“The F-35 is the best attack and interdiction aircraft in the world.”
Unfounded claim.
Right ... the software does not work, the gun does not fire, pilots risk their lives taking off from carriers due to instabilities, and there are no plans nor money to fix the myriad of problems. POS. You are reading too many Pentagon press releases.
Other than that, it flies really well and USAF pilots love it, but there it ends.
“Right ... the software does not work, POS.”
Let’s see. The software does work, I guess what you’re referring to is delays in the block upgrade schedule. Gee, I’ve never heard of software taking longer than expected, have you? This is safety critical software so the QA process is extremely stringent. Not a single F-35 has crashed during the entire program, that says something...
“the gun does not fire,”
Two of the variants don’t have a built in gun. The F-35A gun has fired successfully, not sure what you’re talking about.
“pilots risk their lives taking off from carriers due to instabilities,”
This has been addressed, you need current information if you’re going to criticize.
“and there are no plans nor money to fix the myriad of problems.”
Completely off base. Do some actual research.
Here is an article from a year ago, with first-hand accounts from Marine aviators flying the F-35B, the only supersonic STOVL aircraft in history:
The summary: “The voice of the pilots is clear – the platform is working exceptionally. The F-35 is a platform with the ultimate level of sophistication, made simple. And therein lay the beauty of the F-35, and just why it will be so deadly, it’s simple.”
My favorite quote from the pilots:
“I was leading a four ship of F-35s on a strike against 4th Gen adversaries, F-16s and F/A-18s. We fought our way in, we mapped the target, found the target, dropped JDAMs on the target and turned around and fought our way out. All the targets got hit, nobody got detected, and all the adversaries died. I thought, yes, this works, very, very, very well. Never detected, nobody had any idea we were out there.”
Semper Fi!
The Navy brass was jealous of the Air Force’s F-35 rathole and felt compelled to have their own money pit never ending project.
A major component to using new technology like the F-35 is learning how to use the tool.
A common error with a radical new tool of any kind is to attempt to use it as the old tool was used, and the new tool is often thrown down in disgust and either ignored or used in ways that don’t suit it.
I see it done all the time, and I have even done so myself.
But it is a critical aspect and has been largely ignored by many of the critics who think the plane should be able to dogfight like a F-16 and dive on a target, line up, pickle the bomb and pull away.
They have found with the F-35 that, as they understand the platform and develop tactics, its operational testing performance has dramatically improved.
Few would argue it doesn’t have problems, but...nearly every single new system does...and they are always more expensive too.
Just my 2 cents...
According to the Pentagon, nearly 200 F-35’s will never be combat coded because the software can not be updated.