F-35B supersonic jet's first mid-air hover (video)
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 18th 2010 9:41AM
posted March 18th 2010 9:41AM
VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) is no great shakes in a wargadget these days -- and a craft like the F-35B, with its short-take off and vertical-landing capabilities might be even less shocking -- but jets that stop whatever they're doing mid-air to just hover awhile? That's another story entirely. The $83 million-plus, supersonic stealth jet did just that yesterday, according to Lockheed Martin. The flight began with a conventional takeoff and the aircraft hit about 200 knots before the pilot switched her into STOVL, culminating in a zero airspeed hover 150 feet above the runway. This is the first "mid-air hover" by the aircraft, and if development continues at the pace most of these programs do it should see active service sometime around Engadget's 25th birthday. Video after the break.
amaziong
F-35B killstreak!
@oringal
I saw this on the X-Planes documentary when it was still a concept. What's really cool is how the plane gets ready for vertical takeoff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIsIzjVi7j4
Looks like something out a Sci-Fi movie...
@One Love
*takes out Javelin*
@oringal - Agreed!
Love aircrafts, especially jets. Some of the sickest stuff came out of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. I wouldn’t doubt that they are responsible for some of those “UFOs” that get spotted once in a while (i.e. experimental aircraft). I’m waiting for the day when they finally fess up to the existence of the Aurora (that ram jet, supersonic folding, high flying, edge of earth, atmosphere skipping, SR-71 black bird replacing, Uber Spy Plane). But come on lets put some things into perspective. Republican type would argue that we can’t afford universal Health Care, but but $90Million to $1Billion per pop (that’s each) aircraft? , that we can afford no problem. Those twisted fuxs can go scratch!!
Oh, have you ever seen Pugachev's Cobra performed? Google, Wiki or better yet, YouTube it. It is something to behold! I bet this plane would be SICK AT THAT! Sayin...
@Xtole
Unless they have launchers. It's a sitting duck.
@Frankenstein Black - I have no problem seeing my tax dollars go towards the development of next-gen military jets - this one included.
I also have no problem with universal health care, I'd be fine having my tax dollars go towards that. (Either or, or both, don't care.)
@oringal
Amazing, yes!
However, I believe that the X-35 program (that the F-35B descends from) had already demonstrated STOVL capablilities.
@oringal Truly, but it's a bitch on your MPG rating.
@oringal
How does this capability differ from that of older VTOL planes?
I'm not trolling; I genuinely dont know what I'm talking about, so it'd be great if someone could give me a brief explanation.
@oringal Seriously, you translate the first acronym, why can't you translate ALL the acronyms? WTF is STOVL??
@oringal
short take off, vertical landing
@Kid Red
That's what puzzled me...my 3 minutes of research suggested that STOVL was less useful than VTOL, so I was wondering people were describing this as 'amazing'.
@jgpuff
Harriers can't fly at supersonic speeds.
I don't think it was the 35B, but I'm pretty sure I've seen the F-35 hover landing years ago...
@PlatinumSkeet
That one is actually the prototype from the competition back in 2001.
The current STOVL doesn't take off vertically, it lands vertically.
STOVL: Short Take-off, Vertical Landing.
@jgpuff
VTOL means it can take off vertically
STOVL has a short "conventional" take-off and a vertical landing.
Both can hover, so they're the same in that sense.
The distinction here is tat the F-35B is a production aircraft, wiht all requirements and constraints associated with such an aircraft, whereas the VTOL X-35 was a prototype.
@Kid Red
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=stvol
@oringal Although the Harrier can't go supersonic, Yak141 sure can, and the F35B has exactly the same power plant configuration as the Yak, the difference is that F35B is stealthy and close to combat ready.
@hmmwv
As far as I know, the f-35 can do vertical take off. It can't do vertical take off with a heavy mission package. Thus, it also has a STOVL capability.
@hmmwv combat ready?
Dude they haven't even finished 10% of the flight test?
combat ready? go tell Robert Gates that
Thats awesome, but I still keep expecting it to tranform into a giant robot :(.
@maty once again, starscream fails megatron
@maty
Veritech or nothing bruz
@Cy Starkman
Macross or nothing bruz
@JustinVincible Starscream is an f-22, similar looking, but very different design.
@harjon456 Yep. You beat me to it. The easiest way to tell the difference is look at the rear. The F-22 has dual burners vs. just 1 on the F-35.
I would love to see it hovering like that, then just blast off from 0-9,000 in under 2 secs. = )
@dcaudillo
yeah, but imagine the cost for the pilots adamantium skeleton ! Thats just not economical anymore :)
@dcaudillo Thanks to it's new Toyota ECU it can speed up that fast, but only when it wants too.
@flanders - And that throttle lever is really optional anymore. Just hope the jet goes quick when you need it to, and slows down for landing at the appropriate times as well.
Photoshopped!
@Z Your post is photoshopped!
Yeah, that thing is pretty sweet. I thought I saw this hovering system already working on a prototype like 5years ago. hmm
@Z
So, are you just downrank-baiting?
You know if they'd cancel half the orders for these they could pay for the education of everyone trying to go to college right now. Kinda silly when you consider that we don't even need this tech anymore when we got drones.
@PhoenixGSU Don't worry you already got your wish. Around this time last year DefSec Gates announced his intention of making this the last generation of manned fighters. That basically means that he intends to start the push for fielding unmanned fighters within 10-12 years.
@PhoenixGSU - While I'm a big supporter of drones myself, I still believe we need manned fighters for at least a while longer. But as the comment above says, we're going towards and all drone fighting force soon.
@PhoenixGSU
Glad they don't. This is the stuff Gov should be worrying about: defense. & should get out of personal/private sector issues, like health care, education & business. Just because the USSR is 'gone' dose not mean the arms race is over. China is coming on-line fast & they aren't exactly boy scouts & there are still threats around the world. Besides, unlike other Gov programs, the military creates real world jobs with the production of things like jets. & then the tech funnels into other areas creating even more opportunity for job & wealth creation.
@jahcriado China is active largely because the US is active. It's all just a race to collapse. Afterall, look at Russia. Learn from the mistakes of others. We can get out now or we can try to out crazy 1.3 billion Chinese.
@PhoenixGSU drones? what a joke.
Yeah I do agree they can help a lot. but hey, face the reality, we do not have a bandwidth to control that much of UAV's. there's a one second delay for the predators ground control to the predators. and that is not gonna change. Can you fight a dog fight with a one second lag? one second late you will just see another tax payer crap falling from the sky
So it can do something the Harrier Jump Jet has been able to do for 35 years big deal
@bex753 The Harrier could not hover in the same place for an extended period of time like the F-35 is projected to do. The Harrier's exhaust would point down, pushing really really really hot air downwards, and hot air rises...so the air would go straight back into the Harrier, causing serious overheating problems.
@bex753
The Harrier, wonderful Argentinian butt kicker that it is, can't go supersonic.
@Tman21901
The F35 also hovers with it's main engine pointing down and where is your evidence for this hot air rising overheating the Harrier bull!
At least the Harrier kicks ass (see True Lies) unlike the F35 which can be taken out by an old bald guy (see Die Hard 4).
@fais +1 for that impeccably researched / hilarious argument :)
@bex753
The Harrier wasn't stealth either.
@bex753
except this is owned by the the us not the uk so yeah it is a big deal
@SchultzMD
Both the US and the UK have Harriers and both will have the F35 as well.
@fais
The jet exhaust is supposedly blocked from the intakes from the fan pushing air down in the center of the plane. This was a spec from the air force that jet exhaust couldn't enter the air intakes. The fan pulls air down from the top of the plane where there is no exhaust.