American fighter aircraft Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II USMC COBI 5912 - Armed Forces 1:48

Did you know:

• At the start of the F-35^® development the aim was to replace several types of aging single-role aircraft such as the A-10 Thunderbolt, F-16, AV-8B, F/A-18 Hornet and to produce a single multirole platform for the USAF and NATO with stealth technology.
• The first work on the JSF program began as early as 1996, when two teams from Boeing and Lockheed were competing. Boeing's X-32A prototype was completed earlier and its first test flight on 18 September 2000 had to be cut short due to an oil leak.
• After iterative modifications both competing prototypes became very similar, but Lockheed Martin ultimately won with better handling and a larger suite of advanced sensors.
• It took another six years to prepare the production line and supporting technologies, and finally in February 2006 the first production aircraft was completed under strict secrecy.
• Thus was created probably the best combat aircraft in the world, intended to be a backbone platform for the next 50 years.
• A new Pratt & Whitney engine was also developed for the F-35, which with afterburner produces over 190 kN of thrust and is arguably the most powerful engine ever built for a fighter aircraft.
• The aircraft is equipped with cutting-edge technologies such as an AESA radar that can track 23 targets within 9 seconds, and Gen 2 and 3 helmets that provide complete situational awareness around the aircraft in all directions. Detailed information about many other technologies is not publicly available because they are subject to strict secrecy.
• The United States Air Force plans to purchase 2,443 aircraft and at a price of USD 237,700,000 per unit this represents a truly astronomical sum.
• Operating the aircraft is also expensive, with one flight hour costing about 868,800 CZK. Would you like to take a flight?

Technical specifications:

• wingspan 10.7 m, length 15.6 m, height 4.36 m
• weight 14,700 kg (empty)
• maximum takeoff weight 27,300 kg 
• powerplant 1× twin-spool Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan with 165 kN thrust
• maximum speed Mach 1.6 (1,930 km/h)
• service ceiling 18,288 m
• rate of climb (classified value)
• range 1,090 km
• armament 4-barrel rotary cannon GAU-22/A 25 mm and 6 hardpoints for air-to-air, air-to-surface missiles and smart bombs with a total payload up to 6,800 kg.
• crew 1

 F-35 pilot Tony "Brick" Wilson: 

"It is one of the most flyable and intuitive aircraft on this planet. The interactive GEN helmet is something we used to go to the cinema to watch when they showed Star Wars, and today it's our reality. The capabilities of this machine are such that it's like an opponent having to box in the ring against an invisible Muhammad Ali."