"OTTAWA — Defence Department officials glossed over warnings that the F-35 project was facing serious scheduling and cost problems as they pitched the stealth fighter to the government in 2010, newly released documents indicate.
Rather, while Lockheed Martin was admitting the program was thousands of hours behind schedule and missing numerous benchmarks, the Canadian military was giving slick presentations highlighting the aircraft's stealth capabilities."
With a few minutes of searching, I have found the infamous brief used by the DND in 2010. It is below.
The briefing from 2010 has a problem. Little of it is accurate. It assumes much. It contains rehashed Lockheed Martin briefing graphics. Not much in the way of any true analysis there.
Not mentioned in the slide is the aircraft's lack of survivability potential. Or, that in the Pacific Rim, the F-22 will be the reference threat that the F-35 will have to survive against in order to be of any use against future threats in the next 5 years and beyond.
One slide that points to "mandatory" requirements is of interest. With all the technical problems, delay and cost rise, the F-35 program is currently at severe risk of meeting none of the requirements.
Another slide on costs is woefully unrealistic. It claims aircraft cost is "low 70USD". Good luck with that, even from a 2010 perspective. One part of this slide is very accurate. It says, "No new money". So true. The acquisition side of the CF-18 has to come in at a ceiling of $9B.
Finally, the beginning of the brief spends a lot of time on Joint Strike Fighter program history. I wonder how Canadians would feel if they knew that the X-35 concept demonstrator had no weapons bays? With that, Lockheed Martin had less weight challenges to "win" the Joint Strike Fighter contract in 2001.
The brief qualifies as fraud by trick or device. Maybe Parliament can reach an awareness of this sham.
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