Sunday, January 29, 2012

U.S. Senator--Export F-35, 'not going to be the most advanced version'

Besides the title of this post since the senator doesn't know much about the F-35, maybe he is wrong on that too?

Below is a PDF I created which challenges some of Senator Graham's theories about the F-35 program.

It is after all, an election year.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Allies are good servants.

F-35 is an attacker with AAMs.

US must reproduce F-22.

Anonymous said...

not too much attention mr. senator's lips. sort of political actions. senator's comment was based on the common sense & lack of jsf's full details even he was ex-usaf col.

Canuck Fighter said...

Why the F-22 is not being produced and/or upgraded to a bomber configuration is beyond me.
At lot of this seems to still revolve around selling junk to allies, who are politically entrapped or dumb enough to buy them.
Besides the program mismanagement and the clear failure of the cost plus approach. The other big mistake was not having an alternate JSF in the X-32. A competitive environment always makes one better.
This constant argument of to big "to fail is ridiculous". At some point one has to call it "to dumb to adapt".

nico said...

I love the quote:"it is one of the most mismanaged programs inside DoD", what a ringing endorsement!! LM should have their receptionists say that when they answer the phone.LOL!

For me, at this point in the program, I would be happy if LMT can get JSF to just work. Forget affordable, it ain't happening, forget communality, it's going to just continually decrease, forget cheap to operate, we will be lucky if it is JUST 1.5 times more expense to operate than an F16 or F18...Just get the stupid thing to work already....

One that I keep hearing that boggles the mind is that DoD keeps changing the requirements??? Wasn't STOL from the beginning?Yes
Wasn't LO from the beginning?Yes
Carrier capable from beginning?Yes
Internal bay?Yes
F135? Yes
AESA?Yes
Concurrency?Yes
Huge production run?Yes

Which one was added after the award of the program and caused this mess????

Did USAF ask for twice the range after design was locked in? No. maybe Navy asked for more payload after design review weight loss ?No
Did Marines want more stringent STOL requirements than at the beginning of the program?No

What requirements were added on to the program that LMT didn't know about from the beginning???? As far as I can see, LMT got what they wanted, more time and more money EVERY TIME they asked. They got pretty much everything they wanted from the start?!?! LMT knew what they were getting into from the start, they are the ones that promised all this stuff on those nice power point slides FROM THE START OF THE PROGRAM, LM didn't say half way through the program that DoD requirements were changing too much and they couldn't keep up, why didn't they change all those projections on those slides then????

F22 is dead, no need to beat a dead horse. Hopefully, the US military will be able to do with remaining F22s, refurbished F15/F16, F18 and SHs and how many F35s we get. No way DoD is getting 2443 of them, you are smoking something illegal if you think that is happening...

It's not a fighter but I think it can become a good bomber...some day....

Cocidius said...

Oh god Nico, STOP WITH THIS LOGICAL STUFF!

I mean really we're talking about the sensor fusion maneuverability is irrelevant semi-flyable PowerPoint slide.

Think of the money to be made selling this flying pile of excrement to our "allies".

Yes, its certain to WOW them in oh so many ways!

Canuck Fighter said...

There are some South Korean news media reports that Boeing submit a more F15K+ version for the KFX3 RFP rather than an SE submission. Why not, many of the SE mods were modular plug-ons like the CWBs. Besides, with the way the F35 program is going, they wouldn't be able to deliver anyway.

Anonymous said...

The CWBs are a bit more than just a 'plug-in'. Unlike conformal containers for fuel, EW gear, etc, the weapons bays require extensive testing to be sure that weapon launch and separation will not result in collisions with the airframe. At all points within the performance envelope.

Just look at the issues they had with the SuperHornet pylons and clean weapon separation.