somewhere, PukinDog is laughing...
Posted on 03/04/2014 6:31:58 PM PST by RC one
Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is set to order 33 fewer Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets than originally planned over the five years starting in fiscal 2015 due to budgetary pressures, a defense official said Monday.
In a move that will sharply slow work on the F-35 model built to land on aircraft carriers, the Navy will ask Congress to fund 36 F-35Cs instead of 69, said the official, who could not speak publicly ahead of Tuesday's release of the 2015 budget request.
The Air Force is also deferring orders for four conventional landing F-35 A-models in fiscal 2015, but is expected to resume its planned orders for the jet in 2016 and beyond, said a second source familiar with the plans. It plans to order 238 in total.
That adds up to 343 F-35s to be funded by the U.S. military through fiscal 2019, excluding three Marine Corps jets that could be added to the Pentagon's war funding request, which will be submitted in April or May.The Marine Corps, which expects to start using its F-35 B-model jets in combat from mid-2015, is sticking to its projected orders of 69 jets for the period, the sources said.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week said the total number to be funded over the next five years could be scaled back further unless Congress revokes automatic budget cuts that are due to resume in fiscal 2016 and beyond.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Send that POS Lockheed-Martin over-priced trash back where it came from.
Do you know how many fighter aircraft we built during World War II?
Yes, the media is so reliable when reporting on something they don’t like (which is ANYTHING military).
let me guess that 33 fewer planes does not mean the price comes down one bit
Maybe $12 or so.
Some day the US armed forces will own 5 airplanes - they will be really great, or at least that’s what we will be told, but will cost about $200 billion each.
somewhere, PukinDog is laughing...
How many WW2 planes do you think one F35 could destroy? I’d say all of them if it had enough missiles.
the price will probably go up.
Can an F35 be in two or more places at once? And that’s not really the point, is it? WWII fighter planes were state-of-the-art for their time period, right? Plus, missiles are expensive and don’t grow on trees.
It doesn't have to be so long as it can simultaneously track, engage, and destroy multiple enemy aircraft at stand off distances without ever being detected.
Plus, missiles are expensive and don’t grow on trees.
There are some things you just can't put a price on...air superiority is one of those things. I don't care how much it costs, it's just worth it.
Especially now that the cold war is coming back.
I am a former Lockheed employee: the entire company is built on worthless managers. Over billing is epidemic. I had conversations within my own shop about what would happen if an Inspector General from any service or DoD opened the books. Unfortunately, the IGs within DoD are equally worthless. We were screaming for an audit.
I voluntarily left a 6-figure salary because of the (lack of) ethics practiced there. Yes, you heard me right. Me and two others walked from that dumpster fire.
It seems like there’s a lot riding on Lockheed Martin. it seems like the process of procuring new new weapons systems is always...painful. The F35 program has been especially so and I’m sure the magnitude of the program contributes to that. However, it seems like, when it’s all said and done, we always manage to come away from the process with a game changing weapon system. I remain hopeful that the F35 will be no exception because, if it doesn’t, that would be a disaster the likes of which we have never seen considering the number of countries that are invested in the program and the developing threats in Russia and China.
Lockheed also has a contract for the Littoral Combat Ship. I understood what they were trying to do, but it was pretty costly for a ship that “can’t take a punch”. The jury is still out on that one.
wasting large sums of money is bad enough but wasting large sums of money on weapons that don’t win battles is just beyond terrible. China is racing to the moon. Russia is invading the Ukraine. Both Russia and China have grown rich off of western treasure. Meanwhile, we have Obama and company trashing our constitution, our economy, our health care system, our military and our very way of life. these are dark days. The state of the union is questionable.
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