Consider this in the comments section of that post:
Well?
Unfortunately, most of that makes up Lockheed Martin (and entrenched defence bureaucracy) talking points. At best: Internet memes.
1. The F-22 or whatever replaces it will certainly cost a lot of money.
2. Untrue, to date, the F-35, over 14 years after contract award, has significant development problems. Including ALIS, the logistics support infrastructure for it, having little value. As for stealth better than the the F-22. There are many more USAF sources that would dispute that. So, no points there. Ditto with "better" radar.
3. Guns are opportunity weapons, however for a "mulit-role" aircraft, strafing has not gone out of fashion. Look at the danger-close, close air support efforts to recent date. In exercises, Rafale, Typhoon and even the Super Hornet have achieved gun "kills" against the F-22. The reverse is true even more. As a side note, here are other F-35 air-to-air problems.
4. "That which is presented without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." To date, the American taxpayer has put $110 billion into the F-35 program: Source: Congressional Research Service (over $83B) up to U.S. Budget FY2013. Then add FY2014, 2015, 2016. Result, 150 incomplete underdeveloped "mistake jets". Note that U.S. DOD procurement milestone C. States that an aircraft is stable in its design and production methods. And with that, milestone C allows for low rate initial production aircraft to be built. The F-35 program is only in milestone B. Milestone C may be awarded at the end of the decade. What has been built so far (a handful of test jets and the remainder: low rate initial production aircraft) are illegal as procurement law defined by the U.S. Congress. And the defects in the program show. Based on those numbers, there is no way the F-22 is more expensive by its existing program of record.
5. See 2 above.
6. Neither will the F-35 because it will get shot down against emerging (and some existing) threats. As for the F-22 export story.
7. What benefits?
8. When the F-35 fails, a new requirement will have to be drawn up for an F-22 replacement along with what ever credibility the U.S. has left after the F-35 embarrassment.
--cc: Cross posted on on The Interpreter (maybe).
-click images to make them larger-
As for those that enjoy LM sourcing so much:
How about all that industry for Australia. Here is what was sold as a Ponzi scheme for the the rest of the non US/UK to sign up for. Look at all that money lost.
Lets break down that idea from October 2001 to a shorter time span for alleged deliveries (US and UK only) between 2008 to 2018. Note also on the above chart: the last program of record deliver is 2028.
Now what kind of industry benefit history is Australia getting today? You tell me. All we have is guess work and now...lower expectations.
To-date, Australia has secured almost $500M in F-35 business. 13 years on, this has not caught up to the taxpayer money invested. There is no credible combat or financial proof of program worth.
What was Australia told when signing up for the program in 2002?
"Winning just 1 per cent of the project's work would be worth $4 billion to Australian industry, said Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane. But there are no guarantees of additional Australian involvement."
-The Age, $12b for Australia's fighter jets of the future, Mark Forbes, 28 June 2002-
2003:
“The project has been billed as a winner for Australian industry with potential earnings of up to $US4 billion ($A7.14 billion)”.
-The Age, Melbourne firm wins US jet fighter contract, 24 June 2003-
2010:
"Over the 20 year production life of the JSF, the Australian share of work is currently projected to be somewhere between $11.5 and $12 billion, with further opportunities to follow"
-Bob Price, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Programme Manager, APDR, 15 April 2010-
2011:
"The trouble-plagued F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project has claimed its first Australian scalp with a 65-year-old company forced into liquidation this month."
-JSF delays ground Aust parts maker, The Canberra Times, 21 September 2011-
2013:
"According to Lockheed Martin, this economic value expected to grow to $5-6 billion as production ramps up over the next three decades, with another $3 billion on top for maintenance and support parts."
-Electronics News, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: Flying high, Isaac Leung, 5 March 2013-
How about 2015?
“Australian industry is well placed to capitalise on the Government’s investment in the program, winning US$432 million in contracts to date,” AVM Deeble says. “Australian industry stands to win in excess of $1.5 billion in JSF-related production and support work over the life of the JSF program.”
-DMO Bulletin, First Australian-made vertical tails installed on F-35, Issue 1, 2015 -
History: in the 1980's, Australia ordered 75 F-18 Hornets. 2 were built in the U.S. The remainder were assembled at Avalon Airport. The engines were built in Melbourne.
