23 February 2006

Asian Aerospace 2006: Fighters III


Lockheed Martin F-35. The aero-modellers' desire Yes, this is literally a model. A life-sized mockup of the real thing.

Point heatseekers here. Lockheed Martin F-16D. Note the dorsal spine at the base of the tail. Secret stuff there.

Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle. Singapore will be receiving the F-15SG which will have twin-GE engines rather than Pratt and Whitney ones.

Boeing F-18E. If the congress won't give us the A-12, we will get a larger and new aircraft. Call it the F-18E!

Next up. Steve 'I gonna have that business jet' Jobs' wet dream. That's right. Business jets.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see you enjoyed yourself greatly.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Yes, I did.

Anonymous said...

I like the look of F-35 and wonder what is the equivalent?

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Well, there was the F-32 which competed with the F-35, the eventual winner.

The F-35 is to be the replacement for the F-16s if that is what you mean by equivalent.

There is no Russian or European equivalent at present. The F-35 is a fifth generation fighter. The Russians are supposedly at generation 4.5 with the Sukhoi Berkut and generation 5 with the MiG 1-44. The Europeans are at generation four with the Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale.

The Chinese J-8 is third generation at best. And the J-10, supposed based on Israeli technology, may be generation 3.5 or possibly 4.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I must say you were really lucky to catch these beauties when the self-protrait-crazy crowds weren't around. We were there on Sunday (the 26th), but I can't recall having a way to get to see the back of the RSAF F-16D+.

Btw, I am very curious with the "..Note the dorsal spine at the base of the tail. Secret stuff there..". Whats goes in there?

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Hi Nirmalya,

The dorsal spine supposedly holds SEAD electronics like the Israeli model.

Regarding crowds, I went on the first day. I paid SGD50 for a trade pass. I figured that it was worth the price of admission alone just to avoid the numbers on the weekends. Previously, I had always managed to get trade passes from people. This year, I had to pay.

I have quite a few more rear shots. As it is, I took over 200 shots that day.