Tuoppi Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 I know i'm late... but anyway. Joint Strike Fighter has a STOVL developement version (Short TakeOff and Vertical Landing), also known as X-35/X-32. Officially still in developement/concept phase, but wouldn't be the first time military doesn't give off details. It is basically a multipurpose interceptor very much capable of supersonic flight. And fly-by wire is very common in modern fighters, Gripen, modernized F/A 18 or similars are impossible to fly without computers. The pilot just sends a humble request to onboard computer of what he would like the aircraft to do, and computer manipulates the controls to achieve desired effect. Manual control would have way too slow reactions in such unstable craft, and control would be totally lost within seconds. Even airline transports have those systems (for weight saving and effectiveness, they are still stable and can be flown without). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snakeman Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 (edited) I don't know if the Osprey is still being pushed by US Forces or not (last I'd seen of the story was a couple of years ago. C-SPAN was running hearings on whether to continue the program or not given the accidents and budget overruns - the generals seemed confident at the time that they could overcome their technical problems). Anyway, I thought it might make a nice near futuristic craft that sort of came just before any VTOL craft/transports you could get and you began the game with. I guess I just like the design so much despite its development problems in the real world. Edit: Decided to take a search and found some sites on it. Seems as though its gone forward. One of the first sites I caught on Google... http://pma275.navair.navy.mil/ Some pics here... http://pma275.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=future. and here... http://pma275.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=gallery. Some data they have on it... http://pma275.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=aircraft. A very funky looking craft. Almost makes you wonder if we aren't already in cahoots with aliens in coming up with this stuff Edited August 16, 2005 by Snakeman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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