Test Pilots: Stealth Jet’s Blind Spot Will Get It ‘Gunned Every Time’

[unhappycamper]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/03/f-35-blind-spot/



The $243 million dollar not-ready-for-prime-time F-35

Test Pilots: Stealth Jet’s Blind Spot Will Get It ‘Gunned Every Time’
By David Axe
03.07.13 6:00 PM

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the military’s expensive main warplane of the future, has a huge blind spot directly behind it. Pilots say that could get them shot down in close-quarters combat, where the flier with the better visibility has the killing advantage.

“Aft visibility could turn out to be a significant problem for all F-35 pilots in the future,” the Pentagon acknowledged in a report (.pdf) obtained by the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington, D.C. watchdog group.

That admission should not come as a surprise to observers of the Joint Strike Fighter program. Critics of the delayed, over-budget F-35 — which is built in three versions for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — have been trying for years to draw attention to the plane’s blind spot, only to be dismissed by the government and Lockheed Martin, the Joint Strike Fighter’s primary builder.

The damning report, dated Feb. 15, summarized the experiences of four test pilots who flew the F-35A — the relatively lightweight Air Force version — during a September-to-November trial run of the Joint Strike Fighter’s planned training program at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The report mentions a number of shortfalls of the highly complex F-35, including sensors, communications and aerial refueling gear that aren’t yet fully designed or just don’t work right.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Don't they have wing mirrors and rear view cameras like cars

and cup holders for the coffee too ...........................like cars ?

[unhappycamper]

2. Lockheed's plan was to have a super-dooper helmet

Unfortunately, it was kinda expensive ($250 grand) and did not work as advertised. (Much the same as the rest of this boondoggle.)

[dipsydoodle]

3. Lot of aircraft stuff is a scam

Forty years or so ago a rear lamp protector was found on the perimeter road at Heathrow. One aircraft engineer recognised as being off a plane whilst another recognised as being off a Ford Transit van. The aircraft lamp protector was c. £1000 and the Ford one c. £15 from the local Ford dealer. A classic wtf moment.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Yeah, but the F-35 has some cool squiggly lines around the access panels.

That has to be worth a few mil.