While the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
is still in development, Airmen are getting a “sneak
peek” at the future of air superiority thanks to a unique
simulator. The Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter, or JSF, pilot interface simulator is demonstrating
the fighter’s capabilities to some pilots here.
“It is very close (to the real thing). The system that we
are showing right now has already been tested on different
platforms,” said Clyde Bellinger, Joint Strike Fighter pilot
interface representative for Lockheed Martin. “It’s
going to have fantastic capabilities. What we are showing, as far
as the demonstrator is concerned, should be very close to
what’s going to be on the actual aircraft.”
The new fighter is expected to deliver unmatched advantages to
U.S. and coalition forces.
The Air Force expects to purchase 1,763 F-35s to complement the
F-22A Raptor and replace the F-16 Fighting Falcon as an
air-to-ground strike aircraft. The fighter has a large internal
weapons bay and gun. It also has an improved internal fuel
capability, infrared sensors and a laser designator. It also
carries larger payloads for greater distances and it is capable of
better thrust and 9-G maneuvering.
The F-35’s design includes specific advances and
combinations of leading-edge technologies never before incorporated
in a single aircraft, which the simulator demonstrates to the
pilots. For example, pilots can select interchangeable windows on
the flat panel cockpit display to provide unprecedented pilot
tactical situation awareness.
“The JSF has a much more advanced cockpit display,”
said Maj. Don Borchelt, chief of the air-to-air section at Pacific
Air Force Headquarters. “It’s got one integrated
display that puts all your tactical situational information right
there in one place for the pilot to read and digest quickly."
All these advances are designed for one purpose -- improving the
pilot’s capabilities.
“The main thing the JSF does is decrease the pilot's
workload. It presents all the information into one easily
digestible format that the pilot can know exactly what is going on
without having to do a lot of switch actuations,” Major
Borchelt said.
And while the joint fighter of tomorrow is still in production,
today’s pilots now have a chance to experience the Air
Force’s future transformation into a more agile, streamlined
and lethal force thanks to an F-35 simulator.
“It is obviously a new airplane,” Major Borchelt
said. The major is one of the pilots who flew the simulator
here.
“It brings together a bunch of things that weren’t
available previously. All these things are going to make a fighter
more survivable -- all of that is good.” [ANN Thanks Tech.
Sgt. Shane A Cuomo, AFPN]