The Tomcat was such an incredible aircraft that a proposal to overhaul the platform into the ASF-14 Super Tomcat very likely could have kept it at the top of the 4th-generation fighter heap all the way into the modern era. If called upon to do so, the F-35C could potentially best the Super Hornet in a race, with a top speed of Mach 1.6, but it would come at the cost of some of its low observability (its radar absorbant coating begins to crack and flake off under the intense heat caused by air friction at these speeds).į-14 carrying six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles (U.S. It can carry only four weapons internally while maintaining a stealth profile, however, and because of concerns about damage to its radar-absorbent coating, this jet is largely limited to subsonic speeds except in emergency situations. The F-35C is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 afterburning turbofan engine capable of pushing an impressive 43,000 pounds of thrust under afterburner, and it boasts a tiny radar cross-section (though larger than the F-22’s) at around. That extra wing area allows for slower approaches to the carrier, but also provides the added benefit of extra internal fuel storage-granting the carrier version of the JSF more than 8% more fuel than the landing-strip reliant Air Force version and a whopping 35% more fuel than the short take-off/vertical-landing F-35B used by the Marine Corps. The F-35C is the Navy’s carrier-capable iteration of the stealth Joint Strike Fighter, boasting a larger wing area than its sister jets, more robust landing gear, and of course, the requisite hook for carrier landings.
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