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Similar to the F-20 Tigershark debate of the 1980s.
Looks slow.
Since when is the cost of an F35 only $60 million? Don’t know what the final numbers will be, but all the estimates I have seen are much hire than that.
The F-35, costing three times as much... BS try at least 6 times as much at around $150M each to date and $350B over budget to date.
GAO Report to Congress March 2014:
To execute the program as planned, the Department of sefense (DOD) will have to increase funds steeply over the next 5 years and sustain an average of $12.6 billion per year through 2037; for several years, funding requirements will peak at around $15 billion. Annual funding of this magnitude clearly poses long-term affordability risks
given the current fiscal environment. The program has been
directed to reduce unit costs to meet established affordability targets before full-rate production begins in 2019, but meeting those targets will be challenging as
significant cost reductions are needed. Additionally, the most recent cost estimate for operating and supporting the
F-35 fleet is more than $1 trillion, which DOD officials have deemed unaffordable.
This estimate reflects assumptions about key cost drivers the program can control, like aircraft reliability, and those it cannot control, including fuel costs, labor costs, and inflation rates. Reliability is lower than expected for two variants, and DOT&E reports that the F-35 program has limited additional opportunities to improve reliability.
I think a CitationX is faster than this thing.
Any individual vehicle should take a competent company no longer than 24 months to a first working prototype. Kelly Johnson managed it with the U2 and the SR-71. The thing he did was not allow the military to diddle with it. Every colonel who comes along suddenly adds cost by saying, “well, I want it to do x also.” They always say this when X means a complete redesign.
The more companies you put into the decision process the longer it becomes. I worked on Future Combat Systems and there were two “integrator of integrators.” Neither ever knew what was going on. The project was an expensive failure from every aspect.
The problem is, if the military can’t diddle they don’t want it either. I think the F-20 was an excellent plane. But no sale.
This thing will compete with the Bazillion turbo-prop fighters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textron_AirLand_Scorpion
Maximum speed of 450kts so it’s slower than an airliner.
6 hardpoints with a total of 6000lb payload so it’s a very light attack aircraft.
Everyone should buy lots of these. I am a certified parts supplier on the ground floor.