ITALY F-35A Lightning 1/32 I2506

ITALY F-35A Lightning 1/32 I2506
 Loockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II CTOL Version (Conventional Take Off and Landing) aircraft model.
 Very fine panel engravings.
 Detailed engine.
 Detailed cockpit and bays.
 Airbrakes can be presented open or closed.
 Photoetched.
 + 260 pieces.
 Length: 49.0 cm.
 6 Versions of decals.
 Versions included:
 US Air Force, 33rd Fighter Wing, Eglin AB, USA, 2015.
 US Air Force, 422nd Test Evaluation Squadron, Nellis AB, USA 2016.
 AMI, 32° Stormo, 13° Gruppo, Amendola AB, Italy 2017.
 RAAF, 61st Fighter Test Squadron, Williiamtown AB, Australia 2016.
 RBLAF, Leeuwarden AB, Netherlands 2016.
 Israeli Air Force, 2016.
 The F-35 Lightning II (also known generically as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or F-35 JSF) is a multi-role aircraft project designed by the Pentagon and developed since 1996 by the manufacturer Lockheed Martin, with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems as main partners.

 Launched as part of the Joint Strike Fighter program established between 1993 and 1994 with the idea of equipping the three air components of the American armed forces (US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps) with the same aircraft, the F-35 is the product of financing and production by around ten NATO countries. This aircraft is expected to be produced in more than 2,000 units and distributed mainly in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

 The development program, which did not foresee a series of prototypes, has already accumulated a significant delay (of 7 years in 2014) compared to the initial schedule and a budget overrun estimated at 68% in July 20148. Seven years after the flight in 2007 of the first production model, none of the 131 aircraft purchased and delivered are still operational, and the manufacturer acknowledges the existence of numerous technical problems:

 the bug in the onboard Automatic Logistics Information System (ALIS) software, which delays the development of the weapons system: for example, when several F-35s fly in formation, the data fusion is faulty and each target is displayed to each pilot as many times as there are aircraft in the formation;
 unsuitability of reactors for deck landing;
 engine and material failures during prolonged high-speed flights;
 the impossibility, for the F-35B version, of taking off vertically with weapons or auxiliary tanks, which is very problematic for a combat aircraft and contrary to the specifications;
 in its block 2B software version, the F-35B could not be engaged in combat in 2016 without significant support due to the lack of maturity of its on-board equipment.