"There's a danger that this whole coalition of people who agreed to buy it may crumble," said McCain.
No kidding?
Italy is gone. The U.K. is off in la la land (no 150 orders), Denmark has not decided what will replace there small number of fighters. The Dutch are an easy half cut if not worse. Norway? Well, a sucker is born every minute. Turkey is the only strong partner.
Canada? Seems to still be at the Norway part of the 12 step program to recovery.
Australia, a little further along (with the help of Boeing).
All waiting on the strength of U.S. DOD procurement as a sign of hope.
Here is what LM claimed F-35 sales potential was in 2007.
What is missing? The DAB and loss of milestone-B. Which are a core partnership of processes that are necessary to justify the existence of the F-35 program.
Maybe that will find its way into the search for facts in a future hearing.
How about Tarot cards?
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1 comment:
I have a respect-disrespect relationship with McCain.
3 years ago, he was religiously behind the F-35 on every officially advertised point and dead set on early F-22 shut down in order to fund the F-35. Note: the F-117 was retired in order to help continued funding of the F-22 as a replacement. Now the USAF has neither.
But as much as I've been highly critical of McCain over the years in his expectations and calculations, he seems to be a commander who knows what is what when finally shown the real numbers and a commander who will adjust action and policy when required in order to fulfill the needs of the mission.
My only curiosity would be what McCain's Plan B contingencies include and how close he is to concluding an alternative plan.
God speed TACAIR recap.
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