The F-35 fighter became the star of the Farnborough Air Show 2016

The nozzle of the F-35B fighter bomber turns 95 ° down, and the fan behind the cockpit creates thrust by holding the machine during a freeze, vertical take-off and landing

Nearly 60 years, once every two years, one of the world's largest air shows and a trade show is held at an airfield near the city of Farnborough in Hampshire (United Kingdom). All countries demonstrate the latest achievements of their aerospace and defense industries. For the week of the air show, contracts of tens of billions of dollars are signed, and the air show ends with a colorful air show open to the public.

This year, the Farnborough 2016 trade show takes place July 11-15, and the open air show takes place July 16-17.


The screen shows the flight of a drone, made in the form of a bird of prey. It accelerates real birds before the start of the air show to avoid collisions.
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The official opening ceremony of the Farnborough Motor Show was attended by representatives of the leadership of leading aerospace companies of the world, governments and armies. In total there were delegations from 60 countries of the world. All of them watched at the opening ceremony of the symbolic flight of the F-35 Lightning II (F-35B) fighter-bomber surrounded by the Red Arrows aerobatic team of the Royal British Air Force.



The F-35B attracted everyone’s attention at the current air show. It was predictable, because the F-35 is the world's second fifth generation aircraft after the F-22. A lot of money was invested in its development and production over 15 years, and the F-35’s estimated lifetime is estimated at about 1.5 trillion dollars , which makes it the most expensive weapon in the history of mankind. In recent years, the F-35 has become a popular subject of discussion among experts and the general public. And this year, the F-35 did not disappoint expectations: he still managed to fly to the UK and perform at the air show.


Fifth generation F-35B fighter-bomber freezes in the air

In Farnborough, the F-35 was the only aircraft to which a queue was formed of those who wanted to take pictures in the pilot's seat.

Visitors to the exhibition could try out unique F-35B pilot helmets worth $ 400 thousand each. Augmented reality devices with a night vision system receive an image from six infrared cameras and display a synthesized picture to the pilot’s display, allowing him to see “through the plane” and more easily track targets. The display shows information about objects, distance and other data.


Helmet for pilot F-35B

Helmets F-35B is produced by the American company Rockwell Collins.




Fourth generation multipurpose fighter Eurofighter Typhoon

At the air show, they showed the world's second copy of the Airbus A350 XWB - a passenger aircraft, in which the fuselage and the wing are mainly made of carbon fiber. Model XWB differs additionally advanced fuselage. The Airbus A350 XWB demonstrated several maneuvers that were unusual for civilian air transport.


Airbus A350 XWB


Maneuvers Airbus A350 XWB

The company Boeing showed the latest modification of its bestseller - Boeing 737 Max.


Boeing 737 max

Business

This year, at the end of the Farnborough trade exhibition, contracts for $ 123.9 billion were signed. Sales:

• 856 airplanes and helicopters for $ 93.98 billion;
• 1,407 engines at $ 22.7 billion;
• other transactions for $ 7.22 billion

Airbus has concluded deals for $ 35 billion , Boeing - for $ 26.8 billion .

Among the biggest deals are the purchase of 100 Airbus A321 aircraft by AirAsia for a total of about $ 12.6 billion, 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft by Virgin Atlantic, 50 Apache helicopters and 9 Boeing P-8 “Poseidon” anti-aircraft patrol aircraft for the British Army.



The work of the air show was not prevented by the extreme weather conditions in the UK this week, said the executive director of the air show, Shaun Ormrod.

Because of the sanctions, Russia this year brought only civilian aircraft to Farnborough, but the Russian exposition also looked good: the regional aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 painted by the Irish airline CityJet (the first aircraft it acquired in May 2016), the simulator of the MS-21 passenger aircraft, and also cargo aircraft of Volga-Dnepr, which together with Boeing organized the first “Cargo Village”.

Although Russia was forbidden to bring the Su-35 fighter to demonstrate, the Russians still managed to distinguish themselves. At the competition for the concept of unmanned aerial vehicles of the future, which was conducted by Airbus, Omsk designer Alexey Medvedev won . He presented in Farnborough the concept of a cargo Zelator-28 drone with vertical takeoff and landing - a mixture of a quadrocopter and a plane with a pushing propeller.



Zelator-28 has a wing span of 4.3 m and a length of 2.3 m and has a removable cargo compartment. Engines in the mode of hovering in the air consume 7 kW, in a cruise flight - 1 kW. Power is supplied from a Kokam lithium battery with a nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode (Li [Ni-Co-Mn], 12 cans with a voltage of 44.4 V).



In total, 425 designers from all over the world participated in the competition, and for the first place Alexey received the main prize of $ 50,000.