While it has been known for sometime that Boeing and the US Navy intend to fly a modified F/A-18F Super Hornet equipped with conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) and a weapons pod later this summer, some new details are emerging.

When the modified Rhino--as the Super Hornet is affectionately known--does fly in late August or early September over the Navy's Atlantic range with the new hardware, those CFTs and weapons pod will not be functional, says Mike Gibbons, Boeing's F/A-18 program manager. The idea is to test the aerodynamic qualities of those representative shapes, he says.

Mark Gammon, Boeing's Hornet advanced projects chief, also notes that the aircraft will have a mock-up of an internally-mounted infrared search and track system mounted along with a slew of radar cross-section enhancement measures.

Gammon, who has worked on the Hornet since the first days of the original F/A-18A classic model jets, says that the CFTs won't add any cruise drag at high subsonic speeds, but it will have a negative impact on drag at transonic speeds--but the company has done a lot of engineering work to try mitigate that. In fact, Gammon notes, at low airspeeds, sometimes overall drag with the CFTs is actually lower than a clean aircraft's.

Configured with the CFTs and weapons pod carrying four AMRAAMs, the jet performs roughly the same as a Super Hornet carrying four external AIM-120s. 

Anyways, Boeing showed off this brand new real F/A-18F equipped with mockup CFTs, weapons pods and other hardware.

At long last, Lockheed Martin has released the video of the first F-35B vertical takeoff on 10 May. For whatever reason, NAVAIR and the F-35 Joint Program Office would not clear this for release at the time of the event.

Anyways, vertical takeoff is a US Marine Corps requirement, however it's only intended from repositioning the jet where a short takeoff is not possible. That's because the F-35B can only do a vertical takeoff while lightly loaded with about 4,500lbs of gas--meaning it wouldn't be carrying a tactically significant payload.

But then neither does the AV-8B Harrier carry a tactically significant payload when that aircraft performs a vertical takeoff. It's the same concept of operations for both jets.

The Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D) made its first touch and go onboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) on 17 May.

"This landing, rubber hitting deck, is extremely fulfilling for the team and is the culmination of years of relative navigation development," says Don Blottenberger, UCAS-D Deputy Program manager. "Now, we are set to demonstrate the final pieces of the demonstration."

The Navy says the UCAS-D program plans to conduct shore-based arrested landings of the X-47B at NAS Patuxent River in the coming months before final carrier-based arrestments later in 2013.

Lockheed Martin recently released this video of test pilots at Edwards AFB, California, intentionally departing the F-35A and testing recovery procedures.

This sort of testing is vital since operational pilots will find a way to depart the jet no matter how departure resistant the aircraft is. It happened during operational testing for the F-22 when one of the pilots managed to get himself into an inverted spiral despite assurances in the Raptor's dash one manual that the jet could be maneuvered with "reckless abandon." If it can happen to a veteran Weapons School instructor pilot, it can and it will, at some point, happen to some brand new B-course graduate--it's just a matter of time.

Incidentally, the Lockheed pilot in the video is Dave "Doc" Nelson, who was formerly a F-22 developmental test pilot, and as he points out, the F-35 really does have excellent high angle of attack (AOA) characteristics. And if what Lea Haubelt, one of the flight test engineers, says in the video is true about the high AOA handling characteristics being better than expected, I'm not sure why the angle of attack limit is set at 50 degrees AOA when they have gone much higher during flight tests.

It may not be a capability that is used often, but extreme AOA performance can be useful at times. A good friend once described pulling more than 63 degrees AOA in the Raptor to escape being from being "shot down" by a high off-boresight missile-equipped Red air threat. It may have been useful for only a few moments, but sometimes it's the difference between life and death.

Unmanned aircraft have been grabbing the headlines today. First, there is now a clearer picture available of what appears to be China's first stealth UAV--but little more than that is really known, everything else is pure speculation. However, one industry source says that to his very experienced eyes, the aircraft is a genuine advance in Chinese aerospace development--unlike the farce that is the Iranian toy that was presented last week.

