I know that the Public Affairs shills for the major contractors are getting more and more out of touch with reality, but this one is a classic. The overuse of the term “warfighters” and other Pentagon-eese buzz words in the usual press release is enough (not used in this release, thank God), but then there’s this:

An excerpt from a Lockheed Martin press release about the first F-35C being delivered to VFA-101 at Eglin AFB this past weekend:

“The F-35C, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ CV, has larger wings and more robust landing gear than the other F-35 variants. The CV has the greatest internal fuel, at 19,624 pounds, making it suitable for catapult launches and fly-in arrestments aboard naval aircraft carriers. Its wingtips fold to allow for capacity and, like the F-35B, the C-variant uses probe and drogue refueling.”

To break it down . . . first sentence: . . . ok. They somehow got that one right.
Second sentence: It is true that having more internal fuel capacity makes it carrier suitable? Wow . . . has anyone told the aircraft designers this fact??? I guess that catapult bar on the nose gear is just there for show.
Third sentence: The wingtips fold to allow for added capacity. Say WHAT??? Again, the handlers on board all the CVs probably appreciate that the wings fold to lessen the deck multiple, and not just that it “allow(s) for capacity” . . . and how this ties into the probe and droge refueling system . . . really, I don’t have a clue.

And . . . someone got paid good money to write this crap.

I weep for the current generation of public affairs persons.

/rant . . . I feel much better now.