The US Air Force has concluded that the short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) Lockheed Martin F-35B- model aircraft cannot generate enough sorties to meet its needs; therefore the service will not consider replacing the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog close air support jet with that variant.and...
Retired Lt Gen George Trautman, a former US Marine Corps (USMC) deputy commandant for aviation, disputes Schwartz's assertion that the F-35B cannot generate as many sorties as the A or C model aircraft.Wow.
"The F35B has highest sortie generation rate among the three JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] variants," Trautman says. "There may be other reasons the air force doesn't want the B, but sortie rate isn't a factor."
In fact, the USMC's concept of operations depends on the STOVL variant generating more sorties more rapidly than other JSF models, says retired USMC Lt Gen Emerson Gardner, a former naval aviator.
The key performance parameters (KPP) for the F-35 require higher sortie rates for the B-model at four sorties per day. The A and C models are only required to generate three sorties per day.
This is why the critics of the F-35 get so much attention.
The supporters of the program...like the Chief of Staff of the Air Force is SUPPOSE TO BE. Keep shooting themselves in the foot.
Why couldn't he simply say that it wasn't in the budget.
That he didn't want it.
Anything but a freaking half assed lie would have done.
But NO! The dumbass had to show himself to be a dumbass.
Amazing.
They're talking past each other. The SGR for the B is based on how Marines will base closer to the fight. If the AF used it the same way (doubtful) they'd see the same SGR.
ReplyDelete"If the AF used it the same way.."
Delete...it would belong to the Marines!!
For a while the USAF was going to buy some Bs. I'd think they'd be all over that for giving them flexibility in dangerous areas and not being tied to a runway. If I had to guess, it's more about $$$ than anything. In training, parts, support, etc. they're almost but not quite two different aircraft.
ReplyDeleteIf he had told the absolute truth he simply would have said the F-35 - in any variety - cannot directly replace the A-10. This is not a attempt to bash the F-35, so please do not jump on it like that. Now, the real debate is whether the A-10's mission can be succesfully accomplished at stand-off ranges, especially after the "first day of the war". The A-10 is a specialized piece of hardware for a specialized mission. The F-22, Rafale, Typhoon, SH, etc., also could not replace the A-10.
ReplyDelete