Non-stealthy features on the F-35C

Hello all,

After reading Tyler's article today I saw some interesting features on the planes running trials over at the Nimitz.


See the white pitot tube jutting out the side just above the EOTS? These appear on both sides of the plane and on one aircraft they are painted in the traditional grey. Are these here to stay? Or just test articles.

Have any of you noticed other non-stealthy corner cutting on this aircraft? Hoping someone in the know of these trials can fill us in on how operable these aircraft are or even if they in their final versions. From what I've heard they more-or-less are.

Great pics over at foxtrot.
foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com...

Love,
Aholic

a reply to: aholic

They're permanent, but they're not traditional pitot tubes. If you look at the F-22 forebody, it has two tubes as well, one on each side of the nose, but it's got an incredibly small RCS.

www.aircraftcovers.com...

a reply to: aholic

Bravo OP......Bravo. The pics are awesome and high quality. I love threads like this.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I am a complete novice concerning anything like this what do these pilot tubes do?

a reply to: SubTruth

That's where all your basic information comes from. Airspeed, altitude, angle of attack. Air going into the pitot tube measures your airspeed. There's a static port near them that measures air density that gives you altitude. In a traditional pitot tube system, there's a third probe that is hinged. As the nose goes up and down, it moves on that hinge and it changes the angle of attack indicator in the cockpit.

They're piTot tubes, not piLot tubes.

Pitot tube and AoA sensor

Static Port

a reply to: Zaphod58

Pitot tube......I thought you misspelled it but obviously not....LOL. Thank you for your informative reply. I am kind of surprised this is not internal....Hmm.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Excellent. Thanks for clearing that up Zaph. Thought it was strange initially that it was painted white.

a reply to: SubTruth

I edited the previous reply to put pictures of the three sensors to give you an idea of what they look like.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Just quickly. It is correct that however the pressure instruments retract on the B-2? Wonder what that does for their avionics.

a reply to: aholic

They have other sensors that do the same thing. They're not as accurate as the pitot tubes are, but they're accurate enough to complete the mission, especially since they don't do TF like the Buff and Bones do.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: SubTruth

I edited the previous reply to put pictures of the three sensors to give you an idea of what they look like.

Thanks I am kind of shocked they still use a kinda dated looking system. Mind you I have no idea what I am talking about. In my mind they should have some kind of sensor skin coating that collects the data. It would also serve as a ice cream sundae stand for the ground crew when not being used in the air.

a reply to: SubTruth

Cost and complexity. The system works, and it works very well, and it's cheap to install.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: SubTruth

Cost and complexity. The system works, and it works very well, and it's cheap to install.

Gotcha it is good to see they do try and save money by using reliable proven tech. Do they have skin coatings that could also do this? I know it sounds far fetched but it would be cool.

a reply to: SubTruth

There are laser and radar based systems that are in use. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The laser system isn't as accurate, but doesn't give off detectable emissions unless you get directly in the way of the laser. The radar system is more accurate, and would allow you to fly at low level, avoiding terrain, but gives off detectable emissions that could give the aircraft away.

Actually zaph, thats somewhat correct. The F-35 production models do not use pitot tubes on the aircraft. They use that L@ser pitot static plate thing thats supposedly not even out yet. And from what ive read, the L@ser system is much more accurate at things like low airspeeds.

It's one of those not so well known features about the F-35 and thats partly because it reduces the RCS of the jet and anything that deals with the RCS is classified. The F-22 does have two small pitot tubes on it but they are faceted and covered in RAM coatings.

The only reason i even found out about this was a discussion with another boom operator about why the stealthiest aircraft in the world had pitot tubes on it and we started talking about the F-35's lack of pitot tubes on the newer models coming out of the Ft Worth facility.

But i guess time will tell.

a reply to: boomer135

The laser system is nice, and it's cool as hell, but I'd hate like hell to have to go low level with it. I'm assuming they've improved on it, but from what I heard about it a few years ago, it had a serious latency issue at low level, while at high speed, because they were flying so fast that there was a lag time in the data from the laser. Anything too close to the aircraft wouldn't be picked up or something along those lines.

originally posted by: boomer135
Actually zaph, thats somewhat correct. The F-35 production models do not use pitot tubes on the aircraft. They use that L@ser pitot static plate thing thats supposedly not even out yet. And from what ive read, the L@ser system is much more accurate at things like low airspeeds.

It's one of those not so well known features about the F-35 and thats partly because it reduces the RCS of the jet and anything that deals with the RCS is classified. The F-22 does have two small pitot tubes on it but they are faceted and covered in RAM coatings.

The only reason i even found out about this was a discussion with another boom operator about why the stealthiest aircraft in the world had pitot tubes on it and we started talking about the F-35's lack of pitot tubes on the newer models coming out of the Ft Worth facility.

But i guess time will tell.

I'd like to know more about this... The way the aircraft works, all the wiring, there would have to be some changes to make it work the way it is and how everything works together. If this system was out on newer aircraft (how new are you talking?), there would have been mention of it down the pipeline.

Now if they are talking about the SDD aircraft with the extra pitot/sensors off the radome, yes that's not on production. But as far as the mulifuction probe and flush mount, there'd be some pretty big changes in an area with very little room.

a reply to: 5GenNext

Unfortunately alot of the info on it went black for some reason. It's not even on the manufacturer website anymore. So maybe there's more to this system than we think...

I don't think it would be too hard to make the pilot tube lol pitot tube stealthy, make it kind of diamond shaped with RAM and it could be as stealthy as the rest of the jet.

Don't know how they get the canopy stealthy, it's got a big curve on it.

a reply to: JimTSpock

Materials in the canopy. It's a sandwich type build, and they layer materials in it that help make it stealthy.