Posted on 04/02/2018 3:49:25 AM PDT by maddog55
Jim Roche, then-Secretary of the Air Force, made an announcement on October 26, 2001, that all aviation enthusiasts had been waiting for: a winner had been picked to design and build the Joint Strike Fighter. The American people were assured the new jet would enter service in 2008 and be a high-performance replacement for the military’s aging airframes while only costing between $40 million and $50 million.
The F-35 has now entered an unprecedented seventeenth year of continuing redesign, test deficiencies, fixes, schedule slippages, and cost overruns. And it’s still not at the finish line. Numerous missteps along the way—from the fact that the two competing contractors, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, submitted “flyoff” planes that were crude and undeveloped “technology demonstrators” rather than following the better practice of submitting fully functional prototypes, to concurrent acquisition malpractice that has prevented design flaws from being discovered until after production models were built—have led to where we are now. According to the latest annual report from the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E), 263 “high priority” performance and safety deficiencies remain unresolved and unaddressed, and the developmental tests—essentially, the laboratory tests—are far from complete. If they complete the tests, more deficiencies will surely be found that must be addressed before the plane can safely carry our Airmen and women into combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at pogo.org ...
Jesus. For THIS, Obama killed the F-22?
What a POS muslin asshat he was.
When will we abandon this thing?
I’m not in the military, but the F-35 seems to me, to be quite a good plane.
Best ever. By anyone. Ever.
Until you compare it to the gestation period of the F-22 Raptor.
The F-22 beats it in every way.
And that’s why 0failure killed it and pushed the f-35
Meanwhile, the Chinese received the plans for the f-22 and have made their own.
Thanks progressives. Treason scumbags to the core
The plane is too fat looking. No Aircraft this out of proportion will ever work.
Actually, the Chinese got the plans for the F-35 and backwards-modified it to make their own F-22.
What factors go into this mis-management?
Do we lack sufficient people with the brains and skills?
Is it Agile vs Waterfall?
Is it obsession with diversity and sensitivity?
Is the perfect the enemy of the good?
Is it greedy military-industrial complex?
Is it unitary, integrated design vs Modular plug n play?
“When will we abandon this thing?”
I’m guessing that this will be the last piloted fighter.
Odungo saw it as a means to keep major donors....he hated the military, and used every means necessary to purposely waste tax payer dollars...
“I’m guessing that this will be the last piloted fighter.”
Yes and no. It will probably be the last super expensive manned plane. But I suspect the battlefield of the future will be swarmed with updated propeller driven support aircraft similar to the Super Tucano. Then again, robotic swarm technology may make them obsolete too. The point is that the guy on the ground needs somebody above him or he’s just so much meat waiting to be butchered.
We have to stop designing vehicles so expensive that their loss impacts the entire war effort. Incidentally, I think stealth will prove to have limited value in the long run as counter technologies, which are cheaper and faster to develop, will proliferate. We will end up with hundred-million dollar aircraft that are too valuable too risk and too vulnerable to use.
>>I’m not in the military, but the F-35 seems to me, to be quite a good plane.
Best ever. By anyone. Ever.<<
The F-35 was SUPPOSED to be a replacement MRF for the various MRFs out there now: F-16, F-18, Mirage, etc.
The idea was a good one: A single airframe that would be low-cost and be able to be serviced in any western country and flown by any pilot in those countries.
Instead we have an expensive albatross with so much mission creep that it can do NONE of the things it was supposed to do.
Read the article about all the things wrong with the Best. Ever.
The best modern craft was the F-22. They shoulld bring it back. NOW.
And they should start the whole F35 program again, and this time stay to the principles. The F-16 and F-18 have been fantastic but they were designed 30+ years ago (when we could actually DO things).
“What a POS muslin asshat he was.”...
That “POS” is still the same POS even though he is no longer POTUS.
I am old enough to remember the infamous “TFX”...the previous time the DoD went for “One SIze Fits All”. In the end, the F-111 saw limited service as an Air Force strike bomber and ECM Platform.
We need to change the DoD back to the War Department...which is their job. We need the Services to determine what their missions are, individually, and acquire the right platforms for those missions, for the services. At best, subsystem modularity would be appropriate, but for God’s Sake, stop trying to do everything with one widget!
And, put a rational evaluation on the value of tech.
What factors go into this mis-management?
Do we lack sufficient people with the brains and skills?
Is it Agile vs Waterfall?
...
—
The concept of “Joint Strike Fighter” is the heart of the problem. The idea of a single platform that will work for every role. It’s like one of those does-everything Swiss-army knives. Yes, it has a screw driver, pliers, saw, etc. They just don’t actually work very well for a dedicated purpose.
“I am old enough to remember the infamous “TFX”...the previous time the DoD went for “One SIze Fits All”. In the end, the F-111 saw limited service as an Air Force strike bomber and ECM Platform.
We need to change the DoD back to the War Department...which is their job. We need the Services to determine what their missions are, individually, and acquire the right platforms for those missions, for the services. At best, subsystem modularity would be appropriate, but for God’s Sake, stop trying to do everything with one widget!
And, put a rational evaluation on the value of tech.”
Where is that like button?
Google, Bing: F-35 Deployed. You might be surprised.
Leatherman is pretty decent. I carry one almost all time.
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