Posted on 01/26/2016 11:10:58 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Australiaâs former top weapons tester has warned of serious problems with the countryâs $24 billion share of the F-35 stealth fighter program.
The ex-official, Keith Joiner, issued the warnings in a Jan. 4 letter to the Australian Senateâs formal inquiry into the Joint Strike Fighter project. Joinerâs biggest criticisms involve the F-35âs repeated delays, lack of Australian input in the project and the fighterâs powerful computer brain.
The retired official wrote that Canberra must either speak out about the stealth warplaneâs problems or pull out of the project. He also favors delaying Australiaâs commitment until developer Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon prove the F-35 will deliver on its promises.
âPut simply â get in or get out!â Joiner declared. âStop being naive that just because something should work it will work.â
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There are at least two reasons why this is important. First, the F-35 doesnât work ⦠at least as well as it should. Second, Joiner knows airplanes. Heâs an aeronautical engineer who led the Australian militaryâs Test and Evaluation Office from 2010-2015, and had an up-close look at the troublesome jet.
A year before his appointment, Canberra decided to buy as many as 100 F-35As to replace its aging F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighter jets. The JSF will replace the bulk of Australiaâs and Americaâs front-line fighters over the coming decade.
An advanced, fifth-generation stealth fighter, one of the F-35âs biggest strengths is its software, which should allow the aircraft to pull data from its radar, cameras and sensors â together with information from other planes â and âseeâ the battlefield like never before.
But for Australia, the software may be one of the JSFâs biggest liabilities, according to Joiner. To make the most of these features, the stealth jetâs gear will have to be compatible with the RAAFâs existing aircraft, such as the E-7 Wedgetail radar plane. The F-35s will need powerful and reliable linkages to get all this information in near real time and properly âfuzeâ everything together.
But Australia has cut or scaled back its own work on new data links and improved satellite communications systems. If the E-7 and sites on the ground canât âtalkâ with the new planes, the JSFâs biggest advantage is suddenly ⦠moot.
There is also a fear that the jet wonât be compatible with Australiaâs KC-30A tankers â or will at least require significant tweaks. To allay these concerns, U.S. Air Force F-35s ran through test runs with RAAF tankers in September 2015.
Still, based on his experience, Joiner said he felt Australiaâs F-35 project officers were âtimid,â âdefensiveâ and unwilling to raise concerns either internally or with their American counterparts. In the letter, he described the officers as having a ââpassenger mentalityâ with respect to the U.S. âdriver.'â
But despite his criticisms and worries, Joiner is clearly in favor of a JSF that works.
âAll of Australiaâs decisions, including full production approval by our government, have so far been made while the aircraft is still under U.S. development,â Joiner wrote. âThe obvious first logicâ would be to hold off until the Americans get their act together, he added.
Australian officials and legislators argue that their plan is safe because Lockheed will have worked out all the kinks by the time any jets make their way across the Pacific. The first two Australian F-35s are currently undergoing testing in the United States.
But Australia has declined Pentagon offers to be a part of the initial testing plan. âHence, Australiaâs early aircraft are only for training and the few test officers being sent to U.S. [Testing & Evaluation] are only to witness operational testing (when that begins),â Joiner wrote.
Instead of just sitting on the sidelines, Joiner stressed that Australian officials should work closely with their American partners. The letter offered up the development and testing of the P-8 maritime patrol plane as a counter example, which involved an Australian team embedded with their American counterparts during the testing phase. The RAAF now expects to get the first of those planes in 2016, a reasonable four years after fully committing to the project.
âThis exemplary ⦠strategy stands in stark contrast to what Australia has pursued with the JSF,â Joiner wrote.
His analysis appears to bolster independent Australian experts critical of the F-35. In 2012, Peter Goon and Carlo Kopp of the Air Power Australia think tank submitted detailed analyses of the F-35 to Parliament. âData shows JSF Program to be an âOutlierâ of unprecedented disproportions, with growths in cost and schedule by far the largest ever seen,â Goon wrote.
Even if the F-35 were to meet its mediocre performance specifications or as-marketed expectations, it would not be viable in combat against modern Russian and Chinese ⦠systems,â Kopp added.
The criticisms didnât sit well with the RAAF. Air Vice Marshal Kym Osley dismissed the complaints entirely during a March 2012 hearing before Parliament, telling legislators that Goon and Kopp were overly focused on the planeâs shape and, by extension, how well it could maneuver. â[The] analysis is basically flawed through incorrect assumptions and a lack of knowledge of the classified F-35 performance information.â
Since then, serious doubts about the F-35âs ability to engage enemies close in and at longer ranges have emerged, along with a litany of other problems repeatedly cited by the Pentagonâs own top weapons tester. There is significant evidence that both the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps have watered down their requirements to keep plans on schedule.
Today, the Royal Australian Air Force has 72 F-35s on order, with an option for another 28 by 2030. In July 2015, Australia opted not to buy any F-35Bs â which can take off and land vertically â for its Canberra-class amphibious assault ships.
That’s an F-22, not an F-35, I think.
This sounds like the Australians are complaining about compatibility problems with their other existing systems, more than an actual criticism of the F-35.
No, that chubby thing with limited rearward visibility is definitely an F-35.
No, that’s an F-35
Being towed back to the airfield.
Thanks.
The Aussies are using the Airbus Tanker?
I thought they were using the same old Boeing Tankers we use.
Personally, I think that was a very wise decision.
That's an F-35. If that were an F-22, the engine inlets would be visible from this angle since the outboard edge is closer to the rear of the aircraft than the inboard edge. That's not the case here.
Their Senators aren't owned and operated by Boeing, like ours are. :)
Also, the F-35 looks nothing like an F-22.
F22
Thanks.
Our Super Hornets are hardly aging (well technically they are) with the first only delivered in 2010, and the Growlers still being delivered.
War is boring always seems to get some basic details wrong. The hundred F-35 planned were to replace both the original AF-18 Hornets delivered in the 80s and the 70s delivered F-111s (one aircraft to fill all roles - that's a new idea).
The SuperHornets were ordered to fill the gap when the F-35 development was extended,
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