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A comment on The F-35 as a Subscription Service. Parent comment

Re:The F-35 as a Subscription Service by dingaling on Thursday March 20, 2025 @05:39PM (#43429296)
If a notional Canuck Su-35 couldn't do it, probably nothing could.

The Su-35 has one of the highest fuel fractions of any military aircraft at about 38% of max take-off weight. That's 9% higher than an F-22 and equates to 11,500kg of fuel.

Just conceptualise 11.5 tonnes of fuel - basically an American yellow school bus being hauled into the air by a fighter than can do Mach 2 and pull 9g.

To be fair though the F-35A has a remarkably high fuel capacity too, about 8,000kg. All that chunkiness has an advantage.

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Re:The F-35 as a Subscription Service by blackeyeblitzar on Thursday March 20, 2025 @06:13PM (#43429615)
Some quick math…

Jet fuel is about 7 pounds a gallon. So we’re talking about something like 4000 gallons. A bus is something 40 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet, which is like 20000 gallons. So it’s about a fifth of a school bus.

Still a lot, though!

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Re:The F-35 as a Subscription Service by adwn on Friday March 21, 2025 @03:07AM (#43432596)
I think dingaling meant "an American yellow school bus in mass", not in volume. 11,500 kg sounds about right for a bus that size.
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