,you forgot to say one little thing...not only the F-35 beats the prodution of the Rafale but it also crashes less than the «superior» eurocanard...The french have allready crashed 4 or five of those things...one of witch in a mock dog fight with a US Navy Super Hornet in the Mediterranean Sea...
ReplyDeleteNumo. i didn't even know that happened. time to do some research...
ReplyDeleteYou can find in wikipedia in the Rafale article...the last crash (vs the superbug)was 2/3 months ago,and i saw it in the DEW line ...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=483 you can read it here...On July 2nd 2012 off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean, during air combat training with an F18 fighter from aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, the pilot of a Rafale fighter belonging to "Flotille 12F" operating from French nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle had to eject.
ReplyDeleteHe was recovered by a U.S. Navy helicopter and was transferred aboard the French aircraft carrier where he received first care by the medical team.
An investigation was opened to determine the circumstances and causes of this accident.
Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and her escort left Toulon on May 30, for a training deployment in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, which ends July 5, 2012.
It's true that F-35 is being delivered at a faster rate than Rafale, but that's only because of available budget and orders. If Rafale had been maintained at full rate production, it's order run would have been completed by now, leaving an empty production line, prior to filling the Indian MRCA orders. Something not good. So Dassault and FaF reduced the delivery rate to stretch out the production.
ReplyDeleteMuch the same thing as Boeing does with the F-15 and Super Hornet lines, until new orders are placed...
Regards,
AD