Looks small. Can we get the measurements from the picture?I know of one satellite photo from January 2022 that likely shows either Boeing's or LM's TD:
View attachment 154003
Looks small. Can we get the measurements from the picture?I know of one satellite photo from January 2022 that likely shows either Boeing's or LM's TD:
View attachment 154003
Thanks mateI know of one satellite photo from January 2022 that likely shows either Boeing's or LM's TD:
View attachment 154003
It's probably comparable (in relative scale, albeit not in absolute size) to the presumed J-36 TD that was seen on a satellite picture published in July 2021:Looks small. Can we get the measurements from the picture?
On the American TD? It doesn't appear to have canards.Where canards?
I can see the USAF trying to rush the F-47 but with all the software complexity and with how many features they're trying to cram into the plane, I doubt it will be very fast. A first flight of 2030 is probably optimistic, and who knows when it will get to IOC. And cutting corners like Lockheed Martin did with the F-35 is going to just deliver a mess that will take years for the USAF to iron out. I do expect that the USAF will put the F-47 into service long before its software is fully complete though. If the F-35 is any indication, the software will take decades to get to that point, and the USAF simply can't wait that long.There is still a desire within USAF and a chance that the engineering and development process will go faster this time around. That's what USAF was focusing on for the last decade or so.
First flight before end of Trump s term was announced as a plan. It may or may not happen but it's possible. That would be very start of 2029.
Furthermore, maybe this time original development time lines for f35 might happen. For example, back in 2006 usmc f35 was planned to reach ioc in 2012, with USAF version in 2013. Those were as we know 3 years late.it
But if they are not late this time around and if first flight is indeed at the start of 2029 then sometime in 2036 is possible for the ioc.
Sure, there are many reasons why that Might not happen but keep in mind US dod views China as the biggest threat since basically early cold war. It may be inclined to do whatever it takes to expedite the f-47. Including throwing piles of money at it, cutting development corners, lowering ioc requirements and accepting a more risky development, even including crashes and accidents if it means getting the plane in service a few years earlier. For USAF, it may be a matter of life and death.
It's even possible that the F-47's design isn't finalized yet. There's no reason to assume that any of what we've seen of it, from artwork to the tech demonstrators, looks anything like the real thing. The only safe assumptions seem to be that it will be a tailess design and feature a two-engine configuration.On the American TD? It doesn't appear to have canards.
There's many possible explanations for this, namely:
1. The satellite picture captured LM's TD, not Boeing's;
2. The satellite picture did capture Boeing's TD, but canards were only added to the final F-47 design;
3. The known F-47 artwork isn't representative of the real thing, which won't, in fact, have canards.
Until the F-47 prototype is seen, we won't be able to tell which explanation is valid.