US Air Force Tests $391 Billion F-35A Jet's Cannons, On the Ground

[unhappycamper]

http://sputniknews.com/us/20150725/1025049700.html



The US Air Force was forced to continue tests of the F-35A fighter jet's 25 milimmeter gun on the ground, as the craft is not yet ready to fly.

US Air Force Tests $391 Billion F-35A Jet's Cannons, On the Ground
21:34 25.07.2015 (updated 01:03 26.07.2015)

Not ready to fly just yet, the US Air Force was forced to test its F-35A Lightning II fighter jet's 25 millimeter guns on the ground in a new release by the US military.

The $391 billion dollar project, plagued by over three years of delays, is considered too unsafe to fly by US military's oversight body, and had to conduct the test on the ground. The test's goals included testing the gun door and operating mechanism, as the F-35A's gun is located inside the flight envelope designed to be invisible to radar, unlike the cannon in modification designed for the Navy and Marine Corps.

The gun has also been tested in the air using the Lockheed Martin AF-2, the testing airframe for the craft meant for testing the F-35's flight dynamics.

Once the project is complete, each jet is expected to cost roughly $98 million, not including the engine, with full-scale production is expected to begin in 2018.

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What the article does NOT tell you:

1. The F-35 can carry 220 25mm rounds in an EXTERNAL pod.
2. The software to fire the gun will NOT be ready until at least 2017.

[gordianot]

1. Look it up even if everything worked the F-35 is an inferior aircraft

The worst military boondoggle since the F-111.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. The Aardvark ?

The FB-111 was a waste - that is true - but it was a way better airframe than this POS and cost the US less than 2% of what this will.