[Starwolf]

There is more there than the article tells...

The J-UCAS program was only a demo. It was not creating producible vehicles, only a few airframes from each contractor, and none of them fully functional. Those aircraft were not going to war.

Also the USAF had wanted out from it for some time to pay for things like the F-22. Gen Jumper had stated previously that the USAF did not intend to buy many of them. In the USAF, the silk scarf crowd rules, and UAVs are a threat to them.

Finally there was a technology effort in the JUCAS program that if successful would have turned the DoD aircraft software world upside down to the detriment of the big contractors like Boeing. That may have hastened its demise as well.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

I believe the key point this article brings home is not so much the technical reasons re the cancellation, but the fact there is NOT ENOUGH MONEY.

Surely, the USAF would like to have triple the number of Raptors it is getting (among other wishes). Remember, we just heard this crap recently where they are taking ALL the F-117s out of service and cutting back on the B-52 and other platforms just to pay for FOUR more Raptors.

The USA is running out of money! We simply do not have the money anymore to defend our nation because so much of our spending is going toward social welfare.

Instead of looking at this article in a narrow focus (technical reasons, etc.), we must look at this article in context with the $8 Trillion in debt, the cost of the war, the rising cost of socialism, SS, Medicaid, boomers and Medicare, the coast of illegal alien medical care and incarceration, and Bush's fixation on giving away the national treasury to foreign governments and dictators, and his fixation on Bono and canceling hundreds of billions in foreign debt owed to us . . ., etc.

All this, and take into account all the stories of the pressure being applied on the military to cut costs, while Bush and Congress dole out BILLIONS of global charity and add new social welfare programs domestically--this is the key reason why this program is being canceled and many other programs, like the F-22, the DD(X), the JSF and so many others are being cut back, canceled, delayed, stretched and generally taking a back seat to the surging, stratoshperic spending in domestic and social welfare.

Socialism trumps the defense of the USA.

[Mr Rogers]

In the USAF, the silk scarf crowd rules, and UAVs are a threat to them.

Disagree. The USAF is pushing for UAVs hard. My guess is that J-UCAV wasn't going the direction the USAF thinks it needs - but I would bet majority opinion in the USAF right now is that the F-35 will be the last manned fighter.

Programs get cancelled for lots of reasons. I'll be going to a meeting soon on a program that was grossly oversold, has taken 6 years to make 2 years of progress, and doesn't meet the actual needs of anyone in the field. And at the moment, it isn't flyable still.

Sometimes programs go awry.