Posted on 10/18/2017 2:28:39 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler
When replacing the failed F-35, the U.S. should focus on building large numbers of a reliable, lightweight fighter design.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article concludes Mike Fredenburg’s series on replacing the disastrous F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Part I explains why the program should be considered a failure and argues that the Trump administration should proactively cancel the F-35. Part II lays out the measures the Pentagon should undertake to bridge the gap between the F-35’s cancellation and the production of a new replacement fighter.
Were you ever stationed out at Willy?
And that turkey has yet to fly a combat mission 'operational' or not...
bkmk
I bought one of those used that looked almost exactly the same (no sunroof)as pictured. It was the biggest POS i’ve ever had to this day. Abandoned it after 6 months.
There’s a car in that picture?
With the V-8, you could get a whopping 140hp.
And then there was the non-functional air scoop.
Let the good times roll!
>>I bought one of those used that looked almost exactly the same (no sunroof)as pictured. It was the biggest POS i’ve ever had to this day. Abandoned it after 6 months.
The Mustang II was a product of its time. If you bought it new, it was really no worse or better than any other American car of the same year. If you bought it much later when the Mustang GT had been reintroduced, then it does seem like a real POS. But, what it did do is keep the Mustang name alive during those dark years of American auto manufacturing, so I’m grateful they existed.
But you have to judge it in proper context. By every measure, a vintage 1965 Mustang is a slow, poor-handling, rattling POS compared to my 2016 Mustang GT. But, some virtues can’t be measured.
Back when speedometers when to 85mph and 55mph was highlighted...
Oh, MAN, one of my college roommates had one of those things. Built on the Pinto platform, and had the same gas tank - rear suspension attachment bolt issues. And an overall piece of junk in the same way.
Exactly, and I rather agree with the AA vs AG part of your comment. However, that being said, if we take our defense seriously, we should pony up and pay for separate aircraft for each job category.
The F35 is what it is because of politics, including the 50 state requirement, and in this case international customers too.
At this point, having spent 25 years in the evil MIC, I doubt there’s a fix out there, because the ‘corruption’ is baked in. Congress, ya know.
Sometimes, I just feel like it’s a festering pool of sloth and incompetence. Maybe I should write a book someday. Haha.
Other times, I almost feel like the real answer for things like the A10, at least for situations like our current ones where air dominance isn’t such a big issue would be something like an airship with multiple drones or PGMs, which could simply loiter in high altitude over (Raqqa, for example) for days at a time, and upon call, here comes your death from above.
Either that, or maybe extremely aerodynamically efficient drones with very long loiter times, carrying some lighter PGMs. Think sailplanes with bombs.
Either way, the grunt on the ground points the laser, uploads the coordinates, and within minutes, kaboom. From a friendly drone which just happens to be in the area ... silently ... and seemingly never leaves.
Second thought, maybe I should write some sci-fi, but then again, I think that the Terminator movies pretty much covered this concept.
The first F16A was built in 1976, and didn’t see combat until Desert storm 1990/1
F-16 saw action with the Israelis over the Bekaa valley in 81' and bombing Iraq the same year.
I believe you are correct. We aren’t more than five years away from the capability for a fully autonomous killing machine - a Terminator if you will.
A combination of electromagnetic signal processing and spectrometry (already operationalized) to uniquely identify an emitter (cell phone) and facial recognition, and there will be little chance of evading it.
Steal a Mig-35, Copy it and name it the Mustang 38 and improve it. Use until a better plane can be made.
Yeah, nobody could think of the word “simplify”.
My first cat was a 1965 289 V8 Mustang convertible that I bought used for a whopping $250, wrecked, sold the remains after they sat in my driveway for a few years for $25. Cue Boo-Hoo Girl.
Real fun little car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QoWxjwzjLY
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