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DOD Is Stuck with a Flawed $1.5 Trillion Fighter Jet
The Fiscal Times ^ | 2/18/2014 | David Francis

Posted on 04/02/2014 9:21:58 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants

On CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, national security correspondent David Martin chronicled the seemingly never-ending list of problems with the Pentagon’s next-generation F-35 fight jet, from cost overruns of $160 billion to technical problems that have plagued the plane’s development.

When asked if the F-35 program, which is expected to cost some $1.5 trillion over the four-decade life of the program, is now under control, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Frank Kendall, said, "Yes, it is."

But that commitment came with a warning.

“Long gone is the time when we're going to pay for mistake after mistake after mistake," said Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the officer who took control of the F-35 program last year. He added that the planes are necessary, however, to keep pace with the technology being developed by U.S. rivals Russia and China.

(Excerpt) Read more at thefiscaltimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 60minutes; 737; a12; aerospace; cbs; china; christopherbogdan; davidfrancis; davidmartin; defensespending; demagogicparty; f25; f35; fiscaltimes; frankkendall; lockheed; memebuilding; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; russia; seebs; stealthfighter
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To: PreciousLiberty

If I’m not mistaken I think they destroyed the jigs and tooling for the F 22...


41 posted on 04/02/2014 10:16:53 AM PDT by Kozak ("It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal" Henry Kissinger)
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To: US Navy Vet
Yep, I remember the Navy's canceled A-12, its documented in the book the Pentagon Wars.

GD went to the Navy and threatened to default on their fixed price contract unless the US renegotiated for more $$.

Dick Cheney told them to pound sand.

A decade later the Navy was still trying to get back the progress payments, which GD got by lying about progress.

42 posted on 04/02/2014 10:17:14 AM PDT by sickoflibs (Obama : 'You can keep your doctor if you want. I never tell a lie ')
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To: Blood of Tyrants

The ATF (for example) started with a Request For Information (RFI) in 1981 just 5 years after the F-15 was introduced to line units.

In 1983 study contracts were awarded.

In 1986 Request For Proposals went out.

In 1986 Lockheed and Northrup were selected to further develop and test their designs.

They made their maiden flights in 1990, and the YF-22 won in late 1991.

The first flight of the F-22 was in 1997, and entered operational service in 2005

Even to this day the F-22 has bugs in it... It’s the price of complexity and a limited production run.

With the F-35 it’s because of everyone wanting newer and better stuff added on to an airframe that’s compromised to suit too many roles.

A majority of the cost overruns and delays can be traced back to les aspins decision to force the Air Force, Navy, and Marines to use a common airframe.


43 posted on 04/02/2014 10:18:10 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Politicians and diapers need to be changed for the same reason)
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To: SpeakerToAnimals

“The F-22 could have been the next fighter to do this. So we dump it for a tri-service turd.”

A lot of people have this impression from the trashing it’s received in the media. Instead, it’s an operational fighter being deployed where we really want to intimidate an adversary.

Reflect on the fact that the main reason the F-22 lines shut down is that no foreign sales were allowed - it’s considered too good (and too classified) for even our closest allies. Japan and Australia both wanted F-22s.


44 posted on 04/02/2014 10:18:57 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
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To: pfflier
Now the A-10, that's an airplane!!

Friend of my brother's is an AF/ANG vet with about 1500 hours in the "Hog".

When he was in flight training, of course everybody was a true-blue drinker of the blue-suit koolaid and wanted to fly F-15s and F-16s.

He was totally let down when assigned an A-10 slot, thought it was the next thing to driving a farm tractor.

Six months in, he'd decided that nothing was more fun than working down at treetop level and learning how to target with the Mk.I eyeball......he would not have traded his seat for anything else in the USAF.

45 posted on 04/02/2014 10:19:23 AM PDT by Eric Pode of Croydon
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To: Izzy Dunne

They were saying that Lockheed’s quality control proceedures relating to the sub contractors were not “up to snuff”


46 posted on 04/02/2014 10:20:09 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Politicians and diapers need to be changed for the same reason)
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To: beelzepug

Lots of “off the shelf” stuff from other aircraft were used to get the F117 flying, not just F16. Later upgrades to keep it compatible with upgrades to other platforms in terms of C3I and LINK systems.

