Clarke recalls receiving different descriptions of F-35 refuelling arrangements from Lockheed Martin teams in Britain, the United States and another country on successive days. Some of those descriptions concerned the same aircraft variant. He accepts that most F-35Is use boom receptacles while recalling earlier work involving probes through contacts connected with the programme. The account illustrates how national variants, proposed changes and overlapping development projects can produce apparently conflicting briefings. The recollection does not establish that every arrangement described entered operational service.
Notable Point · 1:06:10-1:08:28
Conflicting F-35 refuelling briefings and overlapping projects
A personal recollection of conflicting Lockheed Martin briefings shows the difficulty of separating F-35 national variants and development proposals from operational configurations.