a-12 never made it past a few mockups. F-35b and c versions fly over my house all the time.I hear the A-12's IOC is any day now too. (smiles)
Must not be talking about the CIA version, "Habu"a-12 never made it past a few mockups. F-35b and c versions fly over my house all the time.
Wrong A-12. Think Flying Dorito.Must not be talking about the CIA version, "Habu"
will the f-35 ever get built?
Good question.
While I'm not a "high ranking USMC official", here's the skinny on the first Marine Corps F-35B squadron... the first F-35B squadron is standing up this October in Yuma, AZ. Previous USMC AVPLANs had -332 standing back up from cadre status but that doesn't make sense in a bad economy and a military drawdown so HQMC decided to transition VMFA(AW)-121, with -332 staying in cadre. All aircrew and maintenance personnel in -121 are getting "purged" to allow for the handpicked dudes to come in and take over. Even the incoming CO of -121 is getting re-slated for another CO gig to allow for the "handpicked" F-35B CO to take over. The squadron will drop the (AW) and become VMFA-121. Rumor has it that an F-35B painted in -121 colors will be flown out to Yuma for the CoC. The "handpicked" aircrew are suppose to start a CAT II in Eglin next spring/summer. I don't know when the squadron will become IOC though.First Operational squadron standing up to transition fairly soon (early CY13??), according to a high ranking USMC official.
So the Goshawk and the Harrier have had RELATIVELY few problems with OBOGS. Perhaps because the platforms are employed at slightly lower altitudes most of the time? I can see the pure high altitude look down fighters having OBOGS problems simply because there's so much less O2 in the ambient air.
I wonder if much credence has been given to pulse-ox monitors for aircrew. I imagine there's probably a relatively cheap, comfortable ear attachable apparatus out there. It would take the insidious nature out of the OBOGS issue. The big problem with unrecognized hypoxia would be eliminated. Some would say "just fix the OBOGS, stupid" but if it were that easy we would just engineer everything to not fail and we could save a lot of weight and money in ejection seats and survival training.
If I am not mistaken, the -22 that crashed out in AK gave a fail/warning to the pilot. I get that they are saying the issue was pilot error and not the plane but still, seems like if they had made the survival systems better (little tiny pin to pull the emergency air that would be like a racoon trap) at least ergonomically in this case they guy would have survived. I'm sure if there was a fail safe on the bottle that auto started the on board system as well as a warning, there would be no qualms about flying it? Is that a good assumption? That being said, I believe that is actually the work around here. If there is emergency stash of air on board already, make it redundant with enough O2 to be able to get down from altitude and land safely (guess that defeats the purpose of long range work over enemy territory?) and go flying until a permanent fix comes up?
While I'm not a "high ranking USMC official", here's the skinny on the first Marine Corps F-35B squadron... the first F-35B squadron is standing up this October in Yuma, AZ. Previous USMC AVPLANs had -332 standing back up from cadre status but that doesn't make sense in a bad economy and a military drawdown so HQMC decided to transition VMFA(AW)-121, with -332 staying in cadre. All aircrew and maintenance personnel in -121 are getting "purged" to allow for the handpicked dudes to come in and take over. Even the incoming CO of -121 is getting re-slated for another CO gig to allow for the "handpicked" F-35B CO to take over. The squadron will drop the (AW) and become VMFA-121. Rumor has it that an F-35B painted in -121 colors will be flown out to Yuma for the CoC. The "handpicked" aircrew are suppose to start a CAT II in Eglin next spring/summer. I don't know when the squadron will become IOC though.
For those curious when the first "Cones" are going to start selecting F-35B out of Advanced...the latest word is 2015. Also keep in mind that with -121 transitioning, we will have one less F/A-18D squadron...meaning the need for less Hornet pilots & WSO's. It's all about timing.
The F-35B, like the MV-22, is "too big to fail"...it's coming, nobody knows when, but it's coming!
As for the F-22 and it's OBOGS issue... like "LSO" said a few replies up... the Hornet has been dealing with OBOGS (and ECS) issues for over a decade.