On Aug 10, 6:56*pm, wrote:
On Aug 11, 7:01*am, Jeb in Richmond wrote:

The STOVL F-35 is not going to be capable of true vertical takeoff
with any kind of payload

I pair of AMRAAMs is all it needs to be a threat and I believe it can
actually carry an additonal pair of smaller AAMs in the interior
weapons bays.

They were having a hard enough time with getting the empty weight
where it needed to be to achieve hover. It's not as bad as X-32 was,
but still. If you're planning on flying air-to-air with two missiles
and a partial fuel load, then maybe it's acceptable, but there's a
reason they're not calling this a VTOL airframe.

I wonder how a short takeoff run will look in the F-35? Will they even
swivel the exhaust or just rely on the lift fan to augment the wing
lift?