Italian F-35 facility rolls out its first STOVL stealth fighter Italy has assembled the first F-35B outside the US, at the same factory where British jets will eventually be overhauled. The final assembly and check out (FACO) factory in Cameri, about 99km (60 miles) northeast of Turin, delivered its first F-35B on Friday (5 May), according to a Lockheed Martin statement. Although the …
Really cold and snowy
Well back in the early 80s we had quite a bit of snow and trouble with some trains.
Snow compacted into traction motors dropping a loco to three of them, but it still managed OK on its trailing bogie. Got over 25mph anyway (40km/h).
Next train was OK. I got to my destination.
Not sure if same year or previous or next same trip a loco took full advantage. Must have been at least 10% up on power due to the cold, went like shit off a shovel!
I wasn't sure if I should impugn the Italians reputation for producing products that require a lot of maintenance, or their lightning fast ability to switch sides in times of war. The option to point out that they are one of the weakest of NATO's members remains on the table as well. Good luck with all that.
>For example a VW made in Germany might be sorta OK but the ones made in Mexico can go all out Carrie on you.
they will do as they are built to different standards, the Mexican built one will most likely have far less crash resistance and no doubt no rust proofing either.
"I wasn't sure if I should impugn the Italians reputation for producing products that require a lot of maintenance, or their lightning fast ability to switch sides in times of war."
I am reminded of once visiting a show with an Italian colleague and looking at a large Moto Guzzi V-twin on a stand. "You know," said my colleague, "we may not win many battles but we make amazingly fast getaway vehicles."
have them made in France..... every time the germans look in their direction , they surrender ... ho ho ho and while we're on racial sterotypes....
Get them made in Britain and they'll go off for tea at 4pm before adopting a suspiciously upper class accent on the voice control software....
And gawd knows what the australian ones would be like.....
I'm not clear why anyone is surprised that the FACO is in Italy. It's a simple matter of sending the Italians a spiff to keep their domestic aerospace business (Leonardo) from competing with the F-35. There is a small handful of companies in Europe that offer modern combat aircraft, notably Dassault in France and Saab in Sweden, plus the Airbus conglomerate (the former Aerospatiale, CASA, Dornier and MTU) and . Without a comfortable workshare deal, Lockheed faced Finmeccanica / Leonardo joining forces with one of those, just as they had for the Eurofighter.
If that had happened, not only might Lockheed have lost the 60-odd aircraft sale to Italy, but there was a risk that other smaller F-35 customers (particularly Netherlands, Norway, Denmark) might have gone with a European alternate.
It's also worth remembering that, jokes aside, Italy is the location of one of NATO's busiest bases, at Aviano, which (possibly not coincidentally) is the home of the USAF's 31st Fighter Wing, and the general staging base for any US aircraft flying over places south of Europe...
"If that had happened, not only might Lockheed have lost the 60-odd aircraft sale to Italy, but there was a risk that other smaller F-35 customers (particularly Netherlands, Norway, Denmark) might have gone with a European alternate."
Or "Welcome to the wonderful world of Brexit, brought to you by knee-jerk prejudice, ignorance and inability to think further than the end of one's nose."
Just thinking about this, do we need the engines?
I am sure we could fund a British jet engine manufacturer to produce one, or even a European consortium.
It is not like we do not know what to do.
Just remember the most hours supersonic belong to a British France collaberation.
"I am sure we could fund a British jet engine manufacturer to produce one, or even a European consortium."
We used to have an all-weather combat proven VSTOL fighter that was perfect for carrier ops. Out government threw it away, remember? Now we get some bag of nails that carts around a "Lift System" that for most of the time is dead weight. But at least the lift system is British made. Hoorah! Let's wave a bulldog, drink some beer and drape ourselves in a flag.
The Harrier was always a highlight at St Louis when it appeared for the 4th of July fair and hovered over the Mississippi by the Arch. Never flew through the arch, so you have to admire their restraint - but someone else did. And someone, tragically, parachuted on to the top of the Arch, and then was blown to the side and down one of the legs. Apparently his plan was to do a second jump from the top of the Arch to the ground. Reports were he had an accomplice videotaping the feat who took off when things went pear shaped.
Rolls offered a full engine package, but LM went with the single supplier (USA based of course)
Their engine was smaller cheaper and more powerful, it also mated with the lift gear better.
I still think if they took Pegasus back to the drawing board, they could, without much effort improve it to power the Kestrel (a Harrier that can manage Mach 1 and still do VSTOL) that would be a third the price and three times as effective and infinatley more flexable than the F-35 (FFS the USMC are still flying harriers)
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