Posted on 03/22/2016 2:42:26 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The company building Australia's next-generation fighter planes says it would be naive to pretend there aren't problems with the fleet.
But air force chiefs are confident the controversial F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighters are the best the Department of Defence can get.
Australia is spending $17.1 billion to acquire 72 of the Lockheed Martin planes by 2023.
But they've been dismissed as an expensive flop with the jets facing difficulties including pilot visibility issues, stealth coatings peeling off, an inability to fly during lightning storms due to the risk of exploding, and software problems.
A report by the Pentagon's top weapons tester has also raised doubts about its capabilities, including software and engineering deficiencies.
Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin's F-35 program general manager, says nothing in that report was a surprise to his team.
However, that didn't mean they weren't doing anything about it.
"When you look at any program this complex ... to assert there would be no problems would be naive," he told a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.
"This is an amazing plane - I have high confidence that we'll solve these problems as we have in the past."
The defence department appears content too, saying the jets are their best and only option.
Air force chief Leo Davies said the planes had significant advantages over the F18s.
"I have no concerns that would have me come to a conclusion that the transition ... will not occur on time," he said.
Chris Deeble, the force's former program manager, acknowledged some risks existed in the training system, including maintenance.
Independent military and policy think tank Air Power Australia was dismissive of the plan, saying "blue sky marketing" was overshadowing major problems with the aircraft.
"It has all the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme," head Peter Goon said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
Anybody have a better plane in the works?
President Trump needs better tools for our military, sounds like the F35 isn’t one of them.
K.I.S.S.
The F-111C performed the maritime patrol and long distance strike role for the RAAF, and in terms of payload and range would have been much better replaced by the F-15E Strike Eagle than either the F/A-18E or the F-35A.
I agree, Oz should stay with the F15. The F35 was built i think just so the chinese will copy it down to the last rivet, and they will believe its the best....
Jokes on them.
>>Anybody have a better plane in the works?<<
F-22.
Also, from what I hear, the new block F-15 can fly circles around the F-35.
Oz needs not a superior platform but a superior quantity.
Oz is pretty much a Los Angelos population sized country, i lived in Oz recently, and to be brutally honest they have no chance at all if China wanted to invade them.
The best defense for Oz would be for them to adopt the Israel method, by law all citizens must participate in a military class and to have weapons at home. Seriously.
Oz cannot field enough planes against China, they could develope other means, drones would be a good start. But Oz will have to rethink its policies.
F-35 Lightning NOT.
How about a whole mess of British submarines to shore up what’s left if the Commonwealth. That would slow down the Chico ms in an Australian campaign.
“Anybody have a better plane in the works?”
One was already produced, called the “F-22”. Sadly, production was stopped at less than 200 instead of the original target of 650 (replacing all F-15s).
“President Trump needs better tools for our military, sounds like the F35 isn’t one of them.”
The F-35 will end up being a solid replacement for the F-16, F-18 and Harrier, with true next-gen capabilities. It’s the cost per plane that’s ridiculous. It’s now more expensive than the F-22 on a flyaway basis. It’s also taking longer than expected to get the software and system integration issues squared away.
I’d like to see the “FB-22” concept explored, which is the idea of a somewhat larger, possibly two seat F-22 that would carry a much larger payload internally, both air-to-air and air-to-ground. It would have substantially greater range than the current version. Most of the engineering is already done and paid for.
Unfortunately, even if the U.S. allowed export, the F-22 still was not the aircraft that Australia needed. The primary mission of the F-111 was to loiter for hours on end in maritime interdiction, and to provide long range strike capability against potential targets in the Indonesian island chain.
The F-22 didn't have the legs nor the payload for those missions, and neither does the F-35 or the F/A-18E/F/G.
There was an interesting proposal for the RAAF to retain their F-111Cs, update and modernize their avionics, and replace the TF-30 turbofan engines with the GE F110 turbofan, just like the F-14 did. That would have really upped the F-111s performance, range, and maintainability for less than new build F-35s.
The F-111’s were so worn down that there was no way short of a complete rebuild (air frames and all) could see them get any more service.
I know the person who tried to sell the idea to the RAAF. Complete dingbat.
Carlo Kopp? Yes. Yes he is.
Is this caused by a switch to erf-friendly water based coatings?
The F15 is a very fast machine but the F35 can turn on a dime and watch the F15 go right by and then get behind it and fire. In dogfights with the F35 the F15 pilots have lost every fight even multiple 15’s against one 35 the 15’s lose, they simply can't find the 35’s.
I'm not saying the 35 doesn't have problems and I'm not saying the 15 is a bad plane, it is wicked fast, but, the F35 is the better of the two.
What is your source on that? The only stories I've read about the F-35 was that during flight law testing it couldn't hang with an F-16 because of too conservative flight algorithms.
Sure you're not thinking of the F-22?
“Sure you’re not thinking of the F-22?”
I’m pretty sure he is...
Another interesting F-22 vs. F-35 point is that the F-22 is stealthy no matter which direction you’re looking at it from. The F-35 is only stealthy from the front aspects. So, if F-35s penetrate into enemy airspace any radars behind them will see them fine, from the air or ground.
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