Posted on 01/31/2011 9:15:23 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Former Air Force Secretary Mike Wynne wants the Air Force to get rid of large surveillance and reconnasisance aircraft such as AWACS and JSTARS, which are vulnerable to attack because of their huge radar cross-sections, and take the money saved and shove it into the Joint Strike Fighter program.
Wynne made his arguments on the website Second Line of Defense, run by the international defense consultant Robbin Laird. I spoke with Wynne this morning. His essential argument is that large aircraft such as these, while possessing excellent capabilities, are so vulnerable in time of war that the enormous amounts of money spent paying the large crews needed to fly and maintain these systems would be better spent making F-35s into the flying intelligence and targeting networks that they are designed to be.
“The F-35s are far more survivable and therefore effective,” he said. Combine F-22s and F-35s with a capability like Gorgon Stare and you would have a difficult to beat combination of highly survivable intelligence gathering and offensive capabilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at dodbuzz.com ...
F-35 is redundant. Kill it.
The last Air Force secretary and Air Force Chief of Staff were fired on the same day, a historic first.
Putting all of one’s eggs into one basket is strategically questionable.
Pair down the program, stretch it out, phase out JSTARS and keep AWACS. You’re going to need it against China one day.
Ping.
What’s interesting is that this fighter’s production would be done in many different nations including TURKEY....Islamist Turkey. Hmmmm. Interesting. And troubling!
Keep it and build the F-22. Have two planes in the USAF inventory. Each plane can have a specialized mission.
Turkey was part of the developmental team of the F-35. Not including that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to purchase planes. MoU are non binding though
What other airplane does its mission?
UCAVs. F-22’s. F-18’s. F-16’s. B-1’s. B-2’s. A-10’s.
The F-35 is redundant.
Sorry. Wrong answer. Can’t afford two. Pick one: F-22 or F-35.
If the Navy has two classes of LCS ships.We cant afford two classes of LCS ships(independence Class and Freedom Class) but the Navy is going to get them. The USAF can have two steath planes. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Nope. Budgets are being cut. Failure to prioritize to the one best platform means a failure to manage resources, which means a failure overall.
F-22. It takes a lot of 250 lb bombs to take out a hardened target, and we only bought 187 of the things
F-18 and F-16. They are being replaced by the F-35. 30 year old fighters aren't fun, I've tried that and it sucks.
B-1's not stealth. B-2's, there are only 20 of them
A-10's, unless you are going someplace where they don't have air defenses, I wouldn't take an A-10.
We have lots of aging fighters to replace. Their replacement needs to be able to penetrate sophisticated air defenses.
National Defense come first. If you want to cut start with the Department of Education, and other letter departments. I would never cut Defense. Its unpatriotic to cut National Defense.
Too bad. Everything is being cut, even the good stuff. Now you’ve got to choose.
UCAVs are already in combat. The F-35 is reeeeeeeedundant.
Kill it.
Its unpatriotic to cut National Defense especially in time of war. Are you unpatriotic and leave men and women without technology that may save their lives?
It’s unpatriotic to run out of government money, but that’s what bankrupted Spain and the CCCP.
What you’ve got to do is grow up and prioritize; that means that some good things get cut.
Choose wisely, as making no choice (e.g. “cut nothing!”) means failure of our country.
And that’s the most unpatriotic of all.
He has a UCAV fetish. Pilots are reeeeeeedundant too.
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