Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

jeffb said:
helmutkohl said:
^ reminds me of the metallic coating/skins that were common in 50s era aircraft.. aside from the geometric shapes
Click to expand...
The tiles are interesting. A lot of them around the nose almost look like stickers, something applied to the skin of the plane.
Most of them appear to be the same size too.
Click to expand...
Do the tiles reduce signature, or increase it?
I believe F-35 sometimes make their presence apparent, to hide their real capabilities.
 
I'll tell you one thing: they aren't hand applied with that level of perfection. Its probably a sprayed on coating with masking.
 
perttime said:
jeffb said:
helmutkohl said:
^ reminds me of the metallic coating/skins that were common in 50s era aircraft.. aside from the geometric shapes
Click to expand...
The tiles are interesting. A lot of them around the nose almost look like stickers, something applied to the skin of the plane.
Most of them appear to be the same size too.
Click to expand...
Do the tiles reduce signature, or increase it?
I believe F-35 sometimes make their presence apparent, to hide their real capabilities.
Click to expand...
They reduce it. They’re testing how to apply it, how durable it is, etc
 
quellish said:
perttime said:
jeffb said:
helmutkohl said:
^ reminds me of the metallic coating/skins that were common in 50s era aircraft.. aside from the geometric shapes
Click to expand...
The tiles are interesting. A lot of them around the nose almost look like stickers, something applied to the skin of the plane.
Most of them appear to be the same size too.
Click to expand...
Do the tiles reduce signature, or increase it?
I believe F-35 sometimes make their presence apparent, to hide their real capabilities.
Click to expand...
They reduce it. They’re testing how to apply it, how durable it is, etc
Click to expand...
Looking at how reflective the new coating is, they probably testing the new low emissivity coating
81557F10-69DD-4533-9540-DF181389453A.jpeg
 
jeffb said:
Maybe. I was wondering if they might just be a way of protecting the underlying radar absorbing coating.
Click to expand...

This is my personal theory too. Radar absorbing paint is in principle simple, but has the problem that it needs to be soft, which is bad when it's applied to the forward surfaces of a supersonic aircraft. The successive generations of RAM is not about making them more radar-absorbent, it's about making them more durable. If someone has figured out a surface coating that's tought enough to handle supersonic winds, and transparent to radar, it would make stealth a lot easier.

If it also reflects IR well, which a metallic looking finish probably also does, well, that's a nice bonus.
 
It's probably IR signature alteration. It might be that we should look at this as those bricks BAe demonstrated years ago on their ground vehicles.

The shiny silver finish is what brings the digital camo analogical (each bricks alter the IR signature of a specific spot and the lining just uniformizes the pattern).

Anyhow, I am surprised no one as yet brought the similarities with the Jocker's favorite outfit...

this-is-the-fool-an-unnumbered-picture-card-from-a-pack-of-large-picture-id511790603
 
Last edited:
perttime said:
jeffb said:
helmutkohl said:
^ reminds me of the metallic coating/skins that were common in 50s era aircraft.. aside from the geometric shapes
Click to expand...
The tiles are interesting. A lot of them around the nose almost look like stickers, something applied to the skin of the plane.
Most of them appear to be the same size too.
Click to expand...
Do the tiles reduce signature, or increase it?
I believe F-35 sometimes make their presence apparent, to hide their real capabilities.
Click to expand...

My guess is that for RCS reduction it is better or same but vastly superior IR reduction.
 
Extracted from the link above:
Company charts said that in 2021 Air Force deployments, the F-35 achieved an 80 percent full mission capable rate. In the same year, foreign military sales operators of the jet recorded a 90 percent mission capable rate and a 65 percent full mission capable rate. “Full mission capable” means the jet can perform any of its various missions, while mission capable means it is ready to perform at least some of them, as opposed to being down for maintenance. In the most recent Red Flag exercise, out of 250 planned F-35 sorties, none were lost due to maintenance issues, the company reported.
“More than 90 percent of our parts are performing better than expected,” Aylward said.
For operating cost comparisons, Aylward also said the services should assess the reliability of fifth-generation aircraft—the F-22 and F-35—in an “apples to apples” way with fourth-generation airplanes. Whereas fourth-generation aircraft typically are assessed for operating cost without external podded capabilities such as electronic warfare, electro-optical systems, mission planning, and targeting, those features are built into fifth-generation aircraft. Assessing fourth-generation types with all those needed externals included would give a fairer comparison and one that would show that the F-35 is a solid performer, he said.
Click to expand...
 
GTX said:
More images of Ex Pitch Black 22, including of the RAAF and USMC F-35s, may be found here.
Click to expand...
I just noted there was some RAF Typhoon involved in the exercise, also. But why didn't they flew from England together with German's ones?! Were they already stationed in the region before?
 
TomcatViP said:
GTX said:
More images of Ex Pitch Black 22, including of the RAAF and USMC F-35s, may be found here.
Click to expand...
I just noted there was some RAF Typhoon involved in the exercise, also. But why didn't they flew from England together with German's ones?! Were they already stationed in the region before?
Click to expand...
No idea but I did find these:

www.airforce-technology.com

RAF’s Typhoons and Voyager participate in Pitch Black 22 for first time

The UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Typhoons and a Voyager tanker aircraft are participating in the multinational exercise Pitch Black 2022 for the first time.
www.airforce-technology.com www.airforce-technology.com

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

British jets in massive Australian combat exercise

Britain has tested its ability to "deploy air power at speed to any part of the world".
ukdefencejournal.org.uk ukdefencejournal.org.uk
 
GTX said:
TomcatViP said:
GTX said:
More images of Ex Pitch Black 22, including of the RAAF and USMC F-35s, may be found here.
Click to expand...
I just noted there was some RAF Typhoon involved in the exercise, also. But why didn't they flew from England together with German's ones?! Were they already stationed in the region before?
Click to expand...
No idea but I did find these:

www.airforce-technology.com

RAF’s Typhoons and Voyager participate in Pitch Black 22 for first time

The UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Typhoons and a Voyager tanker aircraft are participating in the multinational exercise Pitch Black 2022 for the first time.
www.airforce-technology.com www.airforce-technology.com

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

British jets in massive Australian combat exercise

Britain has tested its ability to "deploy air power at speed to any part of the world".
ukdefencejournal.org.uk ukdefencejournal.org.uk
Click to expand...
Meant for another topic? (Uk F-35s not part of the deployment, unless I’m mistaken F-35s not even mentioned?)
 

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