Posted on 06/13/2019 1:21:12 PM PDT by maddog55
Here’s something the public didn’t know until today: If one of the U.S. military’s new F-35 stealth fighters has to climb at a steep angle in order to dodge an enemy attack, design flaws mean the plane might suddenly tumble out of control and crash.
Also, some versions of the F-35 can’t accelerate to supersonic speed without melting their own tails or shedding the expensive coating that helps to give the planes their radar-evading qualities.
The Pentagon’s $400-billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, one of the biggest and most expensive weapons programs in history, has come under fire, so to speak, over more than a decade for delays, rising costs, design problems and technical glitches.
But startling reports by trade publication Defense News on Wednesday revealed flaws that previously only builder Lockheed Martin, the military, and the plane’s foreign buyers knew about.
The newly-exposed problems underscore the potential fragility of American air power as the armed services work to replace more and more old fighters with as many as 2,300 F-35s while also reconfiguring to confront the increasingly deadly Chinese and Russian air forces.
The problems might also help to explain why acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan reportedly described the F-35 program as “fxxked up.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
MOre backupo data:
The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unreported F-35 problems
That is almost verbatim what was being said about the V-22 Osprey.
It seems to be quite effective now, doesn’t it?
It’s the Daily Beast, can we trust this story?
It was proven the hard way a long time ago that one airplane cannot be all things to the needs of fighters.
No way you spend that kind of money and end up with a plane that melts at top speed. Engineers are typically not that dumb. Follow the money.
I agree. The F-35 is a flying turd and it’s supposedly a veritable ‘Miracle from Jesus’ that’s going to replace the F-15, F-16, A-10, F-18, F-22, AV-8, and etc.
It’s a Swiss Army Plane and it does everything but it doesn’t do any of them well.
“That is almost verbatim what was being said about the V-22 Osprey.”
Same for the early F-14
“It’s the Daily Beast, can we trust this story?”
No.
Wikipedia:
i.e. “Joint” is not a mission.
Sickening.
Seemed to me the F-22 was a pretty nice platform before Obama shut it down.
Rewind a famed years, change F35 to F22, hit play. All weapon systems have deficiencies when they are new....all of them.
Seemed to me the F-22 was a pretty nice platform before Obama shut it down.
Which is why he shut it down.
In the F-22 vs. F-35 competition, the F-22 won hands down.
Still, the F-35 was given the contract.
Lots of money greased a lot of palms to make that happen.
My thoughts too. I would have trouble believing them if they printed a story about water being wet.
I’m old enough to remember the USN’s version of the F-111. 30 (40?) years later and we still haven’t learned that lesson.
“Seemed to me the F-22 was a pretty nice platform before Obama shut it down.”
Agreed, other than the mind blowing cost per unit (200+ mil/unit), the Raptor is an awesome aircraft.
The good news is the Chicoms probably stole the Tech so they will have the same concerns that we have.
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