The F117 was in “mod” until it was deactivated, as is the case with just about any aircraft in service.


47 posted on 04/02/2014 10:21:38 AM PDT by SZonian (Throwing our allegiances to political parties in the long run gave away our liberty.)
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To: sickoflibs

Iirc Pentagon Wars was about the Bradley. The A-12 book was “$3 Billion Misunderstanding”


48 posted on 04/02/2014 10:31:31 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: Kozak

The F-111 program was not a total loss since they did quite well as a strike aircraft for the Air Force for many decades, and for the Navy the lessons learned from the F-111 as well as many of the subsystems and design innovations such as the AWG-9 radar, the AIM-54 Pheonix missles, and variable geometry wings were rolled into the F-14 which served the Navy well for 30 years.


49 posted on 04/02/2014 10:32:14 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Politicians and diapers need to be changed for the same reason)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

It’s one of the few modern AF jets that has to be flown by stick an rudder. It is simply a plane for a skilled pilot, no triple redundant flight management system limiting the control inputs or optimizing the flight.


50 posted on 04/02/2014 10:35:09 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: gdani

Uh the Pentagon is the only part of the government that can not only account for it’s money, but is the only part that IS audited, criticized, reformed, and cut.


51 posted on 04/02/2014 10:35:33 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Politicians and diapers need to be changed for the same reason)
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To: tanknetter; US Navy Vet
RE :”irc Pentagon Wars was about the Bradley. The A-12 book was “$3 Billion Misunderstanding”

You must be thinking of the HBO comedy version of it(1990s) , but the book did a whole chapter on the A12, as well as the Bradley.

52 posted on 04/02/2014 10:36:17 AM PDT by sickoflibs (Obama : 'You can keep your doctor if you want. I never tell a lie ')
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To: Kozak
Even if the jigs and tooling are gone, the plans and CAD files remain. Reconstructing the assembly line is a small cost in the big scheme of things. We could even build the new ones with the upgrades mentioned earlier already in place.

One oft-neglected thing in the F-22 vs. F-35 debate is supercruise. The F-22 is the only current fighter able to exceed the speed of sound without afterburner. It cruises at Mach 1.5 or so.

Here's a nice F-22 pic:


53 posted on 04/02/2014 10:45:40 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
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To: US Navy Vet

Ummm, the A12 was a McDonnell Douglas project


54 posted on 04/02/2014 10:47:23 AM PDT by Cyclone59 (Where are we going, and what's with the handbasket?)
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To: Izzy Dunne
And US Government cleared the way for Chinese parts for the aircraft.

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/industry/194472-us-waived-laws-for-chinese-made-f-35-parts

55 posted on 04/02/2014 10:50:02 AM PDT by maddog55 (I'd be Pro-Choice if we could abort liberals.)
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To: PreciousLiberty
Stories about doom and gloom surround lots of new combat aircraft, and have since the early days of aviation. It is possible the F-35 will be a great plane.

Time will tell if I am correct in my armchair evaluation. I still believe the F-22 is an aircraft we need in large numbers. A plane kicked to the side for one does everything but excels at nothing.

Air Supremacy requires a dedicated fighter, not a multi-role fighter/bomber STOVL carrier plane.

56 posted on 04/02/2014 10:55:26 AM PDT by SpeakerToAnimals (I hope to earn a name in battle)
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To: SpeakerToAnimals

So the DoD better be cranking out YF-23s or we are screwed with the modern version of the Brewster Buffalo - top worst fighter design.


57 posted on 04/02/2014 10:56:40 AM PDT by mcshot (..."And this too shall end.")
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To: Red Badger

Cost overruns.


58 posted on 04/02/2014 10:59:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Obama is now making Jimmy Carter look like Attila the Hun. /focus/news/3138768/posts)
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To: pfflier

Exactly.


59 posted on 04/02/2014 10:59:28 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Obama is now making Jimmy Carter look like Attila the Hun. /focus/news/3138768/posts)
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To: Cyclone59

Yep, in addition to being a project by Mickey D and GD (A-12 Avenger), “A-12” was also a Curtiss airplane, the Curtiss A-12 Shrike, as well as Lockheed’s A-12 Oxcart.


60 posted on 04/02/2014 10:59:40 AM PDT by GBA (Here in the Matrix, life is but a dream.)
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