Friday, January 03, 2014

F-35. Chinese parts are in it. via War News Updates.

Thanks for the link Mike!

via WNU from Reuters.
(Reuters) - The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China's espionage and military buildup.
According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman Corp and Honeywell International Inc, to use Chinese magnets for the new warplane's radar system, landing gears and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program could have faced further delays.
"It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there's a prohibition on doing defense work in China, even if it's inadvertent," said Frank Kenlon, who recently retired as a senior Pentagon procurement official and now teaches at American University. "I'd never seen this happen before."
Just plain awesome.

This program is a disgrace and before its over someone will go to jail.

UPDATE:  This program is losing friends.  Reason is a libertarian magazine that I read from time to time.  Did you know that more and more Americans are identifying as libertarian conservative rather than Republican or even Democrat?  Regardless, check out this story from the editor.

NOTE:  This story smacks of a Friday afternoon message dump orchestrated by the Pentagon.  This is huge news, and would ordinarily be a lead story (if the media actually covered the F-35 story outside of the small defense outlets).  Prediction.  This is the first of many "bad news stories" about this plane that we're going to see over the next several weeks.  Someone has a hardon for the F-35 (besides me) and I hope they get satisfaction.

12 comments :

  1. The reason they got the waiver is that there was ZERO possibility of espionage or sabotage involved. It's a magnet for Christ's sake :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i contend that if they had to go to China for a magnet then they probably have other more serious gear inside the plane from China. additionally how do you know that they haven't developed some type of monitoring device hid inside a simple looking magnet?

      Delete
    2. China literally has a monopoly on rare earth magnets. They have the most rare earth reserves and the cheapest manpower to turn them into magnets. This issue has been brought up before as a national security concern, but much like our cobalt, titanium, and tungsten sources, we have just decided to import.

      Delete
  2. If this is what the companies cop to, what are they concealing? We killed Iraq's air defense with a printer, Iran's nuke centrifuges with Stuxnet, there is no such thing as "just a magnet" anymore

    ReplyDelete
  3. Actually sourcing Chinese parts to make our weapons and weapons systems is becoming an increasingly wide spread problem in all of the services with nearly all weapons systems. We have found illegal Chinese parts in our F-15s, F-16s, F-22s, Black Hawk helicopters, a few Super Hornets, C-130s,.. the list goes on.

    What I find surprising is that even after sourcing the work and production of this jet to nearly all of our allies, defense contractors still had to get parts from China to keep the thing going. That's really embarrassing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to know the F-35 is truly an "international" fighter jet now. Why, even China is receiving industrial offsets!

    Since we know they stole secrets on the damn thing, they now might as well be a "Level 4 participant" on the program. The caveat being, they aren't buying the damn thing, but reaping some benefits.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wouldn't want to fly these things against the Chinese.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you know what i've been waiting to hear but have yet to? i want someone to lie and say that the F-35 will enter combat outnumbered, engage the enemy and win. ya know how the F-22 can engage three to one odds and still throat stomp the simulated enemy? why aren't we hearing that about the F-35?

      oh and the numbers are bound to come down so its obvious that the huge numbers they're talking about will never be so i would love to see how they spin it.

      Delete
    2. It can't happen. At best, the F-35 will carry 4 AMRAAMs internally. Each with only about a 50% chance (at best) of destroying a target. In an ideal situation, the F-35 might be able to handle 2:1 odds.

      Things get even dicier if the F-35 is detected. Either by IRST, radar, or the mark one eyeball.

      Delete
  6. I posted on Chinese magnets in September. (Just sayin'.)
    http://snafu-solomon.blogspot.com/2013/09/f-35-military-lost-control-of-planes.html?showComment=1380574696033#c4490412344137933903

    ReplyDelete
  7. The waivers apply to inexpensive parts, including $2 magnets, installed on 115 F-35 test, training and production aircraft, the last of which are due to be delivered in May 2014. Lawmakers noted that several U.S. companies make similar magnets.

    "Kendall said the waivers were needed to keep production, testing and training of the Pentagon's newest warplane on track; avert millions of dollars in retrofit costs; and prevent delays in the Marine Corps' plan to start using the jets in combat from mid-2015, according to the documents. In one case, it would cost $10.8 million and take about 25,000 man-hours to remove the Chinese-made magnets and replace them with American ones, the documents indicate." WTF?!? 25,000 man hours to replace some magnets?


    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/03/us-lockheed-f-idUSBREA020VA20140103

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.