somewhere, PukinDog is laughing...
Posted on 04/28/2016 1:49:06 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Edited on 04/28/2016 2:17:14 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Washington (CNN)Sen. John McCain slammed the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's troubled history Tuesday, saying it "has been both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule and performance."
The development of the Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth-generation stealth jet, has been beset by spiraling costs and schedule delays. The program's price tag is nearly $400 billion for 2,457 planes -- almost twice the initial estimate.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Now that it’s made plenty of cronies and politicians rich, they’ll condemn it and move on to the next boondoggle.
The F-35 is a disaster because it is a design that was to do too many different roles for three different customers:
...
Exactly and many of us were saying that years ago right here on FR.
somewhere, PukinDog is laughing...
That is the estimated total cost of ownership of a planned 2,400 aircraft fleet over a 50 year life span, an unprecedented measurement and a number designed to scare.
President Trump will kill the F-35. Lockheed Martin will take it on the chin.
This was also a program where International ally partners were brought on. I believe art f that plan was to share development costs but their requirements also had to be folded in along with ours. Then there’s the variants for each branch. I can only imagine what the A-spec looks like today as opposed to when the contract was awarded. On paper, the idea of a Joint fighter sounds great but each of those variants being developed simultaneously has to be a nightmare.
Last Pentagon briefing I sat in (last week) included crew and maintainer salaries and compensation in the stated total cost of ownership for a particular program, which I have never seen before. The Chief didn’t like that and asked for life cycle cost absent personnel. Point being, throwing around numbers like this without knowing the definition of the term is fairly meaningless, so folks shouldn’t get too worked up or too comfortable with a given “cost” until they know what goes into it... or what doesn’t. What most people think of when you say cost is average unit manufacturing cost (AUMC), although the total RDT&E cost is significant but gets diluted by producing large number of units, and total life-cycle cost is critical to keep under control but more of interest to long term budget and logistics folks.
+1. Good stuff.
The very first time I heard about the F-35 program, I knew it would became a disaster. It is simply not possible to have one jet, or a series of similar jets, perform such diverse roles. Vertical takeoff and air superiority are incompatible criteria. That is simple physics. You can throw all the money in the world at the problem, and the simple physics will not change.
This should have been obvious to everyone, but especially obvious to John McCain, with his background as a Naval Aviator.
The underpowered F-111B was a hopeless disaster that was killed by CNO Thomas Moorer (a Naval Aviator). Its termination was much to SecDef McNamara's displeasure. The best parts of the F-111B program, its long range missiles and variable geometry wing were incorporated into the very successful F-14A/D Tomcat (named after Moorer).
The F-111A saw service with the USAF beginning in 1967 as a tactical fighter-bomber, attack bomber (both conventional and nuclear), and as an electronics warfare platform. It was quietly retired in the 1990s. The last EF-111 Ravens were phased out in 1998 in favor of the Navy's EA-6B Prowler.
John McCainiac, YOU ARE A SCANDAL AND A TRAGEDY.
McCainiac is not a Naval Aviator. He is a Naval Groundiator.
He's crashed so many planes he's an expert on them
$1.4 trillion buys a lot of boots on the ground or lots of health care for our underserved vets. No one can justify the outlay for this pig. Technology is going to render this thing a brick very shortly. In 50 years there wont even be manned platforms flying. $1.4 trillion amortized over 50 years, no way. Those government numbers will go up by a factor of 5 at least just like everything else. We could be spending our money much more wisely.
It was retired only because it was replaced by the F-15E.
wow. you know you’re stuff and you didn’t berate me and you made me feel better about this plane :)
a three for!
McCain hates Serbs.
Thank you for the history lesson. I vaguely remember the F111 but never knew their were 2 versions planned. Shaking my head. I visited the Dayton museum and marveled at how many different planes there were. When I think WWII, how many different planes were designed, developed and into production and fielded within those years. The procurement cycle and design to deployment timeframes these days are nuts. The entire space program, including landing a man on the moon and Spacelab took less time than the F35. Sad.
Great post and great insight!!! I’ve not worked aircraft but I’ve never seen a lifecycle cost include personnel salaries/compensation.
Well said.
In Desert Storm several Iraqi jets were zappend BVR by F-15’s taking night AAMRAM shots.
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