Posted on 05/11/2012 8:33:41 AM PDT by robowombat
LONDON (AP) — Britain's defense secretary is ditching proposals to buy a particular type of F-35 Joint StrikeFighter — reverting to an original plan previously criticized by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Defense Secretary Philip Hammond told lawmakers Thursday that Britain would no longer purchase F-35c variants of the Lockheed Martin Corp. fighter jet because the cost of modifications to ships needed to accommodate the plane would be about 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion).
The jet's design — which does not include vertical take-off and landing — means aircraft carriers would need to be fitted with catapults and arrester gears.
Hammond said Britain would instead purchase F-35b jump jets, which don't require modifications to ships and are compatible with U.S., French and Italian vessels.
That option was championed by Britain's previous Labour Party government, but dumped by Cameron after he took office in 2010. At the time, Cameron said the F-35c model was "more capable, less expensive, has a longer range and carries more weapons."
"The facts have changed and therefore so too must our approach," Hammond told lawmakers. "This government will not blindly pursue projects and ignore cost growth and delays."
Work on planned modifications had already cost between 40 million pounds ($65 million) and 50 million ($81 million), and there could be further exit payments to contractors in the United States, Hammond's ministry acknowledged.
"It is as incoherent as it is ludicrous," Labour's defense spokesman, legislator Jim Murphy said. "The prime pinister's decisions have cost British time, British money, British talent and British prestige."
He said the policy reversal was a "personal humiliation for David Cameron."
Britain's defense ministry said a decision on how many F-35 jets will be purchased will be made in 2015. The country's military expects to receive its first Joint Strike Fighter jets in 2018.
(Excerpt) Read more at manufacturing.net ...
They need more money for the welfare state!
I think they are simply stuck between a rock and a hard place. There was no good choice for them.
I always cringe when I see F35B takeoff and land
Might be a good idea to just cancel the entire F35 program. Way over budget and way behind schedule. Use the F22 instead of the F35 then upgrade F15s, F16s, F18s and A10s.
As a USAF flight test type who went through development in the previous century (!), one cannot really blame the UK for reconsidering. We’ve managed to repeat the old F-111 series of mistakes...1) a do-all plane for many services, 2) specification creep...which results in 3) cost creep.
Result? A plane which does many things, but not that well.
The F-35 is rapidly becoming the 21st century’s F-111...which wasn’t a bad plane...but was not nearly what it was planned to be.
Me too. Trading fans for armament or fuel seems a bad choice for an offensive weapon. There is going to be a lot of training and costs for not a lot of firepower.
Do Harrier and Harrier II takeoffs and landings do the same?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjJFnhfpW34
F-35B Flight Test Compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3DVHHmU43k
Remain under your bed cowering and by all means stay away from Eglin.
They will buy from BAE Systems UK instead and support their own industry.
Your specious, at best, solution is no solution at all for the Marine Corps which provides 25% of the Republic’s defense on ~6% of the DoD budget.
USMC should lose all fixed wing air. Period. There’s no excuse for having 3 air forces.There’s absolutely no reason, whatsoever, that the Navy couldn’t do CAS for the Corps. None.
There are plenty of reasons why the Navy is a distant second to Marine Air in providing CAS to Marines on the deck.
And what happens when the F35 program breaks the defense budget and fails to deliver a war plane capable of doing it’s mission?
“There are plenty of reasons why the Navy is a distant second to Marine Air in providing CAS to Marines on the deck.”
Politics. That’s it. My slice of the pie. Me-too-ism. Keeping up with the Joneses. That’s what’s going on here. The Marine Corps should go back to being a small, elite light maritime infantry force and nothing more. USAF should be folded back into the Army.Too much waste and duplication of missions. A smaller government means a smaller military too. No other way to get around that.
That’s not going to happen. Back under the bed with you.
The Marine Corps provides the taxpayer with the most bang for their buck. Your proposal to kill the most frugal branch of the military provides incredible insight into your lack of acumen.
It's interesting that you make no mention of the nearly 70% of the budget that is killing us - nondiscretionary entitlement spending. Is that because you spend your time waiting for a government check every month?
We have lots of very fine aircraft, the USMC could be happy doing CAS with old reliable A10s. Keep production going of F22 for air superiority missions, develop a similar carrier aircraft and use what we have on hand already. The F35 is a big waste of money and already our "partners" are bailing out over huge cost increases and never ending delays in deliveries.
“It’s interesting that you make no mention of the nearly 70% of the budget that is killing us - nondiscretionary entitlement spending. Is that because you spend your time waiting for a government check every month?”
It’s because I spend my time hoping my country will wake up and realize that the current levels of DOD spending are as much a form of waste and welfare as Social Security, Medicare, and all of the other useless discretionary spending. The founding fathers were suspicious of large standing armies. That includes the great George Washington. People that argue for endless military spending are no different than people that argue for endless social spending.
Let us return to the days when defense spending was 50% of the budget; Eisenhower and Kennedy eras, because defending the Republic is a constitutional requirement. Implementing a welfare state isn’t. Ignoring that 70% of the pie provides true insight into the BB rattling around inside your grape.
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