Posted on 03/18/2016 6:40:44 PM PDT by maddog55
Officials are finally admitting the F-35 fighter has turned into a nightmare—but it’s too late to stop the $400 billion program now.
Way back in the early 2000s, the U.S. military had a dream. To develop a new “universal” jet fighter that could do, well, pretty much everything that the military asks its different fighters to do.
But the dream of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter turned into a nightmare. The program is six years behind schedule and tens of billions of dollars over budget. And now, 16 years after the JSF prototypes took off for their first flights, top officials are finally owning up to the trauma the $400 billion fighter program has inflicted on America’s finances and war readiness.
In a remarkable period, beginning in February and lasting several weeks, senior officers and high-ranking bureaucrats finally publicly copped to the warplane program’s fundamental failures.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
This would not be the first time. The F-111 was to have a Navy version also, but the prototype was too heavy for carriers. The ground following radar also had problems and killed a lot of guys. It was called the Switchblade Edsel, because the idea originated when McNamara was Secretary of Defense.
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark Long Range Strategic Medium Bomber / Tactical Strike Aircraft (1967)
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=72
The F-35 has been on the chopping block due to severe cost overruns a couple of times. Politics has kept it alive. My yongest son worked at Langley on both the F-22 and F-35. He told me many times that the common consensus with everyone the F-35 was an overpriced piece of crap.
Absolutely!
How many congress critters made millions on the stock purchases of the companies involved??
You left off the /s
Actually the F-4 wasn’t that bad. The program you should look at is the F-111 program. As originally sold there would be two variants of the F-111. The F-111A would be the AF’s ground based version. The F-111B would be the Navy’s carrier based version. I am not sure how many F-111Bs were produced but not more than a handful. Turned out that carrier operations were a lot tougher than the designers knew.
Oh well, 40 years later the military dreamers tried again with the F-35 with the same basic result - Naval and AF versions are totally different animals. I wonder if it will take another 40 years for another generation of super smart engineers to attempt this particular pipe dream again.
The problem with the terrain following radar was the pilots would over ride it thinking they could react faster than the computer. 700MPH under a 100 feet doesn’t give you much of a margin for error
The Navy version of the F-111 became the F-14. The tail hook of the F-111 was a disaster. It is manually operated and rips the belly fairings off every time it is used. Not really condusive for flight deck operations.
Kool-Aid ?:??
Kid youre the one who voted for the liberal Willard not me...
F-22 was suppose to replace the F-15. The F-35 is suppose to replace the F-16, the F-14 and the Harrier.
You mean the F-18. Tomcats (F-14s) have been retired for awhile now.
Correct.
When Reagan was in the WH, he used to say he was going to spend all the money in the treasury just to deny incoming Democratic presidents the use of it.
What he didn’t take into account was that the Dems had no qualms about running the debt by spending money they didn’t have.
The F-4 was a great bird. It really could fill most of the roles even a bit imperfectly. It was (is) a great airplane.
The F-35 is a turkey. We threw away a winner to take on a loser. It's the equivalent of the F-111 Aardvark. Robert McNamara would be proud...
I just watched the movie Pentagon Wars. I immediately thought of the F-35.
No, I meant the F4 phantom. it was a great plane, probably more so for the air force than the navy.
Sorry, but no airplane is worth a trillion dollars. All government agencies waste money. The DoD just seems to be able to waste it on an epic scale.
It was a great plane. It fit more with the AF than the Navy though. A single plane to fill all roles is a great idea if it can be done. It hasn’t been done yet
If wishes were horses the F-35 would be in the cavalry. Everyone wishes the plane was better but it never is.
I think it takes an non-PC Asshat like Trump to admit it’s a mistake, and FIX IT.
Everybody else will just pay 400B$ for a piece of junk.
Do you REALLY think Donald J Trump would sit still for that?
He would embarrass the hell out of folks until he got a “YUUUGGE DEEAAAL”
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