ping
Posted on 08/25/2016 7:44:06 PM PDT by Chode
One week after the U.S. Air Force declared the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter ready for combat, the Pentagon's top weapons tester warned that the aircraft is still fraught with problems and that fully-capable planes might not be available before the deadline that marks the end of development and the beginning of realistic combat testing.
The Pentagon's director of operational testing, Michael Gilmore, stated in a memo obtained by Bloomberg that the F-35 is "actually not on a path toward success but instead on a path toward failing to deliver" the plane's full combat capabilities on time. Gilmore also said the plane is "running out of time and money" to address deficiencies
The U.S. Air Force declared the F-35A—the Joint Strike Fighter's land-based variant—Initial Operational Capability (IOC) on August 2nd. That means that the stealthy fighter is cleared for deployments—including combat—although the plane is not fully functional. Gilmore's memo was dated August 9th. The F-35A was originally set to achieve IOC in 2011.
Gilmore warned that the plane "is at substantial risk" of not being fully combat capable—that is, at risk of not being able to use its full range of promised weapons, sensors, and other advanced systems—before late summer or early fall 2017, when realistic combat testing is set to commence.
The problem seems to be due to delays in getting the Block 3F software package, which controls much of the F-35's most important features, ready for the entire F-35 fleet. Block 3F is known as the "full warfighting package" and having it operational is one of the key requirements of ending F-35 development. Testing now appears likely to be pushed back to later in 2017 or even 2018.
At least 15 capabilities in the 3F software package—including the ability to process enemy radar signals, track moving targets on the ground, share imagery between aircraft, use the GPS-guided GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, and operate the plane's 25-millimeter gun—are all still under development and at risk of not being ready for combat testing.
For its part, the F-35 program office told Bloomberg that the report contained "absolutely no surprises" and that all of the issues mentioned were well-known and in the process of being resolved. Exactly when they would be resolved was not mentioned.
The F-35 program office would like to get successful testing behind the troubled fighter as soon as possible, as that would open the door for large "block buys" of F-35s for the United States and its allies. Such buys take advantage of economies of scale and result in lower per-plane prices.
In addition to the U.S., the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, South Korea, Italy, Australia, Japan and Israel are all committed to buying the F-35, with other countries including Canada and Singapore potential customers.
F 16 Vs F 35 Dogfight, Shocking Result
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8xzLxFIjno
Bump
ping
The description of the problems sounds just like every NEWEST RELEASE of WINDOWS.
ya even beat my ping...
Remember Trump mentioned talking to test pilots and being told of control problems.
let us pray it’s not that bad. but it not lookin good
The entire military is in total problems. Start with women in combat and stop with queers in fox holes. We better get tough or we are going to get dead.
the man DOES get around
100%
It all depends on the politics on the program. If there is good will, big problems will be overlooked and fixed later. If there is bad blood even something as trivial as a drawing not updated for the latest change can shut the program down.
must be a HELL of a lot of good will behind this bird then
Why do our enemies have to know this? Not long ago this information would’ve been classified so as not to make our adversaries aware of our vulnerabilities.
More than any other plane has ever had,apparently.
Why do our enemies have to know this? Not long ago this information would’ve been classified so as not to make our adversaries aware of our vulnerabilities.
I do not know anyone with good insight. But, from my own experience, something like a Windows operating system mandatory update...things that used to work do not work any more. And it can take considerable work to find all of the issues. It sounds like F35 is mostly software issues. Hard to tell why there are issues, but I am seeing lots of Windows upgrade issues right now.
What’s shocking about F-16 beating F-35 in a dogfight? What’s shocking is flying along and wham! You get shot down by something you never saw coming. Both the F-22 and the F-35 can do this.
Besides, I think everyone has known for a while that the F-35 is going to really do what the F-117 Stealth Fighter did . . . essentially penetrate enemy airspace and bomb stuff. Although both were called “fighters” because of political reasons, they really are fighter/bombers, the modern equivalent of a P-47 or Mosquito. Something that tries to avoid air-to-air combat unless necessary on the way out from the target. (Please, I’m pretty aware of the Thunderbolts air-to-air prowess, also. But late in the war, it was used differently than to support the 8th Air Force bombers.)
Oldplayer
for good or evil it’s freedom of the press and all that
100%
in the CAS role, a gun is pretty much mandatory
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