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 ...
What’s that big country to the north of India?........China......yeah, that’s it........China......and they don’t mind sacrificing lots of their Soldiers.....And what’s that country beside India with all those nuclear weapons?.....Pakistan?.....You would think that India would want to have us as friends.....The thing about us Americans is, we like to speak out about our own problems, but we take a dim view of people from other countries trying to do this for us in our own country.
Keep in mind that Panetta is a former klinton crony in addition to being one of the kenyan butt boys, so his credibility is somewhat questionable; but what intelligent person believes ANYTHING the regime says?
And what exactly is your point?
kya aap angrezi samahjte hain?
Guess somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Would you like some cheese to go with your whine?
A study of the history of defense weapons show that weapons systems designed from the top down to do everything and be the end-all, do-it-all system usually are crappy weapons systems.
Weapons designed to ONE thing EXTREMELY well, usually can be adapted to do other things.
IMO, the cancellation of the F-22 will be one of the great disasters of the American Military.
And the F-35 will be one of the great flops of American Air Power Design.
Watch—if Obama wins the next election, he will cancel the F-35. Why? 1. He is hotile to US military power. 2. It spends $$ that could otherwise go to the Welfare state.
Of course, his “reason” will be development of some future aircraft that will solve all our problems, but we won’t see for 20-30 years (really never). It right out of the Liberal playbook.
Isn’t it kinda early to be drunk? What the heck does india have to do with this article? Or was this a lame personal attack against a decent guy who posts a lot, good and bad, about avaition?
Can you point me to a single negative thing Sukhoi has ever said about the USA?
And for all your fun comments, India has sunk more pirates than the USN. And they are not bashful about opening up with the main battery. Our deck guns seem to be mostly decorative anymore.
Well, i better let you go,,,im sure you need to go find a Sihk so you can get revenge for 9/11./
F-4 Phantom???? I would call that one a resounding success.... hell, there are countries still flyin' 'em..
A high altitude interceptor, 4 missiles, big radar and WO to fire them.
Weapons designed to ONE thing EXTREMELY well, usually can be adapted to do other things.
Agree with you. Unfortunately, the day will come when we wish we had more F-22s.
Most who read these reports wouldn't know the difference between an F-35 and an F-16 or a P-51.
Most have no idea what these machines are capable of or what environment they must operate in effectively and survive to bring their pilots home.
Most just read the reports, accept them as gospel and demand the programs be cancelled because the scm/msm have said so.
Thing is, every new design is full of problems to be solved. Every one.
There is no fighter or bomber in our inventory that has not had its share of problems, cost overruns, etc. and each has had bad press from the scm/msm throughout its development phase.
And, each one has gone into service and remain in service for decades and have given our pilots air superiority, mission capability and survivability.
But so what. Perhaps we should just stay with our decades old F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, etc. because that is exactly what the scm/msm along with the Chinese, Russians, etc. would like us to do.
Who cares if the pilots make it back or not or if they successfully carried out their mission. It's all about the money we could be spending on more social programs and bail outs. That's what's important, right?
And also,, I have disagreed with Sukhoi on some technical things. (although like today, he usually posts with little or no commentary) And he always answers back with a thoughtful, technical, reasoned point. And never attacking America.
Thats too bad if you think being a cheerleader for that flying moonpig, a monument to political district based procurement is being patriotic.
Except for stealth, which in 10 years will be defeated by extreme computer based improvements in radar, the F-35 is much less capable than the F-16 or F-15.
The thing is a joke.
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
Ahhh yes......down under speaks.....If I didn’t like Australia so much, I might point out that American boys were dying in the Pacific to protect Australia when the Australian dock workers went on strike to extort higher wages while the Japanese were marching south. G’day Mate!
Good argument.
Gosh. a personal attack would be like, I don’t know, saying somebody’s drunk. Nothing personal in my remarks to the guy with a russian plane for his screen name. He does seem to like those russian planes. I guess he put up this article to show his support for American aviation. He chose to post this in a public forum based in the US. Looks like a slap at the US to me. I’m not a cheerleader for the F-35. If it’s garbage, then it should go away. I’ve been around my fair share of foreign military and they liked to disparage the US military.......until DESERT STORM. Easily fixed. All he has to do is say that it wasn’t meant as a slap at the US.
The F-16 is one of the best fighters anyone has ever created and put into the field. It's simply an awesome machine.
Compared to the F-16, the F-35 has a greater payload and a greater combat radius on internal fuel than the F-16, along with greater stealth, more power, vastly improved electronics and pilot situational awareness.
The F-16 is faster.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.