RAAF boss is committed, or should be

Abraham Lincoln said, "How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

Yes, it connects to the F-35 program because everyone that wants the jet is ready to call the jet something it will never be; affordable, sustainable, lethal, and survivable.

You may add the boss of the RAAF, chief air marshal Brown to the F-35's propaganda Ponzi scheme. He is happy to put forward misleading statements because any other course would risk his career. Or, maybe he just believes.

When it comes to faulty weapons systems, few Australian flag rank officers will stick their neck out by telling the truth to the public. Which really means by default, he is not on our side.

Brown states that the plan is to have an all F-35 fleet by 2020. If so that would mean that we are only going to get 72 F-35s as the other 28 have now been kicked down the road.

Take a look at this memorandum of agreement from 2007 signed off on by Australia and the U.S.

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And this one from 2010.

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Brown also overlooks more than a few problems.

"JSF has had a pretty good year as far hitting its test milestones are concerned and it is tracking pretty much to plan at the moment,"

The plan which since the beginning of the program has been also, kicked down the road a few times.

Brown may also be a man of faith.

He said Admiral Venlet had created a very realistic delivery schedule which allowed for it to remain on track even if something did go wrong.

"I have got a lot more confidence in the schedule than I had ... before it was baselined," he said.

"I am still comfortable with where we are sitting at the moment."

Interesting story, but the review of the program has been delayed also. DOD may have recertified the aircraft after its second Nunn-McCurdy breach, but that still leaves the DAB. Delayed again. We are told not to worry; which means; worry. This from Defense News.

"A Defense Acquisitions Board (DAB) review that would have established a new cost baseline for the triservice F-35 Lightning II has been postponed until the fall, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program's top official said June 15."

Emphasis mine.

The reporter(s) on this piece like many before them, misreport the facts.

"Australia has so far contracted to buy an initial 14 aircraft."

This is untrue. No money has been handed over for these 14 aircraft; nor should it given the unstable design and slow progress.

Brown states this:

"I think we will see the costs continue to drive down as we get more aircraft on that production line."

If only there was a stable design. Which is needed for a production learning curve. Then the reporters show some redemption with this:

Considerable development still remains, particularly in the difficult area of integrating all the various electronic systems.

And dropping weapons; and using it as a weapon of war; if we can afford it. Even if the tail is not a leg.

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