The F-35(like the “A-12”) IS A First Class PIECE OF LOCKHEED MARTIN SHIT!
I don’t think any company could produce a plane like the govt is asking for.
It has to do everything for everyone.
They had a great plane, the F22 and threw it away.
There, fixed it.
GD went to the Navy and threatened to default on their fixed price contract unless the US renegotiated for more $$.
Dick Cheney told them to pound sand.
A decade later the Navy was still trying to get back the progress payments, which GD got by lying about progress.
Ummm, the A12 was a McDonnell Douglas project
LMCO may have developmental issues with the F-35, most of which stem from their prototype developmental philosophy, but the aircraft is absolutely outstanding for the application for which it was intended.
The goal of the JSF was to volume produce a supersonic F-117 Stealth Fighter replacement that had several orders of magnitude better stealth properties than the F-117 while providing F-16 or better levels of fighter performance and maneuverability for daytime operation against next generation fighters and air defense systems.
As such it would fill a missing slot in the US Airforce caused by the retirement of the F-117, and would also replace the strike fighter version of the F-18 for the Navy and the AV-8 Harrier for the Marines with an attack aircraft with infinitely better stealth than the F-117 Stealth fighter but still have fighter capabilities at least on par with the F-16
Problem is, JSF was never intended to be a dedicated air superiority fighter, that job went to the ATF’s F-22 raptor. The JSF was always designed to be a strike fighter attack aircraft first and foremost, but one with outstanding air combat capabilities in it's own right.
LMCO came close enough to this goal that the F-35 could theoretically be pitched as an actual dedicated air superiority platform.
Our beloved Obama Administration and Democrat Congressional political leadership disingenuously cancelled the F-22 and the entire ATF program when they a=had 100% control of the government with the lie that they would replace the F-22 with the F-35, a task which the F-35 is incapable of doing
Now they want to kill the F-35.
“The (Lockheed)A-12 was produced from 1962 to 1964, and was in operation from 1963 until 1968. It was the precursor to the twin-seat U.S. Air Force YF-12 prototype interceptor, M-21 drone launcher, and the famous SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.”
“The McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 Avenger II was a proposed American attack aircraft from McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics. It was to be an all-weather, carrier-based stealth bomber replacement for the Grumman A-6 Intruder in the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Its Avenger II name was taken from the Grumman TBF Avenger of World War II.
The development of the A-12 was troubled by cost overruns and several delays, causing questions of the program’s ability to deliver upon its objectives; these doubts led to the development program being canceled in 1991.”