In the late 1950s, at the dawn of the Space Age, the idea that a wingless vehicle could somehow generate lift just from its body shape was seen as beyond preposterous. But less than a decade later, this early forerunner of the Space Shuttle proved the design far more science than fiction.
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Perhaps because it was built in secret and designed to be invisible, the stealth bomber is unforgettable the moment you see it. What few remember, though, is that the iconic silhouette almost looked like this. Here’s the story of how Senior Peg came to be, why we didn’t get it, and why we might want it back.
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Guam’s strategic location just 1,500 miles South of Japan’s shores make the tiny island a very valuable piece of real estate for the US military and a very enticing target for Pyongyang’s missile program. To make sure that Kim Jong Un doesn’t get any funny ideas, Congress wants to arm Guam with our version of the Iron Dome.
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Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ Transformer TX started out as yet another design for the oft-predicted but never delivered flying car. But it’s since turned into an entirely different type of flying machine: an autonomous way for the military to airlift vehicles and cargo to dangerous areas.
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This is an awesome shot of a test F-35 zipping around California’s Edwards Air Force Base sent to us by a tipster. Can you imagine this buzzing by your window?
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No, that’s not a scene from The Right Stuff. It’s 14 pilots of the ultra-high-altitude Lockheed U-2 in full pressure suits posing like action heroes in front of their beautiful plane. Eat it, Ed Harris. More »
When a military contractor is trying to sell some wacky superweapon to the Pentagon, or when the Pentagon is trying to sell some wacky superweapon to Congress, it draws a cool action picture. But why are they so horribly terrible? More »
We spend hundreds of hours on board a variety of airplanes each year, most often en-route to a trade show or product launch event, but occasionally we have a rare opportunity to hop on board military aircraft, to test out unrelated products, or, even more unusually, to take a seat behind the yoke. Sadly that’s not what we’re doing today — well, not exactly. We are taking a closer look at the F-35 fighter jet at Lockheed Martin’s Fighter Demonstration Center just outside our nation’s capital, but, being in the middle of a corporate complex, there’s no actual Lightning II on hand. We were able to take a simulated ride, however — this isn’t your ordinary 4D sickness-inducing amusement park thrill. The F-35 is by far the most advanced Lockheed jet to date, with updated radar, all-internal weapons, improved tracking systems, 360-degree infrared coverage with a visor readout, and a full-stealth design, not to mention the incredibly capable glass cockpit powered by more than 9.3 million lines of software code, and an overall smoother experience for pilots that could end up spending shifts of 12 hours or longer in flight.
The F-35 has already seen plenty of field time in the US, with more than 500 flights already in 2012, and it’s set to make its way to the UK armed forces next week and the Netherlands later this year, but while the aircraft is quite familiar to the pilots tasked with flying it, the public hasn’t had an opportunity to experience Lockheed’s latest airborne warrior. We flew a simulated mission within a grounded duplicate of the flyable F-35 cockpit, and the capabilities and improvements are quite clear — you definitely don’t want to encounter an F-35 from a previous-generation aircraft. The dual 8 x 10-inch touch-enabled displays combine to give you 8 x 20 inches of real estate, with dedicated modules for the weapons systems, targeting, and navigation easily accessible — you can also move them to different panels depending on your current objective. A pair of joysticks at the left and right side provide direct access, letting you move a cursor to track enemy crafts or ground-based targets as well, and a very slick heads-up-display mounted in the helmet provides infrared mapping and instrument readouts. Overall, it seems to be an incredibly powerful system. Unfortunately, the mock-up on display here isn’t accessible to the public, but you can join us for a behind-the-scenes look just after the break.
Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets, Transportation
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter cockpit demonstrator hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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