As promised, Lockheed Martin pulled off the first vertical landing of the F35B today. LockMart’s test pilot hovered for a minute at 150 feet and then “rode 41,000 pounds of thrust” provided by the Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan and dropped like a feather to the tarmac. The company said the F-35B featured in today’s video is one of three F-35B STOVL aircraft undergoing flight trials at Patuxent River. The press release claims that the F135 is the most powerful engine ever flown in a fighter aircraft.
Dr. Paul Bevilaqua is the aerodynamicist who designed the F-35B shaft-driven lift fan years ago at Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin's advanced technology program. His invention changed short-take off and vertical-landing (STVOL) planes forever, making the Lightning II the first supersonic aircraft with this capability. To honor him, Lockheed Martin has released this new video, in which Dr. Bevilaqua explains how the project went from "napkin to production."
Watching him explain it, the genius of Dr. Bevilaqua's F-35B Shaft Driven Lift Fan is obvious. After all, the invention is quite simple. According to Bevilaqua, the best way to create power from the engine is by using a turbine. That power then gets moved forward using a shaft that connects to a fan, providing the vertical lift on the front of the plane—and all while the turbine exhaust is redirected to the ground to lift the back of the plane.
Britain is not only getting a whole lotta lot of F-35B STOVL fighters, but two new 60,000-ton state-of-the-art aircraft carriers.The carriers—which will cost $5.9 billion, a lot less than the $14 billion that the US spends on their super-carriers—will host 36 F-35s and two EH-101 Merlin multi-purpose helicopters each.
Constructed in modules all across Britain, which will be later assembled in a very complicated process in a central shipyard—will be almost fully automated, requiring only a 1,500 crew. Here is the fact sheet:
• The surface of the16,000sqm flight deck is covered in a grainy,heat-resistant paint,similar to very coarse sandpaper. The entire painted surface amounts to 370 acres - slightly bigger than Hyde Park.
• Two huge lifts, each with a 70-ton capacity, are capable of transporting two aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck in 60 seconds.
• The ground-breaking twin-island layout allows more deck space for aircraft and better visibility of the flight deck. The forward island is for navigating the ship; flight control is based in the aft island.
• The ship's 29,000 sq m hangar is 150 metres in length and has 20 slots for aircraft maintenance.
• There are 11 full-time medical staff on board managing an eight-bed medical suite, operating theatre and dental surgery.
• Onboard water treatment plant produces over 500 tons of fresh water daily.
• Two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines and four diesel generator sets produce 109MW.
• Cabins are spacious and cruise-liner style, with en-suite toilets and shower facilities. Officers and senior ratings have single or two-berth cabins. The maximum number of crew in a cabin is six.
• The carrier will carry more than 8,600 tons of fuel, enough for the average family car to travel to the Moon and back 12 times. This gives a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles.
• Top speed will be in excess of 25 knots, sufficient to cross from Dover to Calais in an hour.
• The two five-blade propellers are each 30ft in diameter - that's one-and-a-half times the height of a double-decker bus.
Sources: [Gizmodo - History] [Gizmodo - Air Craft Carriers] [Defense Tech]
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