07 Jul 2006
US president Bush expected to rename F-35 Joint Strike Fighter next Friday
Word is that it’s ‘Lightning II‘. Murdoc likes it.
Here’s a pic of the AA-1 development plane, which will be rolled out in a ceremony later today:
More pics at Flight Global.
Here are the three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter:
Also from Flight Global, which has a larger version. Also see their First strike: Flight International JSF special
July 7th, 2006 at 9:58 am
It’s about time, and that’s a good name. I heard rumors that it was going to be Lynx or something queer like that. Didn’t Lockheed want the F-22 to be the Lightning II also? There was a scene in one of Clancy’s books where the pilots of an F-22 squadron put Lockheed-provided lightning II patches over the raptor patch when they left for their first combat mission.
July 7th, 2006 at 10:06 am
Yeah, I think the F-22 was supposed to be the Lightning. To be honest, I don’t know what prompted the change. I noted in May’s Military Transformation Uplink at Winds of Change that Lynx and Phoenix were the front-runners at the time. Lightning is far better, IMO.
July 7th, 2006 at 10:31 am
I read the article, and yes, Lockheed wanted to name the F-22 the lightning. I always thought raptor was a weak name. There are plenty of other bird of prey names that are much better. Hell, you could have named it ‘Bird of Prey’ and made legions of trekkies cream their pants. Interesting that one of the other strong contenders is ‘Spitfire II’, and that it was suggested by the Marines. That would be odd, yet cool, to have an American fighter named the Spitfire. We need to get the Navy to get the Grumman F-23 modified for carriers, so we can have another ‘cat.’
July 7th, 2006 at 10:32 am
The Brits should like ‘Lightning II’
July 7th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Lightning II’? Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. Lightning II? Eh.
July 7th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
For the Brits, it really should be Lightning III. http://www.museumofaviation.org/aircraftCollection/fighters/19-mk53.htm
July 7th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Lightning II - cool. Can’t wait to the Mustang II, though… that would have to be one heckuva plane to match the name…
July 7th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
I like Phoenix! Maybe the US fighter industry will ‘rise from the ashes’.
July 7th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
I was leaning for ‘Reaper’ like when you finaly see him you are dead reaper. Of course this would have just been way to ‘aggresive’ sounding for our EU partners to swallow.