F-35 The Air to EVERYTHING Fighter | Best of Aviation Series

The F35 The Air to EVERYTHING Fighter: The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a fifth generation, single engine, single seat, multirole stealth fighter which is tasked with performing a variety of missions including strike, air superiority, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, Having been called the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft in the world, the F35 is intended to operate until 2070. Lockheed Martin is the primary contractor, along with principal partners BAE Systems and Northrup Grumman. The F35 is an international fighter, with partner nations that include, Norway, Australia, Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands. The F35 is actually a family of aircraft that is produced in three main variants: The CTOL or Conventional Takeoff and landing F-35a, the STOVL or short take off and vertical landing F-35B, and the CV/CATOBAR or Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery F-35C. Let's start by taking a look at the specifications for the F-35A:

Specifications
Length: 51.4 FT(15.7 M)
Height: 14.4 FT (4.4 M)
Wingspan: 35 FT (11 M)
Maximum speed: Mach 1.6 at altitude
700 KN (806 MPH; 1,296 KMH) at sea level

Empty weight: 29,300 LB (13,290 KG)

Max. takeoff weight: 70,000 LB (31,751 KG)

RANGE: 669 NMI (770 MI, 1,239 KM) on internal fuel
760 NMI (870 MI; 1,410 KM) interdiction mission on internal fuel, for internal air to air configuration

Thrust to weight ratio: 0.87 at gross weight (1.07 at loaded weight with 50% internal fuel)

Engine Thrust Class
Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 afterburning turbofan,
28,000 LBF (120 kN) thrust dry,
43,000 LBF (190 kN) with afterburner

***Note: For the UK F-35 order: it is A and B models not B and C. The RAF will use F-35A's and the RN will use F-35 B's. Thanks to YouTube user Lloyd Benson for pointing this out ***

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Video Time stamps:
Overview: 0:10
Specifications 1:18
Armament: 2:33
Sensors: 4:30
Development: 9:40
Competition: 11:22
Production: 13:59
Countries that operate it: 16:47
Operational history: 18:31
Future: 19:21

Credits/Attributions:

"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."

F-35 Line drawings: Milkhelevich

GAU 22/A Cannon Drawing:
General Dynamics

F-22 and F-35 Photography and Footage: Lockheed Martin

F-35B thrust diagram:

Convair Model 200 painting:

Israeli F-35I photo:

Israeli F-35I flyby photo:

Danish F35 Livery:
Illustration: Defence Command Denmark (Forsvaret)

Repuplic of Korea Concept Art: Lockheed Martin

Ace Combat F-35C Footage Courtesy of:
IRAQI FALKEN

This video is an opinion editorial commentary.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use purposes such as criticism, commentary, parody, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

All works used in this video (Images, audio etc) belong to their respective authors
(This does not include the audio commentary or BGM).

[PilotPhotog]

Quick correction: The UK is planning on F-35A's and F-35B's....NOT F-35C's. I misspoke when I was listing out the delivery types and said B and C for the UK. My apologies and thanks for understanding!

[ThetrueJester]

The cockpit for the F-35 is comfortable and ergonomic like you would not believe. It's easy to see why this jet is so high in demand

[jimmyw]

Another excellent video on one sexy and amazing fighter!
I’m certainly happy the RAAF has chosen the F-35 for the replacement of our classic Hornets. I suspect the Lightning 2 will silence a lot of the critics over the coming years. It has been a rocky start, but many of the greats endured similar turbulence.

[davidsherman]

I, recently, had the privilege to witness an airshow in central Texas, which showcased the F-35. It was a remarkable air demonstration, to say the least. And, I swear, I could actually see the aircraft gaining speed as it flew past. Just awesome.

[dr.j]

The F35 is an absolutely awesome fighter. It will form the backbone of the US and its allies air forces for more than half a century, and will help advance the indigenous programs of partner nations in their bids to develop their own 6th generation fighters. The world is lucky the US decided to export this fighter

[marvingulanes]

This plane specifcally the F-35B is the reason why a lot of smaller navies like Japan and Italy will be able to field pocket aircraft carriers

[charleshixon]

I feel like this fighter is very scary to adversaries. It’s a F-117 stealth fighter that can actually defend itself. With hundreds of fighters capable of slipping between the cracks of defense I imagine that organized defense would be very difficult. The requirement for the defenders would be to prevent strike at the origin.

[ExUSSailor]

The fighter that CAN do it all! The sensors, and, avionics in it make other fighters look simplistic. It can even be used as an ersatz AWACS aircraft, when no others are available.

[peterstratton]

Just gotta say, interested in flying since age 11, soloed at 22, now 71, I'm awed by the F-35! Weapons systems seem like sci-fi I used to read!

[calcrappie]

F-35 CAN do it all. Even AWACS duty with real time targeting solutions. That new adaptive engine coming sounds incredible. 30% increase in range and 20% increase in thrust.

[diesel_enduro]

The F35 is definitely growing on me, but hard to beat the badassness of F15&16

[pacificrider]

The amount of stuff they can cram in and on this thing and still be stealth makes it amazingly beautiful and deadly.

[joelocampo]

The F-35 is already a household name as the F-16 early in its service life and deployment. In the hands of Israeli pilots, it is destined to become a legend in its own right like the F-16 and F-15.

[cfrasier]

The F-35 has become the most powerful fighter aircraft in the world, that is fact. For this fighter to still have critics using old data is amazing to me. Listen to the pilots, the ones who life depends on the seat there in. They would fly the F-35 over any existing aircraft. Good enough for me.

[dioad]

I worked at Lockheed as a industrial electrician we built the paint and prep buildings for the F-22, they used a mock-up plane made of plywood to program the robot stand when they first brought it out we thought it was the real deal until they let us get close they did a good job on it, I thought the F-22 was beautiful but the F35 is really a bad ass imagine one F-35 controlling 20 Boeing loyal wingman F-35 has some mind boggling capabilities.

[pottierkurt]

The best thing about the it's not the X32 !

[bujoun]

Every fighter sized aircraft is expected to "do it all" .
The F-35 is the first American fighter designed to actually do it all.

[sevex]

Thank you Mr Photog for making quality YT videos about military aircraft : )

[BMF]

The B-21 Raider is alleged to be far more stealthy than the B-2, which is already one of the stealthiest aircraft flown today. The Pentagon is already preparing the design of the 6th generation fighter which will likely include elements of the B-21 technologies. The F-35 is scheduled to fly until 2070 which is another 50 years. My guess is that the 6th gen fighter will be operational well before then. There will then be a mix of 4th, 5th, and 6th gen fighters operating and likely a new stealth bomber by then as well.

I expect that the B-52 will still be flying by 2050 to 2070. The demise of the B-52 has been reported for decades, but it is such a versatile platform that it keeps getting extended. I'm 74 and my did was flying the B-52 in the 1950's.

[vMaxHeadroom]

The F-35 is fantastic 5th Gen fighter and is now showing why it is such a good platform.