ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: The Navy dragged its feet for years after committing to buy the F-35C for carrier operations. They worried it would be too expensive to maintain. They worried the tailhook problems would persist. They worried it was too heavy. Let’s face it: the Navy leadership was just worried. After all, they…
By Colin ClarkAdvances in radar are key to countering the modern drone warfare and missile threat
Drones, high-speed cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles attacking together from 360° creates complexity only certain radars can handle.
WASHINGTON: Hard as it may be to believe in light of the F-35’s history, the carrier version of the plane completed its first shipboard developmental tests three days early. Now the program did build several days into the F-35C’s test schedule to embrace delays caused by weather or other unexpected problems, but the fact is…
By Colin Clark
Naval Air Station Fallon trains the naval air wing for aircraft carriers; Rear Adm. Mike Manazir, director of Navy Air Warfare, works to improve its capabilities. Manazir is a battle-hardened carrier admiral. By chance our interview with the admiral occurred shortly after the successful initial tests of the F-35C aboard the USS Nimitz. He focused on the…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake
SAN DIEGO: Yesterday, the F-35C made its first catapult takeoffs from the USS Nimitz. The video and photo have just been made available. No word on whether election shenanigans were involved… Make sure you go to the YouTube video settings and increase the resolution to 1080 for that high-def experience! Enjoy the photos — fine work…
By Colin Clark