Summary? Australia's involvement in the F-35 program is in deep trouble. It will leave Australia poorer and defenseless in the air.
---
-Defence covered up chemical contamination at RAAF Williamtown in order to pass $1B F-35 upgrade
-When will Marine Air leadership stop misinforming the public over the F-35?
-DOT&E Report: The F-35 Is Not Ready for IOC and Won't Be Any Time Soon
-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Bill Sweetman, Aviation Week and the F-35
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) 2011-2013
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)
-A look at the F-35 program's astro-turfing
-F-35 and F-16 cost per flying hour
-Is this aircraft worth over $51B of USMC tac-air funding?
-Combat radius and altitude, A model
-F-35A, noise abatement and airfields and the USAF
-Deceptive marketing practice: F-35 blocks
-The concurrency fraud
-The dung beetle's "it's known" lie
-F-35's air-to-air ability limited
-F-35 Blocks--2006 and today
-The F-35B design is leaking fuel
-F-35 deliveries
-ADF's wacky F-35 assumptions
-Gauging performance, the 2008 F-35, Davis dream brief
-Aboriginal brought out as a prop
-Super Kendall's F-35 problem
-LM sales force in pre-Internet era
-History of F-35 engine problems
-Compare
-JSF hopes and dreams...early days of the Ponzi Scheme
-The Prognostics
-2002--Australia joins the F-35 program
-Congressional Research Service--Through to FY2013, F-35 has received $83.3B in funding
-F-35 choice gives Dutch a shocking high cost per flight hour
-More indications that the F-35 is a failed program
-From the year 2000. Very insightful. The JSF: One More Card In The House (PDF)
“It will be affordable because already there are 3,000 aircraft on the order books.”
—27 June 2002, Air Marshal Houston, Defence press announcement, Australia joins the F-35 program—
---
Australian Defence Reading List
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it."
-Mark Twain
-How will Australia crew 8-12 submarines?
-Predicted Australian Defence cost per flying hour - 2015-2016 budget
-Australia's diminishing RAAF
-Defence may want to waste money on more defective M-1 tanks.
-Collins sub replacement appears to be a rigged game
-New Defence White Paper fails to address Australia's core security needs
-2009 Defence White Paper Fantasy
-Analysing "The ADF Air Combat Capability- On the Record"
-Find out who is responsible for the Air Warfare Destroyer mess
-Analysis of Defence Materiel Organisation Major Projects Management and What Needs to be Fixed
-New DMO Boss warns the staff that business as usual is over
-How dangerous is the Defence Material Organisation to our Defence Industry?
-Australia's Failing Defence Structure and Management Methodology
-More on the dud-jamming gear Defence wants to buy
-ADF cost per flying hour
-I will wipe out bullying vows new Defence chief (Houston 2005)
-Vacancy
-Put Vol 2 Report of DLA Piper Review into the light of day
-Rory and Jim
-Parasitism as an Abstraction for Organizational Dysfunctions
-Hobart-class "Air Warfare Destroyer" to be fielded with obsolete radar guidance technology
-The Decay Of Critical Military Thinking And Writing-With Particular Reference To The RAAF
-The great M-1 tank myth
-*UPDATE* Fear and loathing in Canberra - Audit released on MRH-90 helicopter project
-RAN bullies contractor over Collins sub replacement
-2014-15 ADF budget shocker - Star-ranks
-Air Warfare Destroyer -- Billions, not millions over budget
-Australia's M-1 tanks are... a downgrade compared to what it had
-Weak links put on rubber-stamp Defence panel
-Insert Joke Here
-Tyranny of distance--Long, drawn out helicopter projects are unsustainable
-2014-15 ADF budget shocker - cost per flying hour over the last budget year
-Tiger savaged by Navy League of Australia
-Tiger helicopter update
-PDF file - Exploring the Impacts of the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012
-Dangerous minds: Are maths teachers Australia's newest threat?
-Government ignores its own 'rescue' report created to fix Air Warfare Destroyer woes
-DM Johnston fired in cabinet reshuffle
---
No comments:
Post a Comment