The F35 Lightning II is the first multi-role strike fighter with stealth capabilities as well as the first stealth aircraft built in the United States to be made available for export. It is the result of the largest initial military contract ever, intending to replace airplanes in the air-arms of three branches of the United States military as well as various other foreign powers.

That alone should sound like a revolutionary program. And even though this plane has made a list of technological advances, it is still loaded down with a wide variety of problems both technical and political.

For starters there have been various electrical problems that may delay the fleet readiness until 2018. This frustrates the Pentagon because fixing these problems will drive up the cost per unit, partially negating the intended advantage of affordability and further driving up the cost of an already unprecedented 1 trillion tax dollar program. There are other problems that need to be fixed like how the helmet-mounted display that is connected to cameras to allow the pilot to see through the skin of the aircraft is not working. Or another problem is that this plane is easier to spot than intended, but it may be easier to spot this plane from some angles than others. On top of that if this aircraft uses the same stealth paint as the F22 Raptor, its twin-engine bigger brother, it will have the same level of difficulty for aircraft mechanics to maintain the low radar profile if the stealth paint has to be applied over and over again.

But the biggest problem is for the F35B variant for the United States Marine Corps, intended to replace both the Hornet and the Harrier Jump Jet. A clutch connects the F135 engine to a Rolls Royce built lift fan by means of an axel in order to enable VTOL flight. However this causes many other problems for the F35 during the other phases of the flight. The VTOL system dos not contribute any thrust in cruse mode and only ads weight. This means reduced range, reduced agility, less acceleration, higher stalling speed, and greater needed fuel consumption rate. The Lockheed Martin engineers tried to fix the weight problem by making the wings and tail fins smaller, but at the same time has caused the plane to be even LESS agile, have even SHORTER range, able to carry LESS ordnance, and having an even HIGHER stall speed. None of these are a good combination for a fighter aircraft.

Finally, the VTOL system is potentially dangerous. When the high-speed rotating turbine shaft is suddenly clutched to the stationary shaft, it puts an enormous amount of wear and tear on the clutch. That is why the clutch needs to be serviced VERY often which will drive up the life-cycle costs. And should the clutch fail the F35 would nose-over and crash while in VTOL mode, likely killing the pilot because it is not possible to safely eject while inverted and that close to the ground. Therefore the marine pilots are instructed not to engage the VTOL system whenever using it can be avoided. Plus it will a be disappointment to people who wanted to see it hover at air shows like the Harrier Jump Jet it was intended to replace. So why even bother putting in a heavy, complex VTOL system into the F35 that takes so much away from what could have made it such an effective fighter when it can only be used so sparingly?

The solution that we, the undersigned, propose is study ways to make the VTOL system lighter, and cheaper to maintain. Instead of clutching the engine to a long shaft which drives the lift fan, the engine is clutched to an alternating-current electrical generator that that drives an electrical motor that drives the lift fan. The intended benefits are as follows:

*Lighter weight, allowing bigger wings and tail fins, allowing for greater range, greater agility in combat, greater combat ordnance capacity, less necessary pollution, and lower stall speed.
*Due to the fact there is less wear and tear through an electro-mechanical system rather than a purely mechanical one, it does not have to be serviced nearly as often making it safer and cheaper to use the VTOL system more frequently.
*Greater interest in the F35B to foreign customers as well as a lower life-cycle cost freeing up more funds for domestic economic purposes and helping to tame the out of control military spending.

Sure, it may cost a little money to fund the study but this does not call for openly radical changes to the airplane. It instead asks for small changes that could make a big difference. No changes will be needed to the F135 engine by Pratt and Whitney, or the lift fan by Rolls Royce, or any major changes to the rest of the airplane. The ONLY change this petition suggests is how the main engine connects to the lift fan, that’s it. Therefore it is the belief that the savings from this modification will by far outweigh the cost of studying its implementation. Therefore it hopefully will pay for itself in terms of being a long-run savings to the budget of the United States federal government.