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The F-35 will need to be continuously upgraded to keep it competitive.
Quite honestly I can say that the plane is already behind its competitors (including supposedly 4th gen fighters) before its even entered service. As far as cutting the plane slack?
Not on your fucking life.
Its late, its expensive, its a maintenance nightmare and its doesn't deliver what was promised.
I'm convinced more than ever that the plane is going to be cut due to cost alone...never mind effectiveness. The death spiral will hit full bore next year because the Pentagon has nothing else to cut, the US Army has been evicerated, the US Navy is now shelving ships and there is a quiet rebellion in the Marine Corps over the cost of the wing.
Our allies better get ready for the predictable and long foreseen bad news.
Sure, it may be years past schedule and billions over budget, but cut the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program some slack.The reporter flubbed the lead.
That was the message from Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, speaking July 24 at a roll-out ceremony for the first two F-35 training aircraft delivered to Australia. He pointed to millions of lines of code, an integrated design that brings together stealth, advanced sensors, radars, and infrared sensors, electronic warfare capability, and integration of weapons systems.
"You're talking about something that no one has ever done before, which will put us all a decade or more ahead of anybody else out there,” he said during a ceremony last week at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics assembly plant in Fort Worth, the Pentagon reported. “And [it will] keep us ahead for some time to come as we continue to upgrade the F-35.”
The F-35 will need to be continuously upgraded to keep it competitive.
Quite honestly I can say that the plane is already behind its competitors (including supposedly 4th gen fighters) before its even entered service. As far as cutting the plane slack?
Not on your fucking life.
Its late, its expensive, its a maintenance nightmare and its doesn't deliver what was promised.
I'm convinced more than ever that the plane is going to be cut due to cost alone...never mind effectiveness. The death spiral will hit full bore next year because the Pentagon has nothing else to cut, the US Army has been evicerated, the US Navy is now shelving ships and there is a quiet rebellion in the Marine Corps over the cost of the wing.
Our allies better get ready for the predictable and long foreseen bad news.
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ReplyDeleteTake bets on Frank's revolving-door, post government employment.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.usni.org/2014/07/29/chinese-russian-radars-track-see-u-s-stealth
ReplyDeleteSome "bad" news for F-35 critics and a good news for Lockheed shareholders.
ReplyDeleteAfter being threatened of taking contract elsewhere, Lockheed gave in and agreed to all 54 technology transfer items as demanded by the ROK government. Lockheed previously offered to transfer only 24 items vs full 54 items offered by EADS and Boeing. As the result, a 40 unit contract signing is scheduled in November.
Observers are skeptical as to why Lockheed suddenly gave in after having resisted for so long, considering that their technology would go into a twin-engine jet that is expected to outperform the F-35 in all major performance metrics excluding the RCS and carry the kind of heavy weapons that the F-35 cannot handle, but I guess that Lockheed needed a major deal announcement to show to F-35 critics in the middle of the engine explosion crisis.
Having concluded the ROK deal, Lockheed is also urging Japan to conclude its F-35 deal.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140725000012&cid=1101
"Dave Scott, Lockheed Martin's director of international customer engagement for F-35s, in an interview with Fuji Television Network dismissed claims that the Russian T-50 and Chinese J-20 qualify as fifth-generation fighters. The US F-35 is the only fifth-generation fighter aircraft that deserves Japanese investment, he said.
Scott said the essential element of fifth-generation fighter aircraft lies not only in their stealth capability but also in the integration of the sensor fusion that allows a boost of 5%-10% to its thrust, 5% to its military rating and 25% to its fuel efficiency. These factors combine to increase its combat radius by 25%-30% and durability by 30%-40%. He further emphasized that new engines and the Multifunction Advanced Data Link developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) — initially planned for sixth-generation fighter aircraft — have instead been adopted and integrated into the F-35, making the plane an ideal bargain for Japan. "
"With permission from the US government, Lockheed Martin has proposed to move the final assembly and maintenance of major parts to Japan. The US has also agreed that some parts of the F-35 may be produced in Japan. Scott argued that the F-35's technology will greatly benefit the aviation industry in Japan, citing Italy as the sole other country owning licenses for final assembly and evaluation. "
How the fuck does "sensor fusion" boost thrust, fuel efficiency, and durability?
ReplyDeleteEspecially when that sensor fusion relies on software that's (spoiler alert) going to be ANOTHER 14 months late?
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-07-29/software-to-power-f-35-running-as-much-as-14-months-late
Because.... Jazz Hands!!!
DeleteLOL!
DeleteYou sure you don't work for LockMart?
My guess is that LockMart is prepping up for a future defense of their poor performing aircraft.
