March 23, 2010
F-35 Sticks the (Vertical) Landing
Lockheed Martin’s F-35B Lightning II fighter hit another mark in its test program on March 18: the first vertical landing. Pilot Graham Tomlinson gently descended from a height of 150 feet after hovering for a minute above the runway at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. Watch for yourself in this Lockheed video:
Should I really be impressed, considering it has taken them 10 years and billions of our tax dollars to get this far? I’m sure this toy will cost at least twice as much as their original projections, just like the F22, and as a result we won’t be able to buy as many and our security will suffer.
Comment by Chuck G — March 23, 2010 @ 10:16 pm