Lockheed YF-12

National Museum of USAF Lockheed YF-12

The Lockheed YF-12 was an American prototype interceptor aircraft, which the United States Air Force evaluated as a development of the CIA's highly-secret A-12 OXCART that also spawned the now-famous SR-71 Blackbird.

Design and development

The United States Air Force (USAF) YF-12 program was a development of the Lockheed A-12 OXCART spy plane designed for the CIA and first flown 26 April 1962, the first YF-12A flew on 7 August 1963. The existence of the aircraft was not officially revealed until 29 February 1964. Lockheed was able to interest the Air Force in the project after the United States Air Force had been forced to cancel the XF-108 Rapier, a Mach 3-capable interceptor intended to replace the F-106 Delta Dart in service. It was pointed out that an aircraft based on the A-12 would provide a less costly alternative to the XF-108, since much of the design and development work on the YF-12 had already been done and paid for. In 1960, the USAF agreed to take the 11th through 13th slots on the A-12 production line and have them completed in the YF-12A interceptor configuration.

The main changes involved modifying the aircraft's nose to accommodate the Hughes AN/ASG-18 fire-control radar originally developed for the XF-108, and the addition of a second cockpit for a crewmember to operate the fire control radar. The nose modifications changed the aircraft's aerodynamics enough to require ventral fins to be mounted under the fuselage and engine nacelles to maintain stability. Finally, bays previously used to house the A-12's reconnaissance equipment were converted to carry four Hughes AIM-47A (GAR-9) missiles.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Span: 55 ft. 7 in.
Length: 101 ft.
Height: 18 ft. 6 in.
Weight: 127,000 lbs. loaded
Armament: Three Hughes AIM-47A missiles
Engines: Two Pratt & Whitney J58s of 32,000 lbs. thrust each with afterburner
Crew: Two

PERFORMANCE:
Maximum speed: Mach 3+
Range: 2,000+ miles
Service ceiling: Above 80,000 ft.

F-35 Lightning II

The F-35 Lightning II takes off for its first flight at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base on 15 December 2006.

jsf.mil

The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multi-role aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat. The F-35 is descended from the X-35 of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Its development is being principally funded by the United States with the United Kingdom and other partner governments providing additional funding. It is being designed and built by an aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems as major partners. Demonstrator aircraft flew in 2000; a production model first took flight on 15 December 2006. The United States Air Force plans to acquire 1,763 aircraft.




Unit cost

F-35A: US$48 million
F-35B: US$62 million
F-35C: US$63 million

General characteristics

* Crew: 1
* Length: 50 ft 6 in (15.37 m)
* Wingspan: 35 ft 0 in (10.65 m)
* Height: 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)
* Wing area: 459.6 ft² (42.7 m²)
* Empty weight: 26,000 lb (12,000 kg)
* Loaded weight: 44,400 lb (20,100 kg)
* Max takeoff weight: 60,000 lb (27,200 kg)
* Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofan
o Dry thrust: 25,000 lbf[63] (111 kN)
o Thrust with afterburner: >40,000 lbf[63] (178 kN)
* Secondary Powerplant: 1× General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 afterburning turbofan, >40,000 lbf (178 kN) [in development]
* Lift fan (STOVL): 1× Rolls-Royce Lift System driven from either F135 or F136 power plant, 18,000 lbf (80 kN)

Performance

* Maximum speed: Mach 1.6+[63] (1,200 mph, 1,931 km/h)
* Range: A: 1,200 nmi; B: 900 nm; C: 1400 nm[63] (A: 2,200 km; B: 1,667 km; C: 2,593 km) on internal fuel
* Combat radius: 600 nmi (690 mi, 1,110 km)
* Rate of climb: classified (not publicly available)
* Wing loading: 91.4 lb/ft² (446 kg/m²)
* Thrust/weight:
o With full fuel: A: 0.89; B: 0.92; C: 0.81[63]
o With 50% fuel: A: 1.12; B: 1.10; C: 1.01[63]

G-Limits

* F-35A: +9G
* F-35B: +7G
* F-35C: +7.5G