Official Name: F-35C Lightning II.
Manufactured: Lockheed Martin (USA).
Role: Stealth multirole fighter.
Status: Under development.
First Flight: December 15, 2006.
Deployment: Scheduled for 2011.
Crew: 1.
Length: 51.5 ft.
Height: 14.9 ft.
Wingspan: 43 ft.
Wing Area: 668 sq. ft.
Weight Empty: 34,800 lbs.
Weight Loaded: 44,400 lbs.
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 70,000 lbs.
Internal Fuel: 20,085 lbs.
Maximum Speed: 1,200 mph (Mach 1.6+).
Range: 1,400 nmi.
Combat Radius: 640 nmi.
Powerplant: Single Pratt & Whitney F135 or GE F136.
Dry Thrust: 25,000 lbs.
Afterburner Thrust: 40,000 lbs.
Service Ceiling: 60,000 ft.
Thrust/Weight Ratio: 100% fuel: 0.81. 50% fuel: 1.01.
The only gun on baord the Joint Strike Fighter will be a 4-barreled Gatling cannon. The 25mm GAU-22 will carry about 200 rounds and will fire at a rate of 3300 rounds per minute. This means that although the gun will have extremely rapid and powerful firing capabilities, the entire stock of ammunition will be used up in less than four seconds. This will be less of a problem for the F-35 than it would be for fourth generation aircraft because the F-35 relies on its missiles so heavily for offense and will avoid dogfights as much as possible. The gun would only be used for defense in the projected rare case that a dogfight does occur. When missile technology first came about, experts believed that dogfights would become extinct. The first new planes in the missile era, like the F-4 Phantom, carried no gun and were outmatched when the inevitable close range battle broke out. The aviation community has since learned its lesson as all modern American fighters carry a gun or cannon. The F-35A conventional fighter will carry its gun internally mounted over the pilot’s left shoulder, similar to the mounting on the F-22. The B and C will carry the gun in an attached pod under the aircraft that will allow for slightly more rounds or the option to detach the gun and carry extra fuel, missiles, or whatever the mission calls for. The GAU-22 is designed and manufactured by General Dynamics and is based on the companies successful GAU-12 used on the Harrier. The main difference between the two is that the newer gun has only four barrels to the GAU-12’s five. This will make the gun significantly lighter and more compact. This change will also reportedly make the gun more accurate while maintaining a similar muzzle velocity. 
All F-35 prototypes produced thus far have used the Pratt & Whitney F135 Engine. This revolutionary turbine engine uses technology gleaned from the P & W F119 engine used on the Raptor. The F135 incorporates a 3-stage fan and a 6-stage compressor to produce a full afterburner thrust of 43,000 lbf and an intermediate thrust of 28,000 lbf. This engine can propel the F-35 to 1200 mph (Mach 1.6+) and is far more fuel efficient that legacy engines giving the F-35C a range of 1400 nmi. A big step forward in engine technology is the fact that the F135 has a much longer service life than its predecessors and requires about half as much maintenance. Early plans called for a competition for engine service rights. General Electric has been developing their F136 Engine, although it is still just in development phases. Due to the fact that neither engine offers anything unique, many in government budgeting have pushed for an end to funding for the F136, but as of July 2009, both companies were still developing. The plan as it stands now is to continue with the F135 until GE can convince them otherwise. The F135 is being delivered in three variants: F135-PW-100 for the F-35A, F135-PW-400 for the carrier variant, and the F135-PW-600 for the Marine VTOL. The F-35B will use the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem that is similar to the Soviet Yak-141 and will provide a total of 41,900 pounds of downward thrust during a vertical landing. Pratt & Whitney faced a huge challenge in creating a single engine design for a massive plane where previous single engine planes like the F-16 were quite small and came away with a revolutionary design that is already being implemented in other future designs. The following videos are piped directly from the respective engine manufacturers and offer a detailed picture of the advanced technology that goes into the new propulsion systems.
