Article

2016-03-24 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Pentagon: The Latest F-35 Problem Will Delay The Program Another Year

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by gorb 2016-03-24 12:34|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 They're using the software problems as an excuse to not manufacture the hardware at an economical rate.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-03-24 13:15|| 2016-03-24 13:15|| Front Page Top

#2 Umm, excuse my ignorance but haven't fancy radar systems been around in fighters for a long time now?

What's so different about this one?

Posted by AlanC 2016-03-24 14:12|| 2016-03-24 14:12|| Front Page Top

#3 I've become bored with the subject, I'm afraid. To summarize what I have read in these pages: Some people love the idea, some hate it. It is behind schedule, over budget, burdened by too many bells and whistles, and takes funding from a variety of other platforms some people prefer for a variety of reasons. Further delays and cost overages are highly likely, but some of the improvements are in the meantime being put into the next iteration of the current thing in use as well as retrofitted onto those machines currently flying, so the pilots are getting some benefit from it, despite not having got any of the thing itself.

Did I miss anything?

Posted by trailing wife 2016-03-24 16:07|| 2016-03-24 16:07|| Front Page Top

#4 ...the graft (work in somebody's district/state), the medals for (un)service, and irrational fetish for 'the next big thing'. Perfect is the enemy of just good enough.

Posted by Procopius2k 2016-03-24 16:56|| 2016-03-24 16:56|| Front Page Top

#5 Open up the F-111 line.

Posted by Shipman 2016-03-24 17:24|| 2016-03-24 17:24|| Front Page Top

#6 I suspect the tooling for the 'vark has long since been turned into razor blades or Hondas. The F-111 was the JSF of the '60s

Posted by Cheaderhead 2016-03-24 19:22|| 2016-03-24 19:22|| Front Page Top

#7 TW, I think that sums up the F-35 Lightning Bug quite neatly.

Posted by swksvolFF 2016-03-24 20:27|| 2016-03-24 20:27|| Front Page Top

#8 tw, if you think about the airplane, then you have it about right. And it is boring. However, if you think about this as an international competition like the Olympics or soccer, it is much more interesting.

Our team has built 3 different version of this plane. They all fly, they are kind of expensive, but not more than the planes we have been using since the 70's. It is pretty good at most things, really good a some. All of our allies are going to buy a bunch of them, reducing our costs over time. And we are planning to build thousands of these things.

Next the Russian team is building the T-35. They have only flown test flights. If they can work out the bugs, it will be really good at some things and terrible at others. They can't afford to make very many, and almost no one else in the world wants to buy one. Even if they get a hundred of these some day, they will be hopelessly outnumbered.

Then there is the Chinese team. They are building prototypes of stuff they copied from the internet. It barely flys, and their engines are terrible. No one wants them. So, the Chinese are buying the Russian stuff and trying to fit it out with Israeli upgrades to sort of get a few planes that can hope to fight for a few days.

The European's don't have a team, except for the Swedes, who are just now getting to where we were 25 years ago.

The Israeli's are on our team.

Everyone else is watching on TV.

So, yes the F-35 is not an airplane that will make anyone excited. But it will overwhelm everyone else.

Posted by rammer 2016-03-24 20:40|| 2016-03-24 20:40|| Front Page Top

#9 ..to include the maintenance teams trying to keep it out of red line. Given that maintenance and spare parts are among the primary cuts when cuts are due. That and training. (You got to pay the troops and make sure they're feed, they're use to ghetto housing and self repair cause that's another maintenance cut as well)

Posted by Procopius2k 2016-03-24 21:43|| 2016-03-24 21:43|| Front Page Top

#10 The rest are 'trialing prototypes, working models and simulations'. We are building a air superiority strategy dependent on a platform that doesn't fly.

Posted by Black Charlie Bourbon1513 2016-03-24 22:09|| 2016-03-24 22:09|| Front Page Top

#11 BC, the plane flies fine. And the radar works fine for a few hours. How long is a mission for this plane? A few hours, and then it is out of gas and lands.

Is this a problem? Well with air refueling it could be. So we are going to fix it.

Is this a problem in real missions? No, not really.

Posted by rammer 2016-03-24 22:34|| 2016-03-24 22:34|| Front Page Top

#12 Thank you for showing me the big picture, rammer. This has become a much better discussion than I anticipated.

Posted by trailing wife 2016-03-24 23:29|| 2016-03-24 23:29|| Front Page Top

23:56 Zenobia Floger6220
23:52 Zenobia Floger6220
23:29 trailing wife
23:26 gorb
23:05 Procopius2k
22:41 DarthVader
22:34 rammer
22:24 rammer
22:22 Black Charlie Bourbon1513
22:15 Black Charlie Bourbon1513
22:11 DarthVader
22:09 Black Charlie Bourbon1513
21:43 Procopius2k
21:37 Procopius2k
21:09 Frank G
21:06 Frank G
21:04 Frank G
20:53 Frank G
20:53 Sholuter Uloluck2920
20:52 Frank G
20:40 Fester Thrimble9033
20:40 rammer
20:34 swksvolFF
20:27 swksvolFF