"John Keeney" wrote in message ...
"Guy Alcala" wrote in message
. ..
John Keeney wrote:

"puttster" wrote in message
om...
"John Carrier" wrote in message
...
Now if you want to argue that the F-35B is an aircraft designed as
a
Carrier
Aircraft, I know some Marines that would like to chat with you.
The B
will
be replacing AV-8B's and land based F-18's. Sure, it can land on
a
carrier
but it is not being built to trap aboard CV/N's using arresting
gear
or
Cat
launches.

True in a sense, but as a VSTOL and STOVL design, it's fully carrier
suitable w/o the need for catapult gear (I suspect it does have a
tailhook).
I'd also be much surprised if its CNI suite didn't include ACLS and
SPN-41
in their latest incarnations.

R / John


With an excellent V/STOL capability in the F-35B, why does the Navy
still demand those giant carriers? Seems like something can be done
there to make the whole system more efficient. Why design a plane
(the F-35C) to fit their ships?

Because the F-35C flies farther with a bigger load than the F-35B.

As always, the question is how much do you need that extra range, and
should the
navy a/c do that mission when it is needed? Kind of depends how you
define the

I want to see the carriers able to hit Afganistan from the Indian Ocean
and a few other places that might be a tad less accessible. Call it the
"anywhere in the second country in from the beach" rule.

Here is the math fails. If the Marine F-35B's have a range of 450
miles and the Navy's F-35C's have a range of 700 miles, how are the
marines going to set up at points inaccessible by the Navy? Besides,
how will they get resupplied?