F-35B Lightning II

Lightning II
Faction	USMC
Type	Stealth Multi-Role Fighter
Seats	1 seat: 1× Pilot
Item capacity	Max: 3× Weapons 20× Magazines
Top speed	~ 926 km/h
Fuel capacity	1000 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 1× GAU-22 2× GBU-12 2× AIM-9L Sidewinder
Secondary armament	Defensive: 120× Countermeasures (Flares/Chaff)
Variants	None
Games

The F-35B Lightning II is a carrier-based, multi-role fighter jet used exclusively by U.S. Marine aviation wings in ArmA 2.

Overview

• Role:
  • Close air support

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The F-35 Lightning is a single-seat single-engine stealth-capable military multirole strike fighter. It is capable of providing close air support, tactical bombing or air combat missions. The F-35B is the Short-TakeOff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant of F-35 prototype. It is armed with two guided bomb units, dual AIM-9 air-to-air guided missile platforms, and with a 25 mm cannon. Armoury Description

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Design

The F-35B is a single-engined stealth fighter that uses a conventional swept wing design and horizontal stabilisers with outwardly canted vertical tails.

Armament
By default, the F-35B is armed with a 25 mm cannon that feeds from a belt loaded with 220× rounds worth of high-explosive (HE) shells. The pylons within the internal weapons bay are fitted with 2× GBU-12 laser guided bombs and 2× AIM-9L Sidewinder short-range air-to-air infrared guided missiles.

Taxiing for take off. Note the raised auxiliary fan doors, indicating that the F-35B is in VTOL mode.

Features
Designed with stealth in mind, the F-35B uses an internal weapons bay as opposed to external wing-mounted hardpoints on conventional fixed-wing jets. The F-35B is also V/STOL-capable, and can take off and land on almost every flat surface without the need to operate from an airfield.

Drawbacks
The F-35B is significantly less useful compared to the AV-8B or the Su-34 when it comes to providing close air support. It cannot efficiently attack ground targets on its own without ground forces laser marking targets for its LGBs, nor does it possess any air-to-ground anti-tank missiles.

To top it all off, because radar stealth is not actually simulated in ArmA 2, the internal weapons bay configuration and avionic advantages of it being a stealth aircraft are rendered completely useless. In addition, it only carries two short range AA missiles at a time, meaning that the F-35B cannot serve in an air superiority role as well.

Its sole saving grace is that unlike the Su-34 it has V/STOL capability, which it will automatically transition to-and-from while the aircraft remains at subsonic speeds. Although the AV-8B also possesses VTOL capability, it is much more difficult to manoeuvre in VTOL mode compared to the F-35. On the other hand, the F-35's VTOL mode is far less sluggish and allows its pilot to even control the jet like a helicopter.

In all other aspects, ArmA 2's F-35B is vastly inferior to its conventional and Russian counterparts in virtually every way.

Crew Capacity
The F-35B has a maximum seating capacity of one. It is unable to transport passengers or additional crew.

Protection: Hitpoints

The F-35B has a base armour value of 40.

LEGEND
Green = Hull

Hull

The F-35's hull can only withstand 40 points of damage. Depletion of the hull's integrity will instantly result in a total loss.

Protection: Armour

LEGEND
Green = plexiplate.bisurf
Purple = metalplate.bisurf
Teal = iron.bisurf

.bisurf	Density	Thickness	bulletPenetrability	bulletPenetrabilityWithThickness
iron.bisurf	7800	N/A; based on vehicle fire geometry thickness	20	N/A; not used by iron.bisurf
metalplate.bisurf	7800	2	200	10
plexiplate.bisurf	1180	2	300	150

The F-35B's airframe is made out of various metal materials and plexiglass:

• The centre fuselage and inlets are made out of iron.
• The wings, vertical/horizontal stabilisers, engine exhaust nozzle, cockpit, and nose are made out of plain metal plates. These metal plates have a thickness of 2 millimetres.
• The cockpit's canopy is made out of plexiglass. The canopy's plexiglass has a thickness of 2 millimetres.

It should be noted that the cockpit's canopy is not bullet-resistant and cannot protect the pilot from being hit by small arms fire.

Armament

The F-35's pilot exclusively controls all of the onboard weapon systems. Aside from the GAU-22 cannon, all ordnance is launched via the F-35's internal weapons bay:

GAU-22

Ammo parameter	Value
Base damage value	56
Splash damage value	25
Damage type	High-Explosive
Aerodynamic friction	-0.00062
Muzzle velocity (m/s)	1,040
Expected velocity (m/s)	590
Deflection angle (degrees)	10°

25 mm Gatling gun. Fires high-explosive (HE) type shells.

It can attain a fire rate of up to approximately ~ 3,299 rounds per minute and has a muzzle velocity of 1,040 m/s. Accuracy-wise, it has a dispersion spread of 0.0025 rad. The shells have a blast radius of only 0.75 metres.