DeleteA make believe story that a lower performing aircraft can compensate for the shorter range, lower speed, poor thrust-to-weight ration and high maintenance as their "5th gen aircraft" can count on stealth, sensor fusion etc.
This would enable them to loiter around their slow, hot and draggy ass in the air and do their job anyway.
With this statement it's obvious that LM themselves understand they reached the performance peaks with the F-35 and now have to shift their position of the marketing of the F-35.
We will likely hear more about how "The F-35 is so advanced it totally thwart previous definitions of fighter aircrafts and their needed performance".
Making pie-in-the-sky claims about software saving a shitty aircraft does reek of desperation. If their software can do all that on the F35, why not put it on a good aircraft instead? Wouldn't that achieve a higher total performance return on the investment?
DeleteCut the F35 some slack ?
ReplyDeleteMore like Mollycuddle it with another billion dollars or so
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/general-air-force-already-looking-ahead-to-6th-generation-fighter-plane-1.295821
ReplyDeleteGeneral: Air Force already looking ahead to 6th-generation fighter plane
By Jon Harper
ARLINGTON, Va. — Even before the Air Force’s new F-35 “fifth-generation” fighter jet is combat-ready, the service is looking ahead to what comes next.
The Air Force is aiming to put the sixth-generation fighter into the skies in the 2030s.
I'm all for Lockheed paying more of the cost for their overruns and delays but it isn't going anywhere because of both the need for it and the fact that there is already a huge portion of the aerospace industry working on the thing, 100+ aircraft already built, and all of the other countries which have already signed deals for F-35s.
ReplyDeleteWho is going to cancel it and what would be their alternative? Where would they get the money to design and develop this alternative into a combat ready aircraft? How many more years is that going to take.
For those upset that the F-35 "only" has F/A-18 level performance (better in some cases) maybe this should have been considered before F-22 production was ended.
Yet the F-22 was criticized for being designed almost entirely around the air-superiority mission and now the F-35 is criticized for being a "jack of all trades, master of none". What the hell do they expect?
Do they expect an aircraft with full multi-role capabilities, greater range and payload, and unmatched performance in air-to-air combat? That's going to cost a whole lot more to design, test, build, and operate than the F-35. There is a reason the USAF only has some 200 F-15Es compared to well over 1,000 F-16C/Ds.
The monies spent on the F-35 to-date are sunk costs, and can never be recovered. Rationally, all that matters is the future cost of the program, and whether or not the aircraft (both individually and in total) can ever be expected to fulfill the strategic/tactical goals that is was originally designed for.
DeleteAlternatives already exist in the form of the Super Hornet and Grippin. Or could be developed much less expensively by modifying the F15 into a “Super Eagle”. With vectored thrust, networked sensors, and a smaller RCS.
Oh wait, Boeing is already working on that…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_F-15SE_Silent_Eagle
That just leaves the question of what will replace the Harrier. Well, I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that the F35B is shaping up to be a pretty poor replacement. If for no other reason than the combat fragility of its overly-complex lift fan system. Boeing’s JSF entry was much better in this regard, as it used the same vectored thrust nozzle system as the Harrier.
Dave Scott on crack.
ReplyDeleteSol:
ReplyDeletehttp://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2014/07/ouch-that-had-to-hurt.html
AF is jumping ship.
Disclaimer: This is me being devil's advocate
ReplyDeleteI have been very anti F-35 however I have been thinking......maybe it is a plane perfect for the job its name implies. The Joint STRIKE Fighter. The name gives me the impression that it is not supposed to tangling with planes like the SU-35 in within visual range fights. Maybe its suppose to primarily be a ground attack plane with some air to air capability like the F-15E. Also if it must engage in air to air operations maybe it is meant to stay beyond visual range where it has the advantage with its stealth capability fire its missiles and runs the hell away.
i could go with that but the plane is replacing aircraft that are suppose to mix it up in air to air combat. some airforces will have nothing but F-35s to do that job.
Deletehowever it WAS marketed, its now being sold as a do it all fighter that will handle all jobs well...even better than 4th gen fighters that were specifically designed to do the job.
I agree completely. When the F-35 it was being marketed for the first time in the early 2000s it was supposed to work with the F-22. The F-22 would take care of the majority of air to air combat. However since then the F-22 production was cancelled, and the F-35 has been a problem child between the development problems and the scheme of selling the to everyone to keep the price down failed and also led to design issues (The F-35 would be less brick like and possible a bit more maneuverable it the Marines had insisted on STOVL capability mixed with the standardization in the plane designs which led to the flying brick that we got. The body of the plane had to be big enough to hold the engine and the fans that allow STOVL capability)
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