Farewell Tomcat, Hello JSF!

Alright, so the US Navy is marking this week as the end of line for the F-14 Tomcat. The Tomcat has been showing its age, becoming more expensive to maintain, and slowly being replaced by F/A-18 Super Hornets. As sad as it is to finally see the Tomcat go, the F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter) will be excellent in conjunction with the F/A-18's. Stealthy, super fast, and capable of supporting multiple roles, the JSF will be used by the USAF, US Navy, and USMC. It replaces the F-16, A-10, and AV-8 Harrier jumpjet. That's right, it is STOVL aircraft! Not only that, but there's talks of the USAF and USMC variants to have directed-energy weapons, including solid-state lasers in the future and microwave beams. F-ing badass!

This week the Pratt & Whitney F-135 completed its first series of engine runs.. Congrats Pratt! The F-135, a derivative of the F-119 engine powering the F-22A Raptor delivers 40,000 lbs of thrust, more than any other military jet fighter engine. It was awesome to be a part of such a great company..

Posted by Marcin on Saturday, September 23, 2006 in Defense and News.