On dirait que c’est le premier vol d’un avion largement en avance sur son programme, un avion qui caracole, qui surprend tout le monde par son avance et ses progr\u00e8s inattendus, etc., sauf que ce serait alors le second premier vol puisque le premier premier vol a eu lieu il y a un an, apr\u00e8s trois mois de retard sur l’horaire pr\u00e9vu, ce qui n’est pas plus mal apr\u00e8s tout qu’un vol normal d’American Airlines un 11 septembre de l’ann\u00e9e 2001. Il s’agit du 20\u00e8me vol du JSF.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\tPourquoi le 20\u00e8me vol est-il l’objet de tant d’attention et d’exclamations? Parce qu’avant le 20\u00e8me vol, il y a le 19\u00e8me vol, et que ce 19\u00e8me vol a eu lieu en mai 2007. Et parce qu’entre temps, il y a eu bien des indications pr\u00e9cises pour nous signaler que l’incident du vol de ce mois de mai \u00e9tait d’une extr\u00eame gravit\u00e9. C’est le le cas puisque les essais devaient reprendre fin ao\u00fbt et qu’ils reprennent le 10 d\u00e9cembre. Il se chuchote m\u00eame que ce 20\u00e8me vol a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9cid\u00e9 en catastrophe, en avance sur les pr\u00e9visions, parce que la campagne de presse sur les ennuis techniques du JSF commence \u00e0 faire des d\u00e9g\u00e2ts du c\u00f4t\u00e9 des coop\u00e9rants non-US.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\tLe 5 d\u00e9cembre<\/a>, The Australian<\/em> signalait l’imminence de ce deuxi\u00e8me premier vol (soulign\u00e9 par nos soins diligents en gras):<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abThe review of military air power, under new <\/em>[Australian] Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, comes at a time when the F-35 project is facing fresh problems. The 2008 US defence budget passed by Congress last month imposed a$US267 million ($305 million) cut in the program’s already dwindling research and development fund.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe fund has been drained by major technical problems in the F-35’s electrical system, which have caused the only test aircraft to be grounded since May.<\/em> The test plane is due to make its first flight since then tomorrow.<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tDonc, le 6 d\u00e9cembre. Non, le 10. Et alors? Maintenant, entonnons l’air fameux d’A\u00efda<\/em> pour signifier le triomphe de la technologie am\u00e9ricaniste et de Lockheed Martin : le JSF vole, oui il vole! D’un journal local de Fort Worth, du 11 d\u00e9cembre<\/a>, ce texte dict\u00e9 par le service communication:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abOn its 20th flight, the first F-35 Lightning II successfully tested engine performance and aircraft handling qualities at up to 20,000 feet as pilots and crew prepare for air refueling in the coming weeks. Shortly afterward, a dedicated test-bed aircraft began final check-out flights for airborne testing of the Lightning II’s Communication-Navigation-Identification system, initiating a test program that will ultimately integrate and fly the complete F-35 avionics package.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbWe are poised for a long run of testing on both of these aircraft, said Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager. For the F-35, those tests include refueling from an airborne tanker in the short term and supersonic flights next year. At the same time, we are putting the finishing touches on our first short takeoff\/vertical landing F-35 aircraft, which will roll out of the factory this month and initiate flight testing in the spring. By the end of 2008, we expect to have at least three F-35s in the air and numerous aircraft on the assembly line.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe Lightning II’s flight began at 1:30 p.m. CST when Chief Test Pilot Jon Beesley executed a military-power (full power without afterburner) takeoff, ran the engine at various power settings and checked flying qualities at 6,000, 17,500 and 20,000 feet, and performed a fuel-dump test at 250 knots. Landing was at 2:15 p.m. CST. Beesley reported that the tests were successful and the jet was a pleasure to fly.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe Lightning II embodies a long list of advancements that will make it better, smarter and more reliable than anything that’s come before it, and those technologies are extraordinarily mature in this first-ever F-35, Beesley said. When you project ahead to the F-35s that will be entering the fleet in 2010, you see fighters that benefit from the testing we’re doing now – fighters that will set new standards for combat-readiness right out of the box.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tVoil\u00e0, tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes. On croirait qu’on nous parle d’un aviion compl\u00e8tement nouveau qui, \u00f4 miracle, a effectu\u00e9 son premier vol… Pourquoi cet enthousiasme pour le 20\u00e8me vol? Pas de r\u00e9ponse. De quand date le 19\u00e8me vol? Pas de r\u00e9ponse. Le JSF qui marche si bien a-t-il eu des ennuis techniques en mai 2007, qui ont suscit\u00e9 son immobilisation? Pas de r\u00e9ponse. Le montage<\/a> de la communication dans le cas du JSF, ce cas d’un cover-up<\/em> digne d’un politicien washingtonien de bas \u00e9tage, est une circonstance qui donne l’id\u00e9e d’un peu de naus\u00e9e, pour passer le temps. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \tMis en ligne le 11 d\u00e9cembre 2007 \u00e0 17H23<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On dirait que c’est le premier vol d’un avion largement en avance sur son programme, un avion qui caracole, qui surprend tout le monde par son avance et ses progr\u00e8s inattendus, etc., sauf que ce serait alors le second premier vol puisque le premier premier vol a eu lieu il y a un an, apr\u00e8s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7291,250,3501,3502,4173,2615,4584],"class_list":["post-69492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloc-notes","tag-cover-up","tag-jsf","tag-lockheed","tag-martin","tag-montage","tag-premier","tag-vol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}