Posted on 01/21/2012 7:50:37 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Is F-35 program flying high or sputtering?
By Bob Cox
rcox@star-telegram.com
Now that the F-35 joint strike fighter program has gotten a pat on the back and morale boost from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, officials at Lockheed Martin hope to put their recent run of bad report cards and bad press behind them.
All those problems with the F-35 that have been reported of late? They're not that bad; they're being fixed. Just watch, they say.
"We're starting to see a lot of good stuff happening," Tom Burbage, Lockheed's co-executive vice president and general manager overseeing the F-35 program, said in an interview last week.
That view would seem at odds with recent Defense Department reports and officials' comments. An internal Pentagon report leaked last month cited numerous shortcomings in the testing performance of the three versions of the F-35, some key components and the design of the aircraft.
The program's top manager, Vice Adm. David Venlet, was frank about his concerns with the number and scale of problems in a published interview.
Without directly contradicting the reports or Venlet, Burbage downplayed the scale of the F-35 program's problems.
"We're in a test program. We're testing the most technologically advanced aircraft ever built," Burbage said. "There's going to be some problems along the way. That's why you test."
On one hand, the F-35 made progress last year. The pace of flight testing exceeded plans overall, if not always meeting specific goals.
But the program is still three-plus years behind schedule, development costs have risen s
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Really? All the crap you can hang on the wing of an F-16 is less than the internal carrying space in the F-35?
Not trying to argue, just find that incredible.
However, I was using older data. Apparently the F-16's max payload has recently been increased to 17,200 lbs.
Of course, the F-35 is still in testing, so whatever numbers have been published are likely to be changed as the type matures, just as the F-16's numbers have.
The F-16 began as a single role, lightweight air superiority fighter that evolved into a multirole all weather jack of all trades.
It will be interesting to see how the F-35 variants evolve.
Conceptually, the F-16 began as a single-role, lightweight air superiority dogfighter. But once the USAF began driving the specifications ever higher it morphed into a multi-role fighter before the first A-model prototype entered testing. John Boyd and the other "Fighter Mafia" types in the Pentagon weren't too keen on putting a radar in the Falcon because it made the entire aircraft larger and more costly than they thought it should be. What they wanted was a pure dogfighter -- guns and sidewinders -- and that was it. They wanted to leave the BVR engagements to the Eagle-drivers.
The A model’s performance was impressive! F-15 people definitely felt threatened by the F-16 program and responded accordingly. Glad they worked things out.
“F-4 Phantom???? I would call that one a resounding success.... hell, there are countries still flyin’ ‘em.. “
Success? The phantom was in service for 4-5 years before Vietnam broke out. We found out very quickly that the Phantom was a pig in combat.
It was a flying brick. And it performed in a dogfight like a brick.
By 1968, the US Air FOrce and the US NAvy wanted replacements for this subpar aircraft.
Out of those requirements came the F-16, a small, agile fighter for countering small Soviet block Migs. And the F-15 Eagle for Air Superiority.
The F-15 and F-16 are were still front line fighters 30 years after being introduced.
Since when exactly did people have to satisfy BlueUnicorn to show their loyalty to the US on FR? I have posted plenty of articles favourable to the F-35,as many against it or neutral (like this one). I don’t need to prove a point to jokers.
Wasn’t the Phantom’s early performance in Vietnam in part due to its lack of a cannon and under-performing Sparrow missile? It went on to claim a large number of kills in the same war.
And it performed very well for the Israelis who fought against pretty much the same aircraft and air defenses.
Stealth can already be defeated by low band search RADAR datalinked to a fire control transceiver.
The thing is a joke.
That would be a correct assessment of most, if not all, of your posts on all things aviation related.
Well, all new weapon systems have teething problems - especially if they feature cutting edge tech. But it has to be said that the F-35’s problems have been going on for quite a while now.
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