Posted on 02/10/2025 7:39:58 AM PST by hardspunned
Elon Musk @elonmusk The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people. This made it an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none. Success was never in the set of possible outcomes. And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed.
The US Air Force Secretary admitted in April 2024 that fewer than a third of F-35s built by Lockheed Martin are actually operational.
Ex-US Congressman Matt Gaetz labels the F-35 as a "$100M paperweight", pointing out its low effectiveness and return on investment.
(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...
Oh yeah. You can count on the Russian news company, Sputnik, to provide a full and logical evaluation of one of America’s premier weapon systems. Sheesh!
Maybe now we can finally junk this monstrosity and go back to specialized aircraft to do specific things.
I have been saying this for a long time, way over promised, way under delivered, extended time lines, way way way over budget. Other than that it is a great plane.
It's the superior plane but it's not going to be able to defend itself against 100 drones. That's where we are heading.
We should be building motherships with drones in the sky instead.
Ah yes...the mighty F35. That the leadership of the AF and the DoD state is the proper replacement for close air support and will replace the A-10.....
Yep, the A-10 too. That’s one plane they better not EVER take out of production or retire.
And the C-5s are also still in use to this day. Use Flight Radar and look around the area of Dover AFB, Ramstein AFB and Mccellan in California. Still carrying cargo every day.
Some old man who read a story in 1972 doesn’t have a clue.
I still go on base from time to time (the BX food court) and talk to pilots at Maxwell AFB. That’s where the Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College are located so the base get almost every O-3, then every O-5 and every O-6 coming thru as part of their professional military education.
As a FReeper who is also a retired Senior Master Sergeant, I get to talk to these kids who are pilots (they can wear their flight suits to class). I always talk to them and ask them what aircraft they fly and do they like it?
F-35 pilots LOVE their planes.
Don’t listen to Sputnik Indian about these things. These USAF pilots are not bullshitting me. You can see the enthusiasm for their aircraft and the fun they have flying it in their eyes and demeanor. Ask the source, not some Russian blog.
Iran Says It Destroyed Israel’s F-35 Fleet. Israel Disagrees. January 16, 2025
How Israel foiled Iran’s ballistic missiles as they headed to an F-35 airbase 4-24
F-35 Stealth Defeated by Unknown Russia/Iran Radar Nov 1, 2024 ...Back in April, the Russians and Iranians mapped the entire Israeli and coalition air defense network (see Iran’s drone strategy to map Israeli air defense), paving the way for Iran’s successful October 1 missile swarm attack. Rest assured the Israelis and Americans, who are no slouches, collected data on the Russians and Iranians on October 25/26. They are now going through that data with a fine-tooth comb, analyzing the Russian and Iranian capabilities.
Israeli Airstrike Falters as F-35 Adir Locked On by Iranian Air Defense Radar
The Only Problem with Israel’s F-35I Adir Is Not Having Enough Stealth Fighters 34 seconds ago
“It’s the only thing keeping the Soviets at bay.”
Your Cold War mentality is showing.
I am not a pilot and I have no special knowledge about fighter planes, but in 2017 I had lunch at a small club in Hawaii which overlooks Pearl harbor with my BIL who was an Air Force F16 pilot and three other Air Force F35 pilots who used to fly F16s. The F35 pilots were discussing technical matters with my BIL and I could not understand a word of what they were saying. I thought, as you do, that the F35 was not very good, based on all that I had heard. Finally, I interrupted them and asked why the F35 was so bad. The conversation came to a complete halt and there was silence for a few seconds, until one of the pilots asked me if I had not been listening to anything they were saying. In their view, the F35 was an outstanding fighter and was so much better than anything else that they compared flying against other fighters to "clubbing baby seals". I do not know what to believe, but I have to respect their judgment on that.
Lots of drones being used in the Ukraine war: small ones drop one pound of explosives on attacking soldiers (instead of artillery) and big drones can do what missiles can do but on a smaller scale, but a lot cheaper.
And those kids playing videogames in the basement could be retrained to direct the drones.
Its too bad they made the ‘22 so expensive.
I thin some of the fault are with the idiots at the DOD who come up with the bid specifications that are over the top and are not even logical or practical. You just can’t get a total all in one plane that do all they want the F-35 to do.
Back in 1955 the CIA and Air Force wanted a Spy plane. They went to Lockheed and gave them the job, The legendary Skunk Works department designed and built the U2 in 18 months and it was approved. That is the kind of can do engineering we need now. And they did it all with Slide Rules.
I don’t pretend to know much of anything about military matters, but just as a matter of common sense, it seems like thousands upon thousands of cheap, fast, highly maneuverable drones are going to be a better bet than a few hundred extremely expensive airplanes that require highly skilled pilots on-board.
Looks at Posts 24 & 36...
I’ve heard a LOT of conflicting stories, and read a LOT of conflicting articles of F-22 v F-35.
It works for them in Gaza.
In a hypothetical war, America is going to have to deal with China or Russia.
In that scenario, we will deal with mass drones.
New fighter jets are very expensive
The F-35A costs about 80 million dollars compared to 66 million for the latest version of the F-16 and 72 million in 2025 dollars for the latest varient of the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
The new F-15 EX the Air Force is buying is costing around 95 million bucks a pop and that price will rise to over 100 million in the next production batches due to Bidenflation. .
The reason so many of the F-35s are not flying is because about 100 have been built but have not been delivered and are in storage pending the requisites for the Block -4 upgrade. So they are grounded by final delivery concerns, not operational one.
The Block 4 upgrade has been delayed largely due to the world wide covid shut downs and ensuing supply chain meltdowns which still have not been restored.
The other big wild card in the Block 4 is that the technology is evolving rapidly and mission requirements are moving forward so quickly that many facets of the upgrade are kind of a moving target and being held hostage by future growth and development path concerns. .
That said, the F-35s flying in service are doing an outstanding job.
Even in the far less capable Block 3 configuration the it's capabilities are mind bending and Block 4 is science fiction for real level stuff. Not bad for an aircraft that we might not want but we cannot afford not to have.
And, from my work experience and passion for aviation, I know that the F-35 will be around for a long time and will continue to improve, while doing things that no other aircraft can do as well as it can.
That is the nature of these things and with every aircraft in our inventory. All hated and highly criticized at first, but then and now they are the world standard that others try to emulate and beat. Same for the F-35, as “confirmed” by this article and the comments to it.
I've heard this before. Is there any direct evidence that President Obama on his orders directly had the tooling jigs scrapped?
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