Posted on 03/16/2015 5:27:41 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
The Pentagon’s embattled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter continues to be plagued with so many problems that it can’t even pass the most basic requirements needed to fly in combat, despite soaring roughly $170 billion over budget.
As the most expensive weapons program in the Pentagon’s history, the $400 billion and counting F-35 is supposed to be unlike any other fighter jet—with high-tech computer capabilities that can identify a combatant plane at warp speed. However, major design flaws and test failures have placed the program under serious scrutiny for years—with auditors constantly questioning whether the jet will ever actually get off the ground, no matter how much money is thrown at it.
Last year, military officials faulted contractors for all of the mistakes. Contractors claimed they had corrected the issues and that there wouldn’t be more costly problems down the road.
During an interview on 60 Minutes, Air Force Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, who is in charge of the program, said, “Long gone is the time when we will continue to pay for mistake after mistake after mistake. Lockheed Martin doesn’t get paid their profit unless each and every airplane meets each station on time with the right quality.”
However, a new progress report from the Defense Department casts serious doubts on the progress of the program.
The DOD’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation cites everything from computer system malfunctions to flaws with its basic design—it even found that the jet is vulnerable to engine fires because of the way it’s built.
A separate report from Military.com unearthed another embarrassing issue with the jet that suggests it won’t take off on time.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The only important factor is how many defense contractors made billions of dollars?
The second rule of any bureaucracy is "He show spends the most money is the most important."
Better keep the old F-15’s, F-16’s, and F-18’s as healthy as possible - looks like we are going to be relying on them for a couple more decades.
Different mission/application?
Meanwhile the F 22, a comparable, very high tech fighter is flying and doing great. Remember it was Obama’s DoD that cancelled the F 22. Typical stupidity.
The F-22 is too awesome, too superior, and too “American”.
Therefore, it is insensitive and will be restricted and eventually mothballed as an imperialistic device.
Run that past me one more time.
Some friends of some politicians have gotten really rich.
In a bureaucracy, the more money you manage to spend, the higher your status.
This is the type of crap that makes me roll my eyes when the DoD talks about “debilitating budget cuts”. Clearly they have no ability to manage the budget they have now.
“A final procurement tally of 187 operational production aircraft was established in 2009 and the last F-22 was delivered to the USAF in 2012.”
I think you are on to something there:
BY LAW WE CANNOT EXPORT!!
for a front line fighter - that is pretty remakable-
yeah the F117 Nighthawk- was never exported- but only about
50 were built- (and it WAS a precision bomber)-
Back in 2009- Demonrats controlled the house and senate-
canceled the F22- TOO EXPENSIVE!- now this -
under powered
not as STEALTHY as the F22!
low range
and approaching TWICE the cost!- with foreign investors!
I guess they want the U.S.A. to lose the next conflict
A Global Force for Good™ doesn’t need killing machines, anyway.
I started working as an AF contractor in 1984 and retired in 2009. I started out as a Junior Programmer and it was common that we had 8 hour programming jobs. Yes eight hours... Start, code, test, document and approve for the production library.
These were usually one or two line code changes but could be bigger as necessary. Why? Because we were literally on the leading bleeding edge of technology at the time. And the Air Force at the time wanted results more than anything else.
Flash forward twenty-five years, A SINGLE line of code needs to be changed in a program over fifteen years old. That takes literally six month’s from approval to start to acceptance in the Program Library. One line of code and a Half a million dollars in cost. Month’s of meeting, Massive documentation, Project Management time lines to be met.
And so on... Actual real time to do the job? One half hour and that includes the two paragraph change to the documentation. All of the rest was for the Overhead of the Air Force Oversight people, the committees, the Company management and so forth.
Oh yes, I forgot the third party software testing company that analyzed what was done and insured their was no additional changes besides the line of code being changed.
And that my FRiends is how you can spend 400 Billion dollars on an Aircraft Program.
The F-35 is already a dinosaur. Hate to say it in front of my Zoomie friends, but the fighters of the future will predominantly be drone aircraft. Fighter jocks are necessary, but not in the numbers of the past. Without a human in the cockpit, there’s no need for fighter jets with bells and whistles that cost over $500 million.
Little to nothing in the way of specific facts or problems...long on old information and speculation.
The SBDII allegation is horseshit and has been covered in another thread where all the resident FR “experts” are enlightening us all with their “expertise”.
Pretty typical low information tripe from YAHOO! to keep the yahoos giddy and fueled up in their quest to put their ignorance on display...
While there is much to dislike about the acquisition of fighters, I’d like to remind folks the same sort of things were written about the F-15 & F-16.
“...there’s no need for fighter jets with bells and whistles that cost over $500 million...”
Unless there is volume, no defense contractor will take that lying down ... wait ‘til you see the bells and whistles on your highly polished new drones ...
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