GBU-12

Parameter	Value
Base damage value	5,000
Splash damage value	1,100
Payload	High-Explosive
Blast radius (metres)	12
Maximum speed (m/s)	100

Laser-guided bomb. It has the ability to lock onto IR strobes, and can be optionally deployed as an unguided free-falling munition.

GBU-12s have a blast radius of 12 metres upon impact. There is an imposed delay of 0.2 seconds between bomb drops.

AIM-9L Sidewinder

Parameter	Value
Base damage value	200
Splash damage value	85
Warhead type	High-Explosive
Blast radius (metres)	10
Launch velocity (m/s)	0
Maximum speed (m/s)	828

Infrared-guided short range air-to-air missile.

Sidewinder missiles are soft launched but have a delay of just 0.1 seconds between launches. It takes at least 5 seconds of flight time for the missile's motor to gain enough thrust to attain a top speed of 828 m/s.

The missile's seeker has a 20% chance to have its lock get broken by flare-based countermeasures. The warhead has a blast radius of 10 metres.

Avionics

MAWS

The F-35B is equipped with a Missile Approach Warning System. It will alert the pilot if there are missiles that have successfully locked onto the jet and are inbound towards it.

RWR

The F-35B has access to a Radar Warning Receiver. The pilot will be warned if a radar-based targeting system is attempting to acquire a lock-on.

IWR

The F-35B does not have access to an Infrared Warning Receiver. The pilot will not be alerted if an infrared-based targeting system is attempting to acquire a lock-on.

LWR

The F-35B is fitted with a Laser Warning Receiver. The pilot will be warned if a laser-based targeting system is attempting to lock onto the jet.

AI

NOTE: The following information only applies to the AI.

Camouflage rating

Main article: AI Basics: Detection

The F-35B has a camouflage rating of 100.

Cost

Main article: AI Basics: Targeting priority

The F-35B has a cost value of 20000000.

Threat values

Main article: AI Basics: Targeting priority

The F-35B is considered to be a high-risk threat to AI-controlled infantry units (0.7). However, both ground vehicles and other aircraft consider the F-35B to be an extremely dangerous threat. If they have the means to do so, they will always prioritise attacking the F-35B (1/1).

Noise factor

Main article: AI Basics: Detection

The F-35B has an audible factor of 20.

Trivia

The in-game F-35B is actually based on the "X-35B", a prototype variant of Lockheed Martin's "X-35" V/STOL-capable stealth fighter. The X-35B itself was never designed for military service, as it was only ever meant to be a prototype submitted by Lockheed Martin as their entry for the U.S. military's Joint Strike Fighter programme. In addition, the appearance of the F-35B in ArmA 2 is highly anachronistic as it would not be certified for IOC (Initial Operational Capability) with the U.S. Marine Corps until 2015, nor would it be forward deployed for the first time until 2017. In subsequent updates included as part of the CorePatch updates (for the Steam release of ArmA 2), the F-35 was refactored to use a GAU-22 cannon as opposed to the GAU-12. This change is largely cosmetic however, with the only real difference resulting in the F-35's ammunition capacity reduced to 220 rounds as opposed to 300. The GAU-22 also has a (barely) higher ROF compared to the GAU-12, though this change is negligible given the GAU-22's lower ammunition count. Along with the MV-22 Osprey and the AV-8B Harrier, the F-35B is one of the only three VTOL-capable aircraft in ArmA 2. The information below details unused, pre-release or removed content. Several early screenshots and videos showed the F-35B in action during the pre-Alpha phase of ArmA 3's development, where it was originally known as the F-38 (alternately called the F-35F in some cases). It was later clarified that the F-38/F-35F was only ever meant to be a placeholder used to test the fixed-wing flight model and PhysX interaction with jets in ArmA 3. Despite being a placeholder however, the ArmA 3 F-38/F-35F is shown using a completely new texture with a two-tone grey paint scheme as opposed to the solid light grey scheme of the ArmA 2 F-35B. The F-38/F-35F makes an appearance as a deployable unit with the release of Update 1.11 for ArmA: Mobile Ops, now known as the X35 Jet. Interestingly, the X35 sports a digital camouflage pattern paint scheme and has weapons mounted externally on pylons fitted to its wings. Its overall design also bears a stronger resemblance to the real-world "F-35A" variant.

Gallery

Pre-Alpha ArmA 3 F-38s/F-35Fs. Note the unique camouflage scheme.

Ditto, but for the fuselage's underbelly.

Config/script references

CfgAmmo CfgMagazines CfgWeapons CfgVehicles .rvmat .bisurf Formulae

External links

• Wikipedia: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
• Wikipedia: Lockheed Martin X-35

See also

Aircraft of comparable role and configuration

• AV-8B Harrier (Alternate USMC counterpart)
• F/A-181 Black Wasp II (NATO successor, ArmA 3: Jets only)
• Su-34 (Russian Armed Forces counterpart)