Meanwhile, the US Navy launched a Northrop Grumman X-47B from the USS George H W Bush earlier today--our very own Zach Rosenberg was there. The Navy got Flightglobal a slot on the helicopter even though they initially told us there was no room. The launch looks like it was quite successful--take a look below.

However, the X-47B did not carry out an arrested landing upon returning to Pax River. That could be because the unmanned jet was having difficulty making even that first trap it did the week before where the Navy showed off a video of the aircraft snagging a wire. Sources told the DEW Line, at the time of the earlier trap, the aircraft now had a 10 percent field boarding rate... So hopefully, this isn't an indication of a major problem. The X-47B guys have had to redesign their tail hook a number of times now due to the same inaccurate Navy-supplied wire dynamics model that was partly responsible for the F-35C's woes.

Meanwhile, back in scenic Crystal City, Lockheed showed off this picture of their Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft mockup. Lockheed hopes to displace Northrop's  entrant--likely X-47B derived--for the Navy's UCLASS effort.  The UCLASS program will actually take four separate designs to a preliminary design review before downselecting to one. The UCLASS, which is an operational successor to the X-47B demonstrator, will likely be smaller than the Northrop-built prototypes and will likely only have a light strike capability. Speaking of Lockheed--the company showed us a video of the F-35B performing a vertical take-off from last Friday, but paradoxically because of the Navy and Joint Program Office, are not allowed to release it--which sucks for you guys. Frankly, it's just bizarre--it's a big base with lots of people and when a large 40,000lbs fighter takes-off vertically and hovers, folks are going to take notice.

Sources say that test pilots at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, performed the first Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) vertical take-off on 10 May.

The US Marine Corps' short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) variant has always had a requirement to perform vertical take-offs right from the outset of the JSF programme. However, the capability is not emphasized because the F-35B would not be able to carry a tactically significant payload in that configuration.  Operationally, the USMC envisions its F-35Bs performing short rolling take-offs carrying a full load of ordnance and fuel and only performing a vertical landing once the aircraft returns to the amphibious assault ship or expeditionary airfield.

The concept of operations is similar to those currently flown by the USMC's Boeing AV-8B Harrier II squadrons.  Though the Harrier is often touted as a vertical take-off and landing machine, it normally flies a similar short take-off and vertical landing profile for the overwhelming majority of its missions.

The original X-35B prototype demonstrated the ability to take-off vertically in 2001.

Below is an image of the F-35B hovering--but this is not the aircraft that performed the VTO.

Iran unveiled on 9 May what it claims is a new stealthy unmanned combat aircraft called the Hamaseh. According to the official FARS state news agency, the Hamaseh--which means Epic in Farsi--can be used for both intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike missions.

"This drone has been built by defense industry experts and is simultaneously capable of surveillance, reconnaissance and missile and rocket attacks," Iranian defense minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi tells Iranian state television. "This aircraft with its stealth quality can avoid detection by the enemy," he adds.

Iranian deputy defense minister for industrial and research affairs Mohammad Eslami says that the Hemaseh has improved capabilities compared to previous Iranian-built unmanned aircraft, according to FARS. It apparently flies at higher altitudes and has better endurance.

The Hamaseh bears similarities to Western unmanned aircraft like the Israeli-developed Aeronautics Defense Systems Aerostar and the US-built AAI Corporation RQ-7 Shadow.  While the Hamaseh appears to be a viable design, the assertions that it is a stealth aircraft are patently ridiculous as the aircraft has none of requisite features found on a low observable platform.

Iran has made dubious assertions about developing technologically advanced combat aircraft before. Earlier in February, the country rolled-out the Qaher-313 "stealth fighter" with much fanfare, but Western analysts immediately ridiculed the aircraft for what it was--a subscale mock-up best used for domestic propaganda.