The F-35 Lightning II, called in development the Joint Strike Fighter
(JSF), is a military fighter aircraft designed by the United States
and the United Kingdom. It is intended to replace the current
generation of strike fighters, particularly the vertical take off and
landing (VTOL) Harrier jump jets: the AV-8 Harrier II (US), Harrier
GR7/9 (UK), and the Sea Harrier, along with the conventional A-10
Thunderbolt II, F/A-18 Hornet and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It will
be
a multi-role strike fighter (a plane with a strong emphasis on close
air support and tactical bombing as well as being capable of
air-to-air combat), and will make considerable use of stealth
technology in that it will be almost undetectable (stealthy) to
X-band
radars (tracking radars, often short range) in the forward hemisphere
but not particularly stealthy in the rear hemisphere and not stealthy
to L band (search radars, often long range) in either hemisphere. It
is currently in production with Lockheed Martin, along with partners
Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and Smiths Aerospace.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35_Lightning_II
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
Napoleonic Wars: Napoléon surrendered to British forces at Rochefort,
France, ending the Hundred Days.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)
1936:
Nationalist rebels in Spain attempt a coup d'etat against the Second
Spanish Republic, commencing the Spanish Civil War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War)
1945:
Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the
Potsdam Conference to decide how to administer post-World War II
Germany.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Conference)
1955:
Walt Disney's first theme park Disneyland opens in Anaheim,
California.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland)
1975:
History of East Timor: East Timor was annexed and became the 27th
province of Indonesia.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_East_Timor)
1996:
Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded off the coast of Long Island, New
York, killing all 230 on board.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800)
1998:
Biologists reported in the journal Science how they sequenced the
genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treponema_pallidum)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Were I so tall to reach the pole,Or grasp the ocean with my span,I
must be measured by my soul;The mind's the standard of the man. --
Isaac Watts
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts)