'I Hope F-35s Don't Need Radar, Because They're Being Delivered Without Any'

[sop]

"At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, the U.S. Marine Corps admitted that it had taken possession of six brand-new Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jets. That would normally be routine were it not for one, small detail: none of them had radars. This is the first official confirmation of an issue that has been brewing for months. In brief, the new F-35s are the first of the upgraded Block 4 models, which are supposed to be the most advanced and powerful fighters ever built. A major part of that is a new, cutting-edge radar system. The only trouble is that those radars won't actually be finished for another two years. So Lockheed just went ahead and delivered the rest of the plane. Radars aren't useful in wars, right?"

"You might be wondering why, in the meantime, the Marine Corps (and soon, Air Force and Navy) doesn't just put the old radars into the new planes. Hey! You can't use common sense like that, this is the military! As the War Zone points out, the actual mounts within the F-35's nose are only designed for the new AN/APG-85 systems, not the older AN/APG-81 systems. That means that all Block 4 models are stuck waiting for the new radars to finish. And if development of those things gets delayed for any reason, well, they'll just have to wait even longer. Just what a well prepared military force wants to hear."

"So, what exactly will these new F-35s be getting instead of fancy new radars (or any radars at all)? Not to worry: you'll be pleased to learn that America's brave pilots will be getting... ballast. Yes, ballast. Because the nose is actually too light to fly properly without the radar inside, you see."

Continued at link:

https://www.jalopnik.com/2204511/f35-fighter-jets-being-delivered-without-radar/