Joint Strike Fighter
The Joint Strike Fighter is an aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin company in the United States of America. The name Joint Strike Fighter came after several aircraft companies were invited for a joint strike fighter place concept and the Lockheed Martin company plane named Lockheed Martin X-35 was selected to be the winner of the plane competition. This win made the company team up with another company, Northrop Grumman and BAE systems to affect the manufacture of the plane in the most appealing way.
The plane was developed by the united states and the other eight countries. It was later named the “Lightning II” to make it familiar with two other fighter planes. This plane was a combat plane. The development ended. Counts et al. (2018) reported that in the last month of 2006, the plane commonly known as F-35 made its first successful flight. In the following years, the testing points were collected to ensure that the plane was as fit as it was needed to perform its functions. The Lightning -II was finally made to be an all-weather multirole combat aircraft with a single-engine and a single seat.
Design goals and technological requirements
During the testing, Joint Strike Fighter was discovered to have been enlarged from its former design of X-35. The fuselage was also increased by five inches to accommodate avionics. Wilson, M. (2018) reported that in the mission to realize effective balance and control the planes’ horizontal stabilators were increased by some inches and the upper surface of the fuselage also raised in focusing on the planes’ centre line. The plane needs top-notch training of its operators to ensure that it functions the way it is designed. The operators need additional training to match their technology and navigation standards. Its design and seals require a higher cost of maintenance and time than other planes in the same combat level. The aircraft structure requires as well establishment of depots in the countries they are used for maintenance purposes. High-level Security requirements are inevitable in this type of plane and its operations.
Cost, materials, technical, and environmental constraints
Manufacturing of the plane to the stage of testing needs a lot of finances. This aircraft is considered to be one of the war aircraft, which costs a lot to produce. The materials used to produce the aircraft are also very expensive to purchase and put in place. On technical grounds, Cook (2016) reported that the materials that were at one time purchased for the production of the aircraft were hacked into and the attackers downloaded several machine terabytes. They also hacked the F-35 design plus its electronic systems. This created technical problems in the production of the aircraft. The effects of these attacks are still experienced to date and being investigated by the government.
The aircraft operates in the air; however, its production is hectic to the financiers. The materials used for its manufacture is almost double the common fighter aircraft materials. Sullivan et al. (2015) reported that in the year 2010, the cost of producing Joint Strike Fighter exceeded the budget that was put for its production by almost fifty per cent. This created uproar a month the financiers while considering the cybersecurity issues too that marred its production. The environmental worthiness of this plane has always been challenged. Its impacts on the environment that it operates has remained to big question to be answered.
Trades made to achieve the selected optimum.
Several trades have been made to achieve the selected optimum for the Joint Strike Fighter. The Striker has been developed to the 5th generation, as reported by Hughes (2015). The fifth generation of the plane has improvements that help it saves a lot of money in its operation process. It is the worlds only fifth-generation aircraft fitted with advanced stealth technology, making it the highly agile and supersonic aircraft that is capable of keeping the pilot aware of unpredicted situations. The aircraft combat has undefeated lethal and survival ability while in operation. It has recently been considered as the new unbeatable multirole fighter.
Final design effectiveness evaluation, strengths, and weaknesses
The final design of the aircraft is admirable by a lot of people. It is the advanced one that has more strengths than weakness. Lemons and Carrington (2018) reported that the latest Joint Strike Fighter has five sensors which provide fusion with object detection plus measurements in a radio frequency and infrared spectrums. It is fitted Link 16 datalink and a multifunctional Advanced Data Link. These are designs found in the fifth-generation aircraft only. It can ensure that the pilot is updated with information. The fighter can as well capture the display clutter problems. The only weakness with the plane is the unidentified environmental effects.
Lessons learned applicable to today.
Having focused and researched more on this Fighter aircraft, it is evident that no aircraft can resist modification. This plane was produced at first in a very expensive budget but has soon been made to incorporate a lot and reduce its operating costs. I have learned that innovations are made every day, and most importantly, the fighter industry needs more innovative personnel for perfection. The cost constraints ca as well be reduceable with a time of